Morticia is at it again |
Deborah Gist, the former state superintendent of schools in Rhode Island, has recommended a $920,000 contract for the Boston Consulting Group in Tulsa, where she is now district superintendent.
The
contract will be funded by “private donors.”
BCG has won similar contracts in other
districts. Their reports typically recommend downsizing and privatization.
This is not good news for Tulsa.
The first question that citizens of Tulsa should ask is, what is the education expertise of this business consulting group?
When
last I looked, Margaret Spellings–who has never run a school district–was its
education consultant.
Since
she is now the new president of the University of North Carolina system, who is
running the education business at BCG?
Who
are the “experts” at BCG who know more than Deborah Gist and the teachers of
Tulsa?
The Tulsa school board will be writing a
blank check to BCG unless they find out exactly who is giving advice and why
Tulsa should want it, even if someone else is paying the bill.
In other districts, when BCG arrives,
public education is in danger.
A reader told me that the school board
gave him this article to reassure him.
The lead author used to be Rick Hess’
assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
None
of the three co-authors ever worked in a school, according to their online
bios.
What expertise do they have in
education?