Democrat Legislator Says Charter Schools Deserve "Special Place in Hell"
March 29, 2007
A Face the State Exclusive investigation has uncovered a pointed email written from Rep. Mike Merrifield (D - El Paso County) to Sen. Sue Windels (D - Arvada) in which he states, "There must be a special place in Hell for these Privatizers, Charerizers, [sic] and Voucherizers! They deserve it!"
Merrifield made his comment during an email exchange in which he and Windels searched for ways to gut the state's Charter School Institute. The full version is available here. The Charter School Institute allows charter school applicants to appeal school districts that inappropriately reject applications by charter schools.
The email exchange shows that both Windels and Merrifield are opposed to parental choice in any form. Indeed, Merrifield's constituents who choose charter or private schools for their children certainly won't find solace in his harsh treatment of their decisions.
Update: The Rocky Mountain News has the story
...as does the Colorado Springs Gazette
...and Dan Haley at the Denver Post
FAN US ON FACEBOOK
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Comments
Merrifield/Windels
Nice try, kulpc. 75% of 20% of eligible voters recalled the D-11 board members. Let's me honest, okay? And coincidentally, much of the "chaos" the recall organizers cited was email sent from Christen's home computer that they obtained through FOIA requests. Now, where's the beef? Merrifield got stung the same way Christen did. His comments weren't pointed at two singular people, he was referring to anyone who doesn't cheerlead for the current mediocre public education system.
Nice try
It is also true that Christen's 'home' computer was D-11 property. He kept the computer well after his expulsion from the board "...until his employer provided him with another..."
If Eric and Sandy were so darned good, where were the 80% of their non-voter 'friends'?
Merrifield made a mistake, but his target was specifically Christen and Shakes. Mike's comment pales miserably in comparison to the many arrogant rantings of Eric Christen.
Colorado Springs Recall
All active registered voters in D-11 were sent a ballot to vote in the recall election; don't assume that those who did not mail them back did not agree with the over 70% who voted "yes" on the recall.
Those of us living in the community know that the "chaos" Shakes and Christen caused had more to do with serious misconduct such as:
--firing a new superintendent, who was highly respected and well-qualified, before she had a chance to prove herself
--wasting almost $.5 million in taxpayer dollars to get rid of her.
--constant infighting, bullying, disrespectful and barbaric behavior towards other members and the public,
--and inability to provide the leadership needed to move the city's largest District forward to address it's many challenges.
This is why the voters overwhelmingly choose to rid D-11 of “these privatizers, charterizers and voucherizers,” Michael Merrifield's accurate description of the defeated duo. Shakes and Christen did not support public education, they wanted to use tax payer dollars to pay for private schools, and they wanted to keep the school board as weak and dysfunctional as possible.
Far from "cheerleading for a mediocre public education system", the new board has the commitment, knowledge and leadership ability to work as a team to address the problems and improve the quality of education. D-11 also has 7 charter schools that the board has approved, and 3-4 others that the state Charter School Insistitute has approved, circumventing local control and public input.
"Spinning" Rep. Merrifield's Comments
Although the title of your article claims that Rep. Merrifield's comment defames charter schools, and your commentary says, "both Windels and Merrifield are opposed to parental choice in any form", I find that you have ignored the context of his remarks and misconstrued them. He is clearly referring to two former members of the D-11 School Board, Sandy Shakes and Eric Christen, who forced the community to recall them in December due to their antics and the chaos that they generated.
He refers to the "evil twins" and uses the pronoun "these" privatizers, etc.... which clearly describes Shakes and Christen. Over 70% of the voters supported the recall, by the way, so Rep. Merrifield is not in the minority with his strong sentiments against these two.
Merrifield is not opposed to school choice, not against charter schools, and he is not defaming parents who send their kinds to charter schools.
Please pay more attention to context and journalistic integrity, rather than trying to "spin" his words to suit your biases audience. The fact is that the Charter School Institute is by- passing local school boards and imposing charter schools on us, when they may not be needed. Former Rep. Keith King has turned one into a nice paying job for himself. It's a little fiefdom up there and Merrifield and Windels are right to establish some accountability.
Do charter schools really work?
As I note in my Diary over at www.coloradopolitics.com, I'm very skeptical about the effectiveness of charter schools and vouchers even though I supported them before reading Freakonomics, a great book about datamining. See See link here.
I just think the whole education debate is focusing on the wrong issues and solutions.
Do charter schools really work
I tried to access your recommended notes but was not able.
I am intrigued by your comment that the whole education debate is focusing on the wrong issues and solutions, yet you offer nothing new to support that statement. I am so willing to talk about what works with anyone that I ask this genuinely interested in what you have to say.
I disagree with you, however, that charter schools are ineffective. I am the proud parent of a charter school graduate who would certainly have dropped out of the traditional high school she attended previous to her charter school career.
As the saying goes, one child saved makes it worth it, and she wasn't the only, many of her classmates were in similar, dire positions when their parents exercised their right to take their child to a charter school.
Try this link
http://coloradopols.com/showComment.do?commentId=76834
Here's my post:
Do charter schools perform or benefit from their demographics
Before you write anything about charter schools, be sure to read Freakonomics, which casts a huge and credible shadow over the charter schools and school vouchers movements.
Although it doesn't mention either charter schools or vouchers specifically, any reader will see the major point derived from sophisticated data mining of educational records.
That is, it's the parents, stupid. Their genes, incomes and literacy determine the academic success of their kids. It's their zip code that tells the story, not whether kids are bused to better schools or parents move to better subdivisions.
I also recommend that you read Judith Rich Harris' two out-of-the box books on nature versus nurture. The books are her latest, "No two alike, human nature and human individuality," and her 1998 book, "The Nurture Assumption, why children turn out the way they do."
I don't know how good the education establishment's studies of charter schools and vouchers are, but I suspect they're highly biased and lack credibility.
For an outstanding discussion of database mining bias and research bias, read the new book on the stock markets by David Aronson, "Evidence-Based Technical Analysis, applying the scientific method and statistical inference to trading signals." He includes strong chapters on statistical analysis and basic statistics as part of his argument that chart patterns don't tell traders anything about markets. The book's $60 on Amazon and worth the price just for the discussions about statstistics and data mining, both of which are critical to your study of charter schools, imho.
So, what I'm saying, is that I have trouble believing either the school unions or the advocates of charter schools and vouchers because I doubt the credibility of their studies and data mining. You have an opportunity to break some new ground, if you have the skills, knowledge, integrity and resources to do some heavy lifting.
Looking forward to your diaries on charter schools.
Merrifield/Windels
As a longtime watcher of Colorado Springs District 11 Board of Education proceedings, I have to share that Windels is lying. Flat out lying. At no time was the former (pre-recall) board considering turning over a high performing school to a charter. Ask yourself, what sense does that make? If she was twisting facts to impotently defend Mike "Steal Signs" Merrifield's hateful comments, she went too far. She says he was riled up over the D-11 board considering turning over a high at risk population school that was doing WELL to a charter? LIE. Hopefully people will see how dishonest the union hacks can be and will not support their reelections and perhaps even get riled up enough to start a recall. Merrifield has no problem schmoozing with high level public school executives, even those who privately educate their own children. Imagine that! These folks are public servants, earn plenty enough money to send their own children to the best private schools in town, then tell the rest of us to take what we get and stop asking for more choices (charters, vouchers, on-line, etc). Merrifield obviously believes that some children are more deserving of a quality education than................................well, my working class kids.
Charter Schools
Merrifield, shame on you. My children's education is worth more than your closed mindedness and arrogance. You should step down from the committee.
The tip
How did 'Face the State' find out about the existence of this email? That's a lot more interesting than Merrifield's mouth-off. I imagine that every legislator's email will be closely scrutinized now.