Damage Control: School District Takes Down Inflammatory Post
Yesterday the Emery School District moved to stanch criticism that it is enabling a debate meme that would tie teacher pay to student test scores by removing a story from its Center of Community Life blog site.
The Nexus Partners, a School District client paid to forward the Center of Community Life, responded to a Sunday Tattler story critical of the blog post by swapping the story about the Education Secretary Arne Duncan forwarding the wisdom of tying teacher pay to student performance with an innocuous story about the Secretary advocating for "community schools". The District's blog does allow readers to read the original story by linking it but new readers will now have to pay the New Yorker Magazine, the source of the Arne Duncan story. Before yesterday's swap, readers of the Center of Community Life blog could read the teacher pay story pasted right on the blog for free.
District officials were evasive about reasons for the Arne Duncan story swap on their blog and they refused comment to the Tattler.
Readers can access the February 1, 2010 New Yorker story by Carlo Rotella for themselves on the magazine's website, but a fee must be paid.
UPDATE / CORRECTION:
Friday May 4, 2012
The Nexus Partners have been revealed to be a consortium of three architecture / city planning firms plus the Emery School District. Nexus Partners exists exclusively to forward the Center of Community Life and there is no web presence associated with the partners.
Nexus Partners made changes to their blog and as of today, readers may now read the 'teacher pay' article for free.
The architecture/ city planning firms that comprise Nexus Partners are: mkThink, dsk architects, and Concordia.
I seem to remember you at the board meeting demanding that the article in question be taken down. Then when they do, you turn around and flame them for it. It seems to me that all you are trying to do is cause people to be upset.
ReplyDeleteRegarding my assessing "blame" for the fact that the inflammatory posting has been removed (mostly, but there is still a link to it), I'm sorry but you're incorrect. I am not blaming the District or Nexus Partners for taking down the posting...I'm happy about it. It seems the Powers That Be recognized the errors of their ways and they moved to correct their mistake. I post this story to inform readers of the new facts.
DeleteI AM trying to cause people to be upset however. Citizens should expect public schools to advocate for children's educational welfare. If the School District drops the ball in their charge, citizens have a right to know it and they should be upset by it. The Tattler will not always try to present two sides to a given issue. We will not give equal time to Holocaust deniers.