Party On Pete
Superintendent Peter Gorman could have used part or all of a $250,000 grant he received earlier this year, from the C.D. Spangler Foundation, to help plug a funding gap for school athletics, or to buy some new books for kids, or training for teachers, or – heck, just about anything. The grant money, which was to be used for an ambiguously tagged “personal development,” was to be used as Gorman best saw fit.
So how did our $300,000-a-year super use the personal development grant money? To cart a bunch of folks to New York City, of course, for what was supposed to be the mother of all celebrations, in anticipation of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools winning the coveted Broad Prize for Urban Education. Only CMS didn’t win.
That honor went to the Gwinnet County Public Schools, located outside Atlanta, which nabbed first place and its $1 million prize to be used for scholarships. CMS was left hanging with the other runner-ups, which each received a $250,000 prize: Montgomery County Public Schools, Md., and Socorro Independent School District and Ysleta Independent School District, both from El Paso, Texas.
CMS didn’t have an exact total on how much of the Spangler grant money Gorman blew through to haul his 13-person posse to New York, but it probably wasn’t cheap. The group stayed at the posh Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, in midtown Manhattan, where rooms start at around $360 a pop. The Broad Prize shindig unfolded at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on hand to hand out awards and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams delivering the keynote address.
Accompanying Gorman on the jaunt to the Big Apple: Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis, Vice Chairman Tom Tate and board members Joe White, Kaye McGarry and Trent Merchant; former school board member Molly Griffin; CMS Chief Academic Officer Ann Clark; CMS Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh; CMS Chief Accountability Officer Robert Avossa; CMS PR Chief LaTarzja Henry; CMS Principal Denise Watts; and CMS teacher Mary McCray, who heads the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators.
Wonderful.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=3921
