Just wanted to give the Secretary a chance to dash out and buy Gloucester a box of chockies or something to celebrate “Tough but Necessary Pill” day tomorrow — it’s been a WHOLE year since you penned your now celebrated email outlining a cynical and politically driven agenda to foist an unready and questionably viable charter school on our community. We don’t want anything too fancy to celebrate this year, we still haven’t managed to finish the pig in a poke you delivered to us last year ya big galoot.
From: Reville, Paul
Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2009, 11:54 p.m.
To: Chester, Mitchell D. (DOE)
Subject: charters
Mitchell,
Hope all’s well and warm in AZ. I appreciated our talk today and your openness and flexibility. This situation presents one of those painful dilemmas. In addition to being a no-win situation, it forces us into a political cul de sac where we could be permanently trapped. Our reality is that we have to show some sympathy in this group of charters or we’ll get permanently labeled as hostile and they will cripple us with a number of key moderate allies like the Globe and the Boston Foundation. Frankly, I’d rather fight for the kids in the Waltham situation, but it sounds like you can’t find a solid basis for standing behind that one. I’m not inclined to push Worcester, so that leaves Gloucester. My inclination is to think that you, I and the Governor all need to send at least one positive signal in this batch, and I gather that you think the best candidate is Gloucester. Can you see your way clear to supporting it? Would you want to do the financial trigger even in light of likely stimulus aid?
Thanks for not seeing this as an independence issue. It really is a matter of positioning ourselves so that we can be viable to implement the rest of our agenda. It’s a tough but I think necessary pill to swallow. Let’s discuss some more tomorrow.
Paul
This mess by the Secretary of Education and Commissioner Chester has been going on for almost a year and no one is taking responsibility to fix it. The majority of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education would follow Reville and Chester off a cliff — dead bodies could be found and they would still worship them.
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p>The ONLY reason this school was recommended and approved — political motivation.
http://offthecharter.blogspot….
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p>Well worth it to read the rework of this classic at the above link —
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p>From the Off the Charter Blog:
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p>The Love Song of GCA Charter
In honor of the anniversary of the “tough pill” e-mail written by Secretary of Education Paul Reville, Amanda Cook has written a parody of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot.
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p>In case you have forgotten what it is that Paul Reville wrote one year ago, I give you the following excerpts from his infamous e-mail:
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p>”Our reality is that we have to show some sympathy in this group of charters…Frankly, I’d rather fight for the kids in the Waltham situation, but it sounds like you can’t find a solid basis for standing behind that one. I’m not inclined to push Worcester, so that leaves Gloucester.”
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p>”…It’s a tough but I think necessary pill to swallow.” E-mail here.
Both Rubin and Asbury jump in when the coast is clear and the conversation is comfortable. Where are both of you on the Governor’s handling of Gloucester? Another question. When will Reville be fired? If you think this issue is going away, think again.
…but Sydney Asbury is the campaign manager and really isn’t the appropriate person to talk about this. Her job is to figure out how to win in November while Doug Rubin was part of the administration.
Not dealing with it is it’s own message….
Just wondering how Deval Patrick will do on Cape Ann.
Charter arts school bids for students
Registration bid comes with interim leader, but still no site
By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer
A year ago this week, a series of late-night, long-distance e-mails between top state officials about a proposed Gloucester charter school sowed the seeds of one of the state’s most enduring education controversies.
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p>On Wednesday, with the controversy still very much alive, that school began recruiting students despite a string of setbacks that have left it without a building, a permanent head of school and – after at least one resignation this week – a key founder.
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p>http://www.gloucestertimes.com…
Traditional public schools all over the state are cutting music and arts programs. In the meantime, the BOE, Chester, Banta, Reville, et al are forcing an “arts” oriented charter on a district that does not want it. Go figure.
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p>I await a response from Rubin and/or Asbury relative to Reville and Gloucester.