Fwd: [eddra] RE: Competition for EDDRA?

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

  The Demise of For-Profit Edison Schools

  "After 16 years, endless controversy, and a sea of red ink, Edison Schools is
  no longer," blogs Education Sector co-director Tom Toch in "The Quick and the
  Ed." Terry Stecz, who replaced Edison's founder, Chris Whittle, as its chief
  executive last year, announced that Edison Schools would henceforth be known
  as edisonlearning, Toch notes, and the company intends to become a player in
  education software, focusing on student tracking systems and other
  "achievement management solutions." The work of running schools for mostly
  disadvantaged kids in poor neighborhoods proved a lot tougher, and less
  profitable, than the company had expected, says Toch. "Nor has the company
  been able to scare up much new business in the No Child Left Behind era, a
  period where states and schools systems have scrambled to find help in
  turning around the many failing schools identified by the law. Edison's
  competitors haven't fared much better."

  See the blog at
  http://www.quickanded.com/2008/07/company-formerly-known-as-edison.html

Begin forwarded message:

  From: Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>

  Date: Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:32:22 PM US/Eastern

  To: CA Resisters <ca-resisters@interversity.org>

  Subject: Fwd: [eddra] RE: Competition for EDDRA?

    Chris is an exceptionally talented and versatile manager

  Didnt Edison nearly go broke and have to be bailed out?

  Susan

  Begin forwarded message:

    From: "Zwerling, Harris [PA]" <hzwerling@psea.org>

    Date: Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:04:48 PM US/Eastern

    To: eddra@yahoogroups.com

    Subject: [eddra] RE: Competition for EDDRA?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/nyregion/22cerf.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
    
    
    
    December 22, 2006

    School Entrepreneur Named to Be a Deputy Chancellor

    By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

    Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein yesterday appointed the former president
    of Edison Schools Inc., the world’s largest for-profit operator of public
    schools, as a deputy chancellor, perhaps the boldest move yet in the
    Bloomberg administration’s effort to increase the role of the private
    sector in managing city public schools.

    The former Edison president, Chris Cerf, is a longtime friend of Mr.
    Klein and has been a consultant to the city’s Education Department since
    early this year, paid with private donations. He is part of a team that
    has been re-evaluating virtually every aspect of the overhaul of the
    school system in Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s first term.

    The consulting deal ends Dec. 31, after which Mr. Cerf will be deputy
    chancellor for operational strategy, human capital and external affairs —
    a $196,571-a-year post that will formalize his role in Mr. Klein’s inner
    circle and make him the system’s top official for labor relations and
    negotiations, principal and teacher recruitment and training, media
    relations and political affairs.

    The chancellor, who is 60, and his new deputy, who is 52, have much in
    common. Both clerked at the United States Supreme Court — Mr. Cerf for
    Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — and both worked as lawyers in the Clinton
    White House. Both spent time in private law practice in Washington. They
    even share the astrological sign Scorpio.

    But it is their shared view that the private sector should play a major
    role in public education that may be most significant to their work in
    the nation’s largest school system. Mr. Cerf has been deeply involved in
    the “empowerment initiative,” the recent effort to free principals from
    the oversight of superintendents provided that they sign an agreement to
    meet performance targets.

    Some officials believe the logical next step in that process would be to
    hire private groups to manage networks of schools run by such principals.
    The private groups, which officials said might be nonprofit groups or
    for-profit companies like Edison, would oversee schools, would be
    responsible for results and could be fired if test scores lagged.

    In a statement, Mr. Klein said, “Chris is an exceptionally talented and
    versatile manager whose insight and advice were invaluable to me as we
    reformed the system this year.”

    Mr. Cerf said he was “honored.”

    In his new post, Mr. Cerf will not be directly responsible for the effort
    to free up principals but will rather assume the wider portfolio of
    deputy chancellor.

    Mr. Cerf is not the first consultant, initially paid with private
    donations, to take on a larger role at taxpayer expense. The consulting
    firm, Alvarez & Marsal, which was also part of the re-evaluation of the
    mayor’s overhaul earlier this year, was given a $15.8 million contract to
    continue its work reorganizing the school system’s financial operations.

    Mr. Cerf has most recently been a partner in the Public-Private Strategy
    Group, a consulting firm based in Montclair, N.J. As president of chief
    operating officer at Edison, he helped the company’s founder, H.
    Christopher Whittle, navigate numerous troubles, including an outcry over
    its handling of schools in Philadelphia.

    Before attending law school at Columbia, he worked for four years as a
    high school history teacher in Cincinnati.

    "PSEA E-mail Firewall" annotation on Thu Jul 10 2008 17:04:54
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