Political Ruminations

Robert Bobb, Detroit Schools EFM, Attempts to Sell His Treatment of Teachers, Charter Schools, and School Reform in a Video Interview

The videos are from an interview (aired just a few minutes ago) with Robert Bobb, the Detroit School District's Emergency Financial Manager,  and conducted by Carolyn Clifford, a reporter for the local ABC affiliate in Detroit.

Presented without comment.

Watch:

Part 1

Detroit EFM, Robert Bobb, Salary Paid in Part by Billionaire Conservative Foundation

Whatever happened to ethics? E.D. Kain on Forbes, emphasis mine:

So who is Robert Bobb?

It turns out, he’s a recent graduate of the Broad Foundation’s Superintendent Academy. The Broad Foundation, along with the Kellogg Foundation, pays Bobb $145,000 a year on top of his $280,000 government salary. For those of you not familiar with Broad, it is one of the leading foundations promoting school choice and privatization across the country. One might almost think that paying a public official hundreds of thousands of dollars a year might amount to nothing short of bribery, especially given the very specific agenda of a foundation like the Broad Foundation.

Now, Bobb is proposing to create charter schools for 16,000 students from 41 schools slated for closure. He argues that this will save millions of dollars. I have to wonder, however, at the conflict of interest.

And the money quote:

This is nothing short of a coordinated effort between the billionaire foundations pushing school reform and Tea Party conservatives intent on slashing benefits and ending collective bargaining rights. Public schools are under assault by the forces of privatization, and public school teachers face benefit and salary cuts while the very rich are promised tax cuts.