Open Letter of Apology to Diane RavitchDear Dr. Ravitch:
First, I want to thank you for coming to speak in Rhode Island on May 3rd. I was in attendance at your speech at Rhode Island College, and I can say on behalf of the numerous teachers and parents in attendance there, that it was the most uplifting, inspiring thing we’ve heard in a long time.
Second, I want to apologize to you for the actions of our Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist. I figure, if I don’t send an apology now, you’re never going to get one. That’s not how Commissioner Cruella…er, I mean, Gist, operates.
It may be objected that a teacher has no business apologizing for the actions of the Commissioner of Education. After all, we’ve been living under her reign of terror for almost two years now. What do we have to apologize for? If anything, Rhode Island has made headlines twice in the last year for the mass firing of teachers—and Gist herself became one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most notable people of the year last year because of her role in the firing of the Central Falls teachers. (She has also publicly stated that she sees no problem with Providence firing its teachers and claiming “financial hardship”.)
Yet apparently, both she and Governor Chafee denied that the assault on public education had anything to do with Rhode Island. I thought it was quite funny how you prefaced your talk by mentioning this denial of reality. You then opened your talk, saying: “What started here in Rhode Island has exploded into a full-scale national assault on teachers.” Absolutely right on—and only a dogmatic apparatchik or a dim-witted, feel-good politician could miss that.
The blogger realizes that is the only apology that Dr. Diane Ravitch, former assistant Secretary of Education under Bush I, will ever get from RI state education leaders.
In fact since both Arne Duncan and President Obama applauded the firing of a whole school of teachers, Deborah Gist must already feel vindicated for her actions.
Here is what Diane Ravitch wrote at the Education Week blog the week after her visit to Rhode Island.
Why Won't 'Reformers' Listen?Last week, I went to Providence, R.I., to give a lecture. Before my arrival, I was invited by Gov. Lincoln Chafee to meet privately with him. Thirty minutes before my hour with Gov. Chafee, I learned that state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah Gist would join our meeting. As it turned out, I had 10 minutes of private time with the governor, then 50 minutes with Gist and leaders of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers.
I mention all this because of what happened during the 50 minutes. Gist is clearly a very smart, articulate woman. But she dominated the conversation, interrupted me whenever I spoke, and filibustered to use up the limited time. Whenever I raised an issue, she would interrupt to say, "That isn't happening here." She came to talk, not to listen. It became so difficult for me to complete a sentence that at one point, I said, "Hey, guys, you live here all the time, I'm only here for a few hours. Please let me speak." But Gist continued to cut me off. In many years of meeting with public officials, I have never encountered such rudeness and incivility. I am waiting for an apology.
That afternoon, I spoke to some 500 teachers, parents, and community activists from many of the state's districts. Teachers in Rhode Island are angry and disheartened in the aftermath of the pink slips that went out to every teacher in the Providence schools. But no one other than teachers seems to know or care. My view: indiscriminate, mass layoffs—with no individual evaluations—demoralize everyone and sunder the bonds of trust that are so necessary for school improvement.
I worry about the one-sided treatment of education issues, not only in Rhode Island, but in the national media. The corporate reformers seem shocked when anyone questions their narrative. They see no downside to their dogmatic belief in closing schools and firing principals and teachers, nor to their dogmatic faith that higher test scores are the goal of education. They accuse critics of "defending the status quo," even though it is they who are the status quo, the champions of get-tough accountability. They don't understand that they might be wrong, that their critics deserve a hearing, and that disagreement is healthy.
I find myself wondering if any of the leaders of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers noticed how Gist was acting toward an honored guest? I wonder if any of them spoke out about it.
Deborah Gist is one of the many superintendents from Eli Broad's Superintendent Academy. Under their leadership the reforms happen more quickly and without mercy.
More about Gist and other Broad superintendents.Broad featured superintendents
"Featured graduates"
Bobb, Robert (Class of 2005)
Brizard, Jean-Claude (Class of 2007)
Carter, Arnold "Woody" (Class of 2002)
Cerf, Chris (Class of 2004)
Deasy, John (Class of 2006)
Gist, Deborah (Class of 2008)
Goodloe-Johnson, Maria (Class of 2003)
Levenson, Nate (Class of 2004)
Malone, Matthew (Class of 2003)
Melendez de Santa Ana, Thelma (Class of 2006)
Olson, Kimberly (Class of 2005)
Peebles, Thandiwee (Class of 2002)
Porter, John Q. (Class of 2006)
Sheffield, LaVonne (Class of 2002)
Sims, Deborah A. (Class of 2005)
Ward, Randolph (Class of 2003)
Wise, Joseph (Class of 2003)
Several are having questionable results, are alienating teachers, and I believe a couple have been asked to leave...Goodloe-Johnson is one. Joseph Wise parted ways with his district and is now with Edison Learning. Bobb is doing harm in Detroit as emergency financial manager who is given academic power. (And he has left there now, I think.)
Rhode Island teachers have been treated so badly, a whole school was fired. Those who were hired back were still not given respect. Those firings were defended by all the reformers in places of power. Just like they are defending Gist, saying she was polite and courteous to Ravitch.
I put that denial in the same category as Arne Duncan's
letter to teachers telling them how much he respects and appreciates them.I am with the blogger who said "“There were so many things going wrong in terms of false assumptions and things that are not consistent with his actions.."If you’re somebody who’s reading it, and you’re not aware of the whole back story, it sounds very nice. It’s so duplicitous."
Just an interesting bit, it looks like Deborah Gist filmed the interview for a documentary she is making.
Was Rhode Island’s Education Commissioner taking a page from the Michelle Rhee and Chris Christie playbooks by videoing a meeting with Diane Ravitch?No one should be surprised that Gov. Chafee would back his Ed Commissioner in a meeting he attended, but it’s unlikely the meeting would have become public if Ravitch hadn’t written about it in her blog. Despite multiple Rhode Island mouthpieces spinning like mad, I don’t think Ravitch overreacted. Yet no one isn’t talking about the fact that the meeting was filmed for a documentary.
Ravitch had a brief, private meeting with Chafee, and then sat in on a longer meeting that included the governor, the schools chief, a top aide to the governor, leaders of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, and a videographer who a state department of education official said is making a film on school issues Rhode Island
Emphasis mine. The presence of the camera may explain why Gist was so aggressive. What better way to sell a message than for the star to have the bully pulpit? Michelle Rhee famously arranged to have the firing of a principal on camera in Waiting for Superman. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has created a virtual cottage industry of You-Tube videos where he takes on teachers.
Was Gist looking for her own video viral?
I have a feeling this blogger is right...the aggressiveness Ravitch said was shown by Gist really would look good on camera. Tough reformers and ignorant others..that kind of thing.
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