MEDIA WATCH: Another Chicago fraud exposed, as New London, Connecticut, rejects Terrence Carter's bid to become New London schools superintendent following expose on false claims to be 'Doctor Carter'
Connecticut continued its record for rejecting Chicago's fraudulent education exports on August 28, 2014 when the New London Board of Education rejected the attempt by former Chicago AUSL leader Terrence Carter to become the New London schools superintendent. Carter, who never taught in Chicago but was promoted to be principal of Barton Elementary School from outside the system and who also served as an administrator at the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), was exposed as a fraud by the Hartford Courant newspaper. In several investigative stories, the Courant established that Carter had lied on his resume, claiming a doctorate that he didn't have. The last straw came a few weeks ago when the date when he supposedly was to receive a doctorate in education from Lesley University came and went.
Former AUSL executive Terrence Carter had been telling people that he was "Doctor Carter" since he was hired as an executive for the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) in Chicago four years ago. The Carter fraud was only exposed when the school board of New London, Connecticut, almost hired Carter to be its next superintendent, based on Carter's supposed Chicago achievements and his fraudulent resume. An investigation by the Hartford Courant newspaper exposed Carter's lies, and on August 28 Carter was dumped by New London. The latest news from Connecticut may come as a surprise for anyone in Chicago who follows the news, since the Carter story, which has been in the media in Connecticut for more than two months, has been ignored in Chicago. One of the problems facing school districts across the USA who are being asked to evaluate former Chicago schools administrators for jobs is that Chicago's corporate media haven't bothered to examine the credentials of those at the top of CPS since corporate "school reform" was launched in Chicago in 1995.
Earlier this year, the Bridgeport Connecticut had gotten rid of former Chicago Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Paul G. Vallas after litigation established that Vallas, who had been Chicago's CEO from 1995 to 2001, did not have a Connecticut credential to serve as a school administrator in the state. Vallas had made a last minute attempt, supported by the state's schools chief, to cobble together a phony (literally, by telephone) set of coursework to qualify for the credential.
After Vallas's attempt to continue in Connecticut became more and more stormy, Vallas's political career was saved when Illinois Governor Pat Quinn selected Vallas to be his candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Since the initial announcement of the Vallas selection, Quinn has systematically avoided doing public appearances with Vallas because of the former Chicago schools chief's toxic reputation among teachers in the nation's third largest school system.
Still, as the school year begins for 2014 - 2015, Connecticut remains the only state where education leaders and reporters have routinely exposed the frauds perpetrated by former Chicago schools "leaders," who have for years been utilizing their Chicago credentials to get executive jobs. These people have generally been hired despite their lack of teacher (or in most cases, principal) experience in Chicago's classrooms and schools. Usually, the selection is done after only the most cursory checking of actual credentials on the part of local school boards, whose members often hire search firms to do the job and don't critically examine the "Chicago Boys and Girls" with so much as a simple Internet search.
The most famous Chicago fraud is, of course, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who was plucked from obscurity by then Mayor Richard M. Daley and made Chicago schools CEO following the Vallas ouster in June 2001. Duncan has never taught in a real public school or been a school principal. Duncan was nevertheless was dubbed by President Barack Obama to become the nation's education chief and a member of the President's Cabinet after Obama's election in November 2008, and for several years, Duncan's claims and work were uncritically reported in the news columns of The New York Times and other leading corporate media.
Other Chicago frauds are still in power in Wisconsin, Nevada, Florida, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. According to local teachers and others in those school districts that have hired the "Chicago Boys and Girls" -- Chicago "educators" who have never taught -- the main qualification for the jobs outside of Chicago has been the "Chicago aura." Apparently there is a national feeling (among some school board members outside Chicago) that anyone who has had an executive job in Chicago's public schools since 1995 (when corporate school reform began) has become, de factor, a proven education leader.
The first page of the vitae Carter submitted to the New London school board, which became public information after he pitched himself for the Connecticut job, noted that Carter's most recent experience has been working for AUSL in Chicago. Carter had been appointed principal of Barton Elementary School in Chicago prior to his time with AUSL despite the fact that he had no Chicago teaching or administrative experience. He was brought into CPS by New Leaders for New Schools.Prior to the 2014 Connecticut actions, only Minnesota has uncovered a fraudulent Chicago export, but too late to prevent its having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. Three years ago, Minneapolis hired former Chicago schools "Network Chief" Rick Mills, who was supposed to take a top job in education in that school system. It was only after hiring Mills that the school district discovered that Mills had no education administration credentials or experience at the local school level in Chicago. Mills had been hired by Paul Vallas to run Chicago's ROTC and expanding military high schools program after Mills retired from the U.S. Army, and was eventually made a Chicago "Network Chief" -- with power over more than a dozen real public high schools -- before decamping to the Minnesota job. After Minneapolis discovered the lapses in Mills's credentials, Mills was able to get hired as superintendent of the public schools in the Sarasota area in Florida, where he currently works amid growing controversy.
Terrance Carter's ouster from Connecticut came after a school board meeting in New London on August 28 2014. He had applied for and been offered the superintendent's job in New London, Connecticut. According to local news in New London, the board of education Thursday night voted 6-0 against entering into a contract with Terrence Carter, whom it had previously named the district's new superintendent.
Carter, for a time referred to as "a highly touted Chicago school administrator," was selected in June. But the board postponed a vote on awarding him an employment contract in late July in the wake of revelations in The [Hartford]Courant that Carter had used "Ph.D." and "Dr." with his name for at least five years despite not having a doctorate from an accredited college. Following the initial revelations of Carter's lies, readers of the news were treated to a series of retreats and feints as the former Chicago admistrator tried everything to keep his job, but was exposed one lie after another.
In addition to the revelations about his fraudulent claim to have had a doctorate in the Courant, Carter was also exposed for apparent plagiarism. The "Day", an online news service in New London, reported that large portions of Carter's New London job application essay were identical to language in articles published on the Internet.
The New London board voted on August 28 after going into in executive session to receive a report from law firm Shipman & Goodwin, its legal counsel. The legal report had been ordered July 24 to investigate the media reports. Anthony Shannon, a Shipman & Goodwin lawyer, said Thursday that the investigation corroborated the facts laid out in the media.
"As a result of this investigation, we have concluded the concerns set forth in the media are grounded in fact and are not mere speculation, hearsay, or unfounded information from Internet searches," the legal report states. "Moreover, neither the responses by Mr. Carter nor any documentary or other evidence contradicts the findings concerning Mr. Carter's use (or misuse) of the titles Dr. and/or Ph.D prior to his achieving … a doctoral degree from an accredited college or university."
The law firm said it didn't agree with Carter's claim that his use of others' work in his application "is not plagiarism," a contention that it said "reflects poorly on any person seeking to lead an academic enterprise."
HARTFORD COURANT'S MOST RECENT INVESTIGATIVE STORY ON THE CARTER FRAUD:
[Editor's Note: Anyone from Chicago who wants to read the lengthy record from Connecticut exposing the latest Chicago fraud can do an Internet search. The Hartford Courant and the "Day" both stayed with the Carter story for months as Carter continued to lie, dodge and weave in his attempt to hold on to the job as chief of the New London schools. The following story from the Hartford Courant demonstrates the detail with which a newspaper has to go to expose the frauds being exported by the "Chicago Boys and Girls" as Chicago's version of corporate school reform continues to infect the rest of the USA. After Carter's earlier lies had been exposed, he told reporters and others that he was in line to finally receive his "doctorate" from Lesley University, so reporters waited until the day the degree was supposed to be conferred and then noted that Lesley University did not want to taint its own record by helping sustain one of Chicago's most recent frauds. George N. Schmidt, Editor, substancenews.net].
Carter’s degree date arrives, but the doctorate doesn’t
By Jon Lender, Hartford Courent, 12:43 pm, August 25, 2014
Embattled New London school superintendent candidate Terrence P. Carter had been scheduled to receive his Ph.D. in Education Monday from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. -- but that didn't happen.
"I can confirm that Terrence Carter does not have a degree from Lesley University," Director of Communications John Sullivan said in an email.
He was then whether other candidates received their degrees on Monday's long-scheduled "conferral date" of Aug. 25, and whether it's still possible that Carter would receive his doctorate.
"Degrees have already been conferred today. He does not have a degree from Lesley," Sullivan said in a subsequent email. "Beyond that, I have no further comment on his or any other student's academic information."
Carter did not respond to Courant messages seeking comment Monday.
Carter was selected by New London's school board in June to be its next superintendent of schools, but the Board postponed a vote on awarding him an employment contract in late July.
The postponement came in the wake of newspaper revelations that Carter had used Ph.D. and Dr. with his name for at least five years without having a doctorate from an accredited college, and that large portions of his New London job application essay were identical to language in articles published on the Internet.
Lesley University would not discuss the reasons why Carter's doctorate was not awarded.
Questions about Carter deepened when a national research organization provided The Courant with a copy of a bio that it says Carter submitted in 2011 including the claim that he had a Ph.D. from Stanford University, which he does not;. Also, The Courant reported that Carter got a Ph.D. in 1996 from "Lexington University" -- which doesn't have a campus and had a website offering degrees for several hundred dollars with the motto "Order Now, Graduate Today!"
The school board commissioned an investigation into Carter's background after the newspaper disclosures in July,. The report on that probe by the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin, the board's legal counsel, is due to be presented at a meeting Thursday night. It's unclear whether the board will go through that night with its previously scheduled vote on whether to enter an employment contract with Carter.
Carter had told New London officials during the application process that he was due to receive a Ph.D. in education from Lesley this summer -- and, in a letter dated June 10, Carter's senior adviser at Lesley verified that he had "successfully defended his dissertation" on May 28, and would officially be awarded his Ph.D. on the "next degree conferral date, August 25, 2014 -- which was Monday.
But that situation has changed, according to Sullivan's email.
Last week, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, whose wife is a pre-doctoral candidate at Lesley, walked into the president's office at the university and delivered a letter advising the school to think twice before awarding Carter a Ph.D.
"Numerous local and state newspaper stories show Mr. Carter to have lied about his accomplishments [and] he has plagiarized substantial portions of his application for a job in Connecticut," the former 2nd District congressman wrote to school President Joseph B. Moore.
Simmons said he was concerned about Lesley's reputation on behalf of his wife, a retired New London teacher now studying at Lesley.
"I strongly suggest that Lesley examine his course work and papers carefully before giving him any degree much less a Doctorate," Simmons wrote, adding that failure to do that "could lead to real embarrassment for you, the faculty and the University."
Simmons, of Stonington, who served in Congress from 2001 to 2007, concluded his letter by saying: "We remain strong supporters of Lesley University and consider a Lesley Degree of any sort a high honor not to be earned easily or dishonestly."
The Ph.D. that Carter had been scheduled to receive was for a dissertation entitled "Driving Value within a Changing Network of Schools through Learning and Development: The Use of a 360° Feedback Tool To Drive Change and Bring Value in Public Education."
Carter told the Courant in July he would be willing to send a copy of the dissertation, but he has not done so. Lesley has declined to release a copy.
Carter and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment last week on Simmons' letter and other questions concerning the New London situation.
The New London board's June choice of Carter was watched more closely than most local hirings of school administrators, partly because the state Department of Education has played a strong role in addressing the local system's record of low performance. The board's June announcement that it had selected Carter was endorsed publicly by state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor.
PHOTO CREDIT FROM NEW LONDON. Attorney Anthony Shannon, center, and Attorney Christopher Engler, right, of Shipman and Goodwin in Hartford carry boxes with copies of the report on the investigation of Terrence Carter as they and New London Board of Education members Rob Funk, left, and Sylvia Potter, back center, and the rest of the board leave the lecture hall to go upstairs for an executive session at the Science and Technology Magnet High School in New London Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. Photo: The Day
