Saturday, April 7, 2012

Why Lie

Mindy Schmidt's latest missive against Corbett School (and against me) makes the untrue claim that the Cascade Locks Charter School Application was similar to that of Corbett Charter School. She goes on to say that it was denied by HRVSD and by the State of Oregon.

This is simply false. I was hired as a consultant after the proposed school was already designed by a community group from Cascade Locks. Mindy seems to hope that by claiming that the Cascade Locks Charter Application was essentially the same as that of Corbett Charter School, the denial of the Cascade Locks application should somehow reflect badly on our school and on me.

I almost wish that her 'claim' had been true. It would constitute evidence that Hood River Valley School Board had displayed incompetence in denying the application. After all, Corbett Charter School has since out-performed Hood River Valley School District as well as the State of Oregon in every measure of school success. To deny an application that sought to replicate CCS success would seem to be a matter of extreme incompetence.

The fact is that it was greed, pure and simple, that blocked the establishment of Cascade Locks Charter School. The plan was not mine, but it was good. Nobody who can back up their claim to expertise with actual achievement, including the decision-makers in Hood River, ever said otherwise.

But one has to wonder why Mindy would make such a claim. What is in it for her? My old sociology professor used to urge that we ought to constantly ask the question: who benefits? How does Mindy benefit from attempting to discredit me and Corbett Charter School? How does she benefit from her campaign of ill will toward Corbett School District? Who benefits? Interesting question.