A $500k Donation the Same Week Sharpton Joins Klein? Mere Coincidence
Published April 02, 2009 @ 06:33AM PT
NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's Education Equality Project*, the darling of the corporate edu-"reform" crowd (Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Mayor Bloomberg, Sam Walton, etc.), must be good for the underprivileged, largely non-white students of America's urban schools, right? I mean, didn't Klein co-found it last year with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton?
What? Sharpton received half a million dollars the same week he joined Klein to launch the EEP? And from a hedge fund operator run by a former NYC schools chancellor, whose company was angling for a multi-million dollar racetrack development deal in NY? Who funneled it through a non-profit so he could write it off as charity? Who then gave it to Sharpton's National Action Network - just as it and Sharpton were feeling the IRS tighten the screws for $1 million in back taxes? 
Nothing but a coincidence, say Sharpton, Klein, and the hedge fund donor.
What a stink. Read the full outrage on the NY Daily News, "Rev. Al Sharpton's $500G Link to Education Reform." (And Mike Klonsky's post has an interesting discussion in the comments thread, plus more links.)
Then answer me this: Why couldn't Klein's project find a non-white civil rights leader co-founder to give it street credibility without the implicit enticements?
And this couldn't have happened at a worse time for Arne Duncan, who championed Klein and mayoral control to the press this week, and is in NYC to support Klein and mayoral control across America.
In fact, here's Sharpton "personally inviting you" to join him and "cabinet members of the Obama administration" for that shindig, brought to you by Joel Klein and the EEP:
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*Interesting. Klein and Sharpton's EEP site is down as I type. It was up yesterday when I visited. I wonder what changes we might see when it goes back up? Thank goodness for Google's cache.
Klein photo by azipaybarah
Sharpton photo br jonathanpberger
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Comments (2)
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Clay is an American high school Humanities teacher, technology coach, and Apple Distinguished Educator who has taught for the last eight years in Asian international schools. According to law, he's married to his wife. According to his wife, he's married to his Mac.
Why couldn't Klein's project find a non-white civil rights leader to give it street credibility without enticements?
Great conspiracy post.
And yes, it is odd if someone would go out of their way to put Sharpton as a "founder" when there were so many other more reputable minority leaders that would have been happy to do so (the signatories include Cory Booker, Geoffrey Canada, Harold Ford, J.C. Watts, and Roger Wilkins). But maybe they were paid off too; that's the only reason that a black person would want effective teachers, educational accountability, a focus on ending the achievement gap, and things like that. Right?
Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/02/2009 @ 06:28PM PT
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No conspiracy at all. Mere coincidence.
Posted by Clay Burell on 04/02/2009 @ 11:35PM PT
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