BESE hires out-of-state applicant

A Seattle education official was named Wednesday as executive director of the state’s top school board despite complaints that officials passed over qualified applicants from Louisiana.

Heather Cope, an official with the League of Education Voters, will be paid $125,000 per year as executive director of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. BESE sets policies for about 700,000 public school students statewide.

The executive director is responsible for administrative and fiscal operations of the board office.

BESE Vice-President Chas Roemer, who lives in Baton Rouge, said Cope was impressive in her interview, has political and education policy experience and a passion for her work.

“I thought at the end of the day this was the best candidate,” Roemer said.

Lottie Beebe, a BESE member from Breaux Bridge and Carolyn Hill, a BESE member from Baton Rouge, criticized the hiring of someone from outside the state.

Beebe said there were 8-10 well qualified contenders from Louisiana who wanted the job.

“This is a travesty,” she said.

“I do know we have individuals in Louisiana who understand our culture, our Legislature, the people, the needs,” Beebe said.

Hill also criticized the choice.

“This young lady does not have as much experience as other candidates in the packet that is in front of me,” Hill said.

She echoed Beebe’s view that Louisiana’s culture warrants an in-state hire.

Beebe and Hill cast the lone “no” votes on the motion to approve Cope’s selection.

Eight BESE members approved the choice, which is effective on Sept. 28. One was absent.

Cope is a former teacher and reporter, according to the group’s website.

She has a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington and a degree in teaching from Pace University.

The League of Education Voters calls itself an advocate of systemic changes in public schools.

Jim Garvey, a BESE member from Metairie, said he reviewed the r ésumés of the candidates from Louisiana. “But the r ésumé of this young lady was better,” Garvey said.

BESE President Penny Dastugue praised Cope.

“We are bringing forth who we think is the strongest candidate,” Dastugue said.

She said 27 people applied for the job and four were interviewed.

Cope will succeed Catherine Pozniak, who took the job 18 months ago.

Comments

1) Comment by Get Real - 17/08/2012

I bet you Pace is some internet college

2) Comment by conglo - 17/08/2012

This has to be a John White hire, as Jindal is out of the state. She has no more qualifications for this position than I do and I certainly am not qualified Heather experienced first-hand the educational inequity hurting many of today’s kids while teaching middle school social studies in the Bronx. A former journalist—and mostly still one at heart—she wanted to expose the problems in education and work to impact more than the students in her classroom, which lead her to an education reform think tank in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., Heather learned about national education issues, but knew real change in education would occur at the state level, bringing her back home to Washington State. Not a stranger to advocacy, Heather was a founding board member, and later co-chair, of a youth advocacy non-profit in her hometown. Heather holds a BA in communications and political science from the University of Washington and a MS for Teachers from Pace University. When she’s not trying to save the world one K-12 system at a time, Heather enjoys immersing herself in foreign cultures (domestic and international), watching historical dramas and quoting Monty Python sketches. She also volunteers as a mentor through the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration and serves on the board of directors of Seattle Education Access, http://www.seattleeducationaccess.org/about.php a non-profit providing higher education advocacy and opportunity to people struggling to overcome poverty and adversity. Still a practicing teacher, Heather routinely administers lessons on correct hyphen use to coworkers.

3) Comment by civitasiveritas - 16/08/2012

It seems that every week the advocate reports on more experienced veterans from the Department of Education leaving, and young, inexperienced "veterans" of Teach for America coming in to take their place. It is very clear to this reader that their what the privatizers in this state want is ideological purity. Not experience, credentials, or proven records in improving student achievement, Not at all. That won't do. A friend explained to me once that the Broad Foundation (many of its graduates are in the department, including John White) will not accept veteran teachers and principals into their ranks. It seems that they ask too many questions of the "pure ideology" taught at the Broad Foundation. It now seems that BESE is weaving from the same cloth an ideologically pure group of "leaders" who will do everything possible to prevent the fracturing of their sacred ideology of privatization and total ignorance of the absurdity of their claims. All they need is a willing accomplice in the media to profit from their ventures! Yes, no tongue-in-cheek intended here at all. They already have a mostly-bought-and-paid for group of BESE members.... three of whom have incredible clear conflict-of- interest situations that are mostly ignored by the media, and now they are carefully weeding out the ideologically impure veterans in favor of purity. Reminds me of the work of a writer I heard referenced not that long ago on here. "Groupthink" by Irving Jarvis, a great read for anyone wanting to understand why the reformers in this state don't allow anyone into their meetings that might ask too many questions! Wouldn't want to have to actually encounter those pesky questions!

4) Comment by seebee - 16/08/2012

Maybe our next BESE board members should be from out-of-state. Tee hee. Why stop there - we could get a governor from New York or Oregon or Chicago.

5) Comment by Traveler - 16/08/2012

Cope is another puppet for the governor and BESE. If this scenario were a novel, no one would believe it. Readers would say, "No electorate would be so uninformed, so indifferent, so passive as to allow this level of control and manipulation in a state's government." Obviously, those readers have never been to Louisiana.

6) Comment by realworker - 16/08/2012

If you looked at the "new hires" for the Department of Education over the last two years, I bet you will find that the majority of those hired to make the changes have been from out of state. From the Superintendent on down.

7) Comment by spqr - 16/08/2012

The resume is pretty, but the experience is lacking. How much public school classroom experience does the new hire have? BESE wears a crown no teacher respects. And the very spoiled Roemer continues to play the fool.