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I’m very disturbed about the possibility of Sharon Contreras for US Sec of Education. After reading tweets about this from @NPEaction leaders, I’d like to share our story from Nashville. @DianeRavitch @carolburris @JoeBiden @DrBiden 1/
Nashville did a superintendent search in 2016. The Nashville Public Education Foundation- very pro-privatization- got involved. We used Jim Huge and Associates as our recruiter, and the search turned out to be a total scam. 2/
Huge brought us a list of very under-qualified superintendent candidates. Only one highly qualified candidate, Dr. Carol Johnson, applied. She is an African-American superintendent who had led three major school systems, including Boston and Memphis. 3/
Jim Huge lied to the Nashville board, claiming Dr. Johnson removed her name from consideration. This was untrue. In truth, he feared she might be hired. As it turned out, Jim Huge was affiliated with the Eli Broad network and had been in business with “Broadies.” 4/
Huge pushed the board toward Shawn Joseph, whom he said was being recruited by Guilford County, NC. Huge pushed us to hire Joseph quickly and pay him an absorbent salary in order to avoid losing him. At the same time, the “Broadies” put Contreras in place in NC. 5/
This was all a ruse. Immediately upon hire, Joseph began to hand out multimillion, no-bid contracts to Broad-affiliated companies. In fact, $1.5 million was entirely unaccounted for- and Joseph’s tenure was riddled with ethical issues and divisive leadership. 6/
Shawn Joseph brought disgraced former Baltimore superintendent Dallas Dance to Nashville as his “mentor” (Joseph’s words). About 6 mo later, Dance was indicted on charges re: kickbacks on no-bid contracts for a Broad-related company, SUPES Academy. Dance went to prison. 7/
Eventually, after a lot of controversy and missing money, Nashville finally got rid of Joseph, but only with a hefty payout of nearly $400k- even though the TN state BOR had recommended yanking his TN license. 8/
Here’s more on what Broad leadership looks like in action: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/what-you-need-to-know-about-shawn-josephs-controversies 9/
And here’s more on the details of the Nashville disaster: http://tnedreport.com/2019/09/frogge-on-superintendent-searches/ FOLLOW THE MONEY. 10/
Of course, Shawn Joseph and Sharon Contreras are affiliated. http://content-static.tennessean.com/PDFs/ShawnJoseph.pdf And Contreras appears to be playing by the same Broad playbook rules. (She received a dramatic no-confidence vote- exactly how it goes with “Broadies.”) 11/
@JoeBiden and @DrBiden, I pray that you will reconsider this applicant. Broad-affiliated candidates are focused on making money, not supporting children. They are agents of school privatization & mediators of no-bid contracts that benefit those who help get them jobs. 12/
Please consider sharing Nashville’s story as a warning to other school districts and as a deterrent to allowing Broad-affiliated candidates to lead at a larger level. God forbid this Broad virus infects the entire country. Schools will suffer. @valeriestrauss
One final piece to this story: In his severance agreement, Joseph insisted on a gag order clause to prevent board members from talking about him (even truthfully) and allowing him to sue us individually if we did. You can see why he doesn’t want us to speak.
Three is us board members sued to have the clause removed, and it was ruled unconstitutional. All money in the case is going to charity.
Apologies for the typos, and thanks for sharing!
