The Shadow FactionDianne Douglas was elected as Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction largely on an anti-Common Core platform. Last week Douglas, a Republican, decided to start her war against Common Core by firing two State Board of Education employees. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (a fellow Republican who previously endorsed Douglas) stepped in to stop the firing, arguing that the State Superintendent didn’t have the power to terminate Board of Education employees.
Diane Douglas
Douglas retaliated in a bizarre press release, accusing the governor of supporting “two liberal staff” members of the board and creating "a shadow faction of charter school operators and former state superintendents who support Common Core and moving funds from traditional public schools to charter schools."
Demonstrating the best way to deal with criticism, Lisa Graham Keegan (the alleged ringleader of the shadow faction) decided to respond with humor. According to the Arizona Republic, Keegan “sat up late ordering coffee mugs emblazoned with #shadowfaction.” For supporters, she’s ordered mugs with the words #shadowfactionfan.
The issue gets more bizarre with Douglas, but that is another story.
Dr. Evil, rumored to be a working for the Shadow Faction as a consultant.
Speaking of using humor to address criticism, Matthew Ladner (who was snubbed in Diane Douglas' Shadow Faction press release despite being the senior advisor for policy and research at Gov. Jeb Bush's Foundation for Education Excellence, co-chair of Gov. Ducey's education transition team, and the mastermind behind the concept of Education Savings Accounts that is now sweeping the nation) pens a humorous letter to the Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper, which has frequently editorialized against school choice programs.
Ladner points out the obvious: despite the newspapers annual prediction that public schools will be decimated by the school choice movement, public schools in Arizona continue to grow in enrollment. He concludes: (more…)
