Thanks to the excellent reporting of Linda Conner Lambeck of the CT Post, this was blasted all over the front page ~
Outside interests were working behind the scenes to reconstitute school board
A consultant for a Greenwich billionaire interested in education reform was advocating behind the scenes for charter changes that would give the mayor control of the Bridgeport school board at the same time that local and city officials were also looking to reconstitute the board, email correspondence released to Hearst Connecticut Newspapers revealed.
Meghan Lowney, the consultant, was introduced to CT State Board of Education Chairman Allan Taylor by Alex Johnston Director of ConnCan, and lover of charter schools and teacher evaluations based on high stakes tests.
She and Board Chairman Taylor have an many email exchanges, all of which she requests he keep quiet about.
Via the CT Post:
In emails to Taylor, Lowney tells him that Mandel, founder of Lone Pine Capital in Greenwich, along with his wife, was interested in making meaningful school change in Bridgeport. They did not think accelerated change could take place under the current school board, which by most counts was deemed dysfunctional."In the last few months I've talked with Mayor (Bill) Finch and others about the possibilities for private support for the Bridgeport public schools," she said. "Just as in other challenged urban districts ... private-public partnerships can fuel innovations and system transformations."
And provide big bucks for billionaires!