Jumpin’ Joe Curtis (Photo: Linked-In)

BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS ANS COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY NOV. 10, 2021) — THE PLANET has heard from exactly no members of the Pittsfield school administration, no members of the school committee, or no new members just elected following Part 1 of this series pulling back the curtain on what passes these days for public “edge-ja-mah-kashun.”

Nobody. Zero. Zilch.

Jumpin’ Joe Curtis. C’mon down!

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Here’s Jumpin’ Joe’s pithy description of himself on his Linked-In page, from which we learn he has a B.A. in elementary education from that “Sorbonne of the West,” Springfield College, and a “Master’s” in administration and supervision” from the University of Phoenix, an online diploma mill.

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Curtis: “What, me worry?” (Photo: Berkshire Eagle)

Don’t know about “Phoenix University?” Allow THE PLANET to edge-ju-mah-kate you.

From collegerealitycheck.com:

“It cannot be denied that it is easier to go to an online school than a traditional school. As a matter of fact, the University of Phoenix has a 100% online acceptance rate.

“It means that anyone who applies to it will get admitted. This is provided that they can meet the requirements. Well, it’s not just UoP that has a 100% acceptance rate, but also the majority of online schools.

“This is most likely to be one of the reasons why a lot of employers do not take applicants with online degrees seriously. With 100% acceptance rates, they assume that just about anyone can get a degree online.”

And this from ownyourownfuture.com:

“While it is the largest school of its kind in the US, many people are questioning the fact of whether UoP is a legitimate school.

“That’s because its programs and degrees are said to be not being taken seriously by employers, which is usually the case when a for-profit or online school is involved.”

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This “Loyal Pittsfielder,” who “Builds a Promising Future for the Children of Pittsfield” (don’tcha like the Capital letters, to Make It Sound Important?), was selected in a controversial 4-3 vote by the school committee. The vote saw one member, Dennis Powell, member resign in protest and disgust immediately following the vote. By the stillest of margins, the committee chose Jumpin’ over other clearly more qualified candidates, the best of which was Portia Bonner.

DOCTOR Portia Bonner, with a Ph.D. in curriculum and information from UConn, one of the country’s most respected venues of higher learning. It took her from 1994 to 2001 to earn her doctorate. It took Jumpin’ not even a year to buy his Master’s. In arts or sciences? In what speciality? Joe won’t say.

Jumpin’s Candidacy Controversial from the Start

Here’s a sampling of the quotes THE PLANET gathered from our investigation. These are mostly from teachers, who were outspoken in their criticisms of Curtis:

• “He’s an autocrat. Doesn’t listen to complaints or visit classrooms. Hides behind his desk [at Mercer] and collects his fat salary.”
• “He acted like I wasn’t even there and said some things I considered to be sexual harassment. I didn’t appreciate it. When I told him, he just laughed.”
• Current teacher: “Joe has told us in meetings we are not to complain publicly, either to the school committee [at meetings] or to the press. There was an implicit threat if any of us spoke out.”

• Teacher who recently left to system to teach in South County: “I had enough. I just worry about the kids and so many good teachers who have no support from up top and are being kicked around and humiliated.”
• “Selecting Joe [as superintendent] was a joke. Inside the halls, we knew the [school] committee would go through the motions of bringing in other candidates, but we knew Joe had been preordained.”
• “Morale is at an all-time low.”
• “We’ve been spit on, kicked, punched, urinated on, hit by thrown objects, cussed out with the filthiest of language. I had a student throw a calculator at me. It hit me in the face.”
• “There’s a genuine sense of helplessness, dread, and fear.”

The Gang of Three: McCandless, Curtis, and Benhke. (Photo: iBerkshires)

“The Whole Process Was Rigged”

From WAMC‘s Josh Landes:

“Dennis Powell abruptly resigned from the committee just after a 4-3 vote to pick interim superintendent Joe Curtis for the job running the county’s largest school district at a virtual meeting.

“’I just felt right from the very beginning, that the whole process was rigged,’ said Powell. ‘From the selection of the consultant, from the way the search committee was formed, to Joe Curtis stating that he was not going to run for the position …”

“Describing the process as a waste of the community’s time, Powell says the body tasked with finding a new superintendent was problematic from the get-go.

“’There were people who reported directly to Joe, that was part of that search committee,’ he said.”

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THE PLANET puts some direct questions to Curtis, his staff, and the school committee:

• What the hell is going on?
• When are you going to come clean to parents and taxpayers?
• When are you going to INSIST on serious disciplinary actions when the punks and troublemakers ruin everything for the good kids?

• When are you going to audit what’s going on in the “special education” area?
• When are you going to abandon failed, so-called “restorative” methods of addressing misbehavior and begin punishing serious misbehavior?
• When are you going to enforce the dress code?
• When will you begin enforcing department “no-tolerance” policies on bullying and drugs?
• When are you going to show kids that actions have consequences?
• When are you going to kick out the bad apples?

• When will you stop favoring the bad actors and ignoring the majority of good kids who want to learn?
• When will you be accountable to taxpayers, who are footing the blasted wreck?

One last quote from a teacher: “I don’t even know what to say about how bad it is right now. There’s no way to explain it. Kids and too many parents don’t have a clue on how to behave in school.”

The result? Huge staffing problems, frazzled teachers and teaching assistants, and millions of dollars transferred out of the Pittsfield schools through school choice.

Meanwhile, Pittsfield’s political “leaders” keep throwing The Kapanskis money at this abomination, a waste millions of dollars chucked into a sinkhole that makes a tarpit look like taffy.

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“There is no neutral education. Education is either for domestication or for freedom” — Joah Coutinho

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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