LAUSD Threatens To Shut Down Cheating Charter Schools

Sacrificial Lamb (Image by Aaron and Alli)

This week, the LA Times reported that the Los Angeles Board of Education is planning to issue notices of violations against each of the six LA campuses of Crescendo Charter schools that had cheated on state standardized exams. However, the board and Superintendent Deasy left open the possibility that the schools could stay open if Crescendo “responds appropriately.”

LAUSD has been growing increasingly aggressive in their dealings with Crescendo. Initially, they issued slaps on the wrist to Crescendo boss John Allen and the guilty principals (see here). Then they voted to close the schools (see here), even in the face of threatened lawsuits by Crescendo’s board. However, it would be naïve to believe that LAUSD is acting out of a sense of doing right by its students. Rather, the threats are merely an attempt to do damage control and create the illusion that privatization is a self-correcting system that always rids itself of bad apples.

Sup. Deasy, a Bill Gates protégé and charter school cheerleader, said that Crescendo “schools have the next step in their hands.” Since they have already fired Allen, this can only mean that they have only a few more hoops to jump through before Deasy’s gang gives them their seal of approval. The LA Times says that board member Yolie Flores, another charter cheerleader and supporter of Public School Choice (which was set to privatized one-third of LAUSD’s schools), said she would vote against closing the schools down.

Parents and teachers have been worried that the schools will simply be shut, with teachers and students thrown to the wind, which is the last thing that would happen. Even if they did shut down Crescendo, the schools would most likely be transferred to another private charter operator or possibly even returned to LAUSD’s regular program. Ultimately, the issue is whether Crescendo, a corrupt and dishonest organization that is guilty of ordering its employees to violate the law, should be allowed to continue running these schools, like the proverbial fox guarding the chicken coop. Allowing Crescendo to stay in business essentially lets them off the hook and sends the message to students and the community that cheating is fine, so long as you don’t get caught or, if you do get caught, you apologize and knock off a few sacrificial lambs.

LAUSD Rewards Cheating Charter Schools

Several studies have shown that charter schools do not perform any better than traditional public schools and many perform much worse, yet pundits and profiteers continue to push them as the best solution to pseudo-problem of failing schools. Clearly, for the public to continue to buy this delusion, charter schools need to appear highly effective, better than traditional schools. To this end, the head of Crescendo charters, which operates six schools in Los Angeles, asked principals and teachers to open sealed state standardized exams early and let students study them before taking the very same exams. As a result, their annual gains on state test were 10 times higher than other schools.

Despite the fact that administrators were caught red handed, the Los Angeles Board of education is planning to reauthorize Crescendo’s charter. LAUSD officials said they believed that Crescendo’s governing board took appropriate measures to resolve the issue. However, no one was fired. John Allen, the founder and executive director who orchestrated the scam, only received a six-month unpaid suspension and then returned to work at his full salary of $161,333, despite denying that any cheating had occurred. The guilty principals were suspended for just 10 days.

While numerous principals either followed the illegal directive, or put up only feeble resistance, several teachers blew the whistle and alerted authorities, even though they expected retaliatory actions. They were not honored for their courage or honesty. The guilty administrators all received a slap on the wrist and were allowed back to work as foxes guarding the chicken coop. LAUSD blew a golden opportunity to take back some charter schools from a corrupt private company and reclaim some state revenues, which they desperately need as they plan to fire over 5,000 teachers to close their budget deficit. And Crescendo Charters gets to clear its name and carry on with its reputation intact, one more fine example of a noble business doing God’s work for the public good.