Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Blog review: THE BROAD REPORT

by smf

Sharon Higgins aka “The Perimeter Primate” writes a blog, The BROAD REPORT:  A Clearinghouse About Billionaire Eli Broad's Efforts To Dismantle Public Education.

Ms. Higgins, Occupation: Mother, former critical care R.N., former Parent Coordinator, wife of criminal defense attorney and Commander in U.S.N.R. (Retired), off-and-on ceramic artist, Neighborhood Watch Block Captain - lives in Oakland and likes to write about schools, neighborhoods, parents, society, class, education, children, crime, race, reality and change. She has it in for billionaires who would “reform” public education.

Ms. Higgins likes to follow the money, she names names and and ties up some loose ends with charts, graphs and footnotes.

And she theorizes, such as on what she calls The Broad Effect:

If the Broad Foundation plants an element in a school district, it is highly likely that they will plant another one along with it, in order to maximize the influence they want to assert.


For instance, an element might be:

  • The presence of a Broad-trained superintendent
  • The placement of Broad Residents into important central office positions
  • An "invitation" to participate in a program spawned by Broad (such as CRSS's Reform Governance in Action program)
  • The offer to pay for doing a "Performance Management Diagnostic" of the district
  • The Broad Foundation likes to infiltrate its targets on multiple levels so it can cause the greatest disruption.
  • Venture philanthropists proudly call this invasive strategy "investing in a disruptive force." To these billionaires and their henchmen, disrupting a community is no big deal.

While not exactly evenhanded – or even fair-and-balanced – it’s  worth a read – and maybe a return visit: http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/

As another Broad Report reviewer asked: “Are we having fun yet?”

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