Also check out article below captioned:  Bridgeport abandons pass to play school policy

 

AP: Privatization an issue in Conn. education bill

By AP  | May 03, 2012

 

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The prospect of greater privatization of Connecticut schools has emerged as a hurdle in closed-door negotiations over Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposals to overhaul public education.

Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr. told the Associated Press this week that Malloy's proposal to give the state's education commissioner the discretion to allow private companies to run certain low-performing schools "continues to be one of the many ongoing issues" being discussed in the closed-door talks, even though language to that effect was stripped from the governor's original bill last month. Williams said he has serious concerns about the prospect of state money being spent to "enrich private vendors" instead of benefiting students.

"It's a critical discussion that's going on across the country: How do we define public education?" he said. "Is public education truly public? Is it run and accountable at the local level with input from parents in the community, or is it turned over to private companies where, as time goes by, accountability and local input disappears?"

Lawmakers and the governor are facing a May 9 deadline, when the regular legislative session is scheduled to adjourn.

Malloy's original, wide-ranging education overhaul bill included a "commissioner's network" initiative — a contentious proposal among teacher unions and some legislators — that gave the state's new education commissioner broad authority to step in and operate the struggling schools, bypassing union contracts, as well as the ability "to designate any other entity to operate the commissioner's network school."

Commissioner Stefan Pryor has previously served on the board of Achievement First, a private nonprofit network of charter schools in Connecticut and New York.

Pryor hired Jonathan Gyurko, a senior vice president of Leeds Global Partners, a public policy arm of Leeds Equity Partners of New York City, to help draft Malloy's legislation. According to Leeds Equity's website, the firm's investments focus on the "knowledge industry," including companies that provide pre-K and K-12 education. The Connecticut Post first reported that Gyurko was hired through the State Education Resource Center, a nonprofit agency primarily funded by the State Department of Education, in a no-bid contract for $195,000.

The executive director of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group recently filed a state whistleblower complaint, accusing Malloy, through Pryor, of violating state procurement and bidding policies by hiring Gyurko.

In response to a list of questions from the AP about Gyurko's hiring and any possible conflict of interest about privatizing the low-performing schools, as well as related issues, the Department of Education issued a statement from Pryor on Thursday only about the State Education Resource Center, saying the department "has operated pursuant to preexisting practices and procedure."

He said the agency will be reviewed after the session ends.

Continued at ….. http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/82726--ap-privatization-an-issue-in-conn-education-bill

 

 

 

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Bridgeport abandons pass to play school policy

May 17, 2012, 6:22 a.m. EDT Connecticut Post

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — The city of Bridgeport will no longer require high school students maintain a 2.6 grade-point average in core clases in order to play on school athletic teams.

The Connecticut Post reports (http://bit.ly/JV0IHJ ) that many students and coaches lobbied for the change, saying the policy, meant to motivate students to study, instead led many to quit sports or drop out of school.

The school board has approved a new policy that will require student-athletes to enter a tutoring program if they fall below a 2.4 grade-point average in the core subjects of English, math, social studies and science.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference requires students pass any four courses in the preceding year to remain eligible for athletics.

http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/bridgeport-abandons-pass-to-play-school-policy/316bf597c64142fdaa510f6f129c22f5

 

 

 

 

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