Monday, December 5, 2011

Chicago's new top charter school bureaucrat

She's in a "relationship."
Her name is Carly Bolger. She's never taught, as far as I can tell. She's two years out of college. Hired by Chris Cerf to run his bloated and troubled charter schools bureaucracy in New Jersey but quit after just 10 months on the job. Emanuel then hires her to head his Office of New Schools. That position has been empty since Josh Edelman left town to work for Michelle Rhee in D.C. 

T-Party Gov. Chris Christie has pushed for the rapid expansion of the state's charter schools despite strong evidence that they are under-performing traditional schools. A report by the Washington-based Center for Education Reform has slammed the application process for what it called its lack of transparency and objectivity. His hand-picked schools chief, Cerf doubled the size of the charter office to 11 people, including Bolger. 
But the controversy over charters has been fiery, especially from suburban districts that haven't welcomed the schools into their communities and have argued that state oversight is inadequate. Several legislative bills remain pending that would significantly tighten restrictions on charters... The department over the past year has been criticized for using outside reviewers, whom it has refused to identify but turned out to be largely charter school leaders and advocates. -- N.J. Spotlight
Why is she coming to Chicago? She says her decision was "100 percent personal," since she is moving because of a "relationship" in Chicago.

Perfect!

11 comments:

  1. And she just loves the kids!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whose daughter is she?

    ReplyDelete
  3. another loser appointment. who does she know in chicago to land a position like this?

    ReplyDelete
  4. SHE'S MY DAUGHTER NERF BALL!
    SHE IS HIGHLY QUALIFIED FOR THIS POSITION HAVING
    HELD A SIMILAR POSITION IN PHILADELPHIA PRIOR TO
    HER TERM IN NEW JERSSEY.SHE HOLDS A MASTER'S DEGREE IN PUBLIC POLICY FROM THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND HAS CONSISTANTLY EARNED THE PRAISE AND RESPECT OF THOSEWITH WHOM SHE HAS WORKED.YOU CAN THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS AND ME THAT SHE HAS DECIDED TO DIRECT HER CONSIDERABLE EFFORTS TOWARD YOUR FAIR
    CITY.
    - ROBERT V. BOLGER III
    COSTA RICA

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, "Mr. Bolger" (I wonder who really wrote the above comment), is right in one sense. Ms. Bolger has the perfect qualifications for the job of charter school bureaucrat, as I pointed out in my post. It's a sad commentary on what counts when it comes to new hires at Rahm Emanuel's Board of Education.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why are you putting the word relationship in quotes? People, especially highly educated people in their 20s and 30s, like Ms. Bolger, move to new cities all of the time in order to be with their partners. Feel free to be a pedantic curmudgeon about charter schools and the city's educational system, but all of that has nothing to do with Ms. Bolger's personal choices.

    Your blog loses credibility every time you take a swipe at an aspect of someone's life about which you know nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anon (if that is indeed your real name -- that "pedantic curmudgeon" stuff sounds vaguely familiar. Hmmm, who could it be?). The reason I put the word "relationship" in quotes is that I was quoting someone -- in this case Ms. Bolger who claimed that the reason she was coming to ply her trade in Chicago Public Schools was because she was in a "relationship." How nice for her.

    But don't get me wrong, Anon. My post wasn't meant to be a knock on Bolger (although there is plenty to hit her on). I actually admire her entrepreneurial talent. Knowing you, I'm sure you do too.

    Rather it was aimed at a system and the mayor who runs it. It's a system which offers six-figure salaries, moving and housing allowences to young, MBA-equipped rising-star execs to come into schools and neighborhoods they know nothing about to administer mass teacher firings, school closings and Rahm's charter school privatization process.

    These ax swingers do this for a couple of years and then move on like baseball managers, retirement packages in hand, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. In this case, Carly Bolger walked away from her messes in Philly and N.J., the latter after only 10 months on the job with the charter process under investigation, only to be rewarded by Mayor Rahm with an even higher-paying gig.

    Ah, love conquers all. Don't you agree, Anon?

    ReplyDelete
  8. She, like so many others of the young elite, attended very exclusive, private schools. Now I really don't want to say that only folks who have "lived it, know it," but as one living in Roseland, I am getting a bit tired of folks coming down from on high for a year or two to bless up with their presence, f&*! up our schools, and then move on to wreak more havoc in other minority communities (because it is affecting us for the most part), all while increasing their largess and leaving an ever-growing number of dysfunctional schools in their wake. These charter schools have been weighed, measured and found wanting by a number of studies including the BOE's own University of Chicago Consortium. Why don't these folks work with us to ensure equity in resources, funding, and work towards the elimination of poverty and production of jobs in our communities? I will tell you why. Ain't no money in it. Education is big business. Isn't that what Chris Whittle once said? Enough said.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rahm has his very own Cathy Black moment

    ReplyDelete
  10. It appears as if no one in the Rahm Emmanuel administration (including Rahm himself) is from Chicago. We seem to have an influx of young people parachuting into Chicago in order to bolster their resume before moving onto to more lucrative jobs.

    ReplyDelete

Agree? Disagree? Let me hear from you.