What a day yesterday was! The new phone books arrived, I, with other education bloggers, got to engage in a video conference with Diane Ravitch, and I found out that not only had Whitney Tilson finally make some sense, but he confirmed that he is in education for the moolah and lying hypocrite as well.


So Whitney, in a obvious display making up for some Freudian shortcoming shows just how smart
and investor he thinks he is. Remember, this is the guy who shorted Netflix.

I know the company and the space well (K12’s primary business is running online charter schools in 33 states and DC), and it’s a VERY high conviction short (meaning the funds I manage will profit if the stock price declines). I think that the company has run amok in many, many ways, inappropriately targeting the most at-risk students, with dismal academic results, off-the-charts student turnover, coming under increasing scrutiny. K12 reminds me of the subprime mortgage lenders and for-profit colleges when they were flying high – and the ending will be similar I believe.

Funny how this email was sent by Whitney at 9:32 PM, many hours after the official release of Diane's book. My bet is, and I doubt I am incorrect or Whitney can be that smart, is that Whitney read what Diane wrote in "Reign of Error" about K12 and decided to short K12 based on Diane's unveiling of their incompetency. We here salute Diane and her stock portfolio acumen.

Whitney goes on in a blabbering manner; K12's aggressive student recruitment has led to dismal academic results by students and sky-high dropout rates, in some cases more than 50% annually;

I wouldn't be short K12 if it were carefully targeting students who were likely to benefit from its schools – typically those who have a high degree of self-motivation and strong parental commitment

But K12 is instead doing the opposite; numerous former employees say that K12 accepts any student and actually targets at-risk students, who are least likely to succeed at an online school

But K12 is instead doing the opposite; numerous former employees say that K12 accepts any student and actually targets at-risk students, who are least likely to succeed at an online school

One former employee said: "K12's recruitment of inner-city and at-risk "last resort" students had another benefit – these students used up less of K12's educational and teaching resources while permitting K12 to collect full funding from the states."

Hmm, this sounds so familiar. This might not have been Diane's exact words about K12, but what Whitney has written is pretty much the gist from "Reign of Error." Plagiarism, Whitney? Copyright infringement? For shame

The Crack Team has commanded me to suggest Diane put a call into my brother in law who is a crack Copyright and Trade Dress attorney. He is a fine attorney, but he is suspended from the bar and hiding out in Thailand due to back child support and  teaching English. 

In fact The Crack Team believes that Diane has action for a lawsuit against Whitney for publishing an excerpt of  "Reign of Error" with out hers or Salon's permission. That excerpt does not fall under Fair Use.

More spewing from Big Head; There have been so many regulatory issues and accusations of malfeasance that I'm convinced the problems are endemic. Enrollment violations, uncertified teachers, conflicted relationships with nonprofit charter holders.

Gosh, diddly darn Whitless, you have just about described 90% of charters including your favorite run by the Sith Lord, Eva.

I have been looking for years and have not found a single K12 school that is free of scandal and posting even decent (much less good) academic results.

Guess who been saying that for years Whitless? Guess. That echo Whitney hears in his head are all the education bloggers and real teachers throughout the country.

 States (and the IRS) are waking up to what K12 is doing and the company is coming under increased scrutiny, which is beginning to impair K12's growth – and I believe this trend will accelerate

Oh please send the IRS into Success, Bronx Classical Charter, KIPP, Whitney Tilson's hedge fund, his palatial 5th Ave home. It is time to see the truth. Time the IRS goes after the charters instead of Mike Tyson or Jerry Koosman.

Face it Whitney, the jigg is up. It's time to find another toy in your Hamptons sandbox to play with. You have been exposed.

Whitney just exposed himself in that he is all about the money, has no loyalty, and really does not want those with learning issues anywhere near KIPP, Success, him, or anywhere lest he gets a case of hedge fund managers remorse.

For those who are not aware, Whitney has written some pretty mean and misogynistic stuff about Diane. He even created a website for the sole purpose of attacking her. Last night, I wanted to tease Diane that Whitney is her nemesis, her super villain. Then I thought better. Whitney does not have the brains or the class to be in the same league as Lex Luthor, or Bane, or Scarecrow, or Dr Octopus. He's just a street level stick up man, if that. Yeah, or a thug.

We here at SBSB wish to extend  a laurel and hearty handshake to our new overlords and betters at PS 154, Bronx Classical Charter II. We look forward to years of acquiescence and seeing how the monies flow into BCC II and out of PS 154.

We also have come to realize that as your school expands, 154 will shrink in size as if having spent the entire afternoon in a cold pool. Also, we know that as BCC II counsels out students it deems
unworthy, that PS 154 stands a good chance of getting these students. That, and the fact that PS 154 is a failing school and the new district wide open enrollment starting this year for Kindergarten only assures that PS 154 will certainly have an eclectic array of students with IEP's, ELL's, behavior issues, psychological issues, and a consortium of other issues which should only have the community of PS 154 upset. Sadly, that remains to be seen.

Last week the staff got a preliminary set of rules to follow when we return to PS 154, or as The Crack Team likes to say, the "J.D. Hyatt Education Complex."

These rules will consist of;

No P.S. 154 staff member or student may walk down the charter school hallways. 

Staff in Rooms 326, 328, and 330 may not put furniture or garbage in the  hallway until the conclusion of the charter school's school day (4:30 p.m.). 

BCC II is moving onto the 3rd floor and will eventually occupy the entire 3rd floor. We here at SBSB call bullocks! Like a cancer,  BCC II will slowly engorge the healthy host.

If leaving prior to 4:30, please make a recognizable pile of garbage or furniture to be discarded at the front of the classroom and label it clearly for the custodians to see. 

All staff are permitted to use the adult bathrooms on the third floor.  All bathrooms are common space.

This will not last long.

In the P.S. 154 parking lot, spaces #2 - 5 are the only spots that are open to P.S. 154 staff on a first come, first serve basis. 

We predict problems. 

But enough of those rules, The Crack Team was able to obtain a super secret copy of further rules and regulations that have yet to be officially shared. The rules and regulations consist of;

When students of PS 154 complain to staff that the BCC II students seem to have the latest in textbooks, working water fountains and bathrooms, fresh paint in the classrooms, and the latest in physical education equipment, teachers will be instructed to pretend that the students are hallucinating and tell the students there is no charter school in the building. 

When the parents of PS 154 see that we are lagging behind academically of BCC II, explain to the parents that even though the students at BCC II are involved in a challenging, robust, creative CURRICULI, that students should feel blessed at PS 154 for being able to not learn using Readers and Writers Workshop and strict adherence to the Common Core standards.

When parents of PS 154 wonder why their children are not safe, point out to such parents how well behaved the students are at BCC II and explain the students are not that way for BCC II does not use the latest fad for school discipline (Just for the record, we here at SBSB to not condone the goose stepping of the students at BCC II).

When parents of PS 154 inquire as to what the future is for the school, explain to parents (In a manner in which Steve Martin explained in The Jerk about prizes) what will be left of the learning area at PS 154.

There will be more rules and regulations next week. One thing The Crack Team has noticed is that what we were told would be a partnership of PS 154 and BCC II as suddenly started to become one sided, advantage BCC II.