Darren Draper:
“When she announced her excitement on Facebook, I replied with a less-than-popular response. In my response I mentioned that I thought this move was good for her, good for the company she was joining, and good for all who would embrace the privatization of Ed Tech everywhere. (After all, she IS highly skilled and would finally be making the kind of money she deserves.) I then clarified that I also thought this move was bad: Bad for Public Education, bad for the organization she was leaving behind, and bad for the taxpayers in our state who had invested so heavily in her throughout her career – to ultimately make her the high quality and coveted technology trainer that she had eventually become.”
Yes, sometimes public ed loses great people. Darren has always been all about the public education and open source. So, he has that bias. Personally, I'd say that if "Public Education" wants to keep those highly trained, highly skilled people, "they" need to create an environment where those people can thrive. And when I say "they", I mean me and every other leader and policy maker in education. This is really a difficult question, but one that is important to ask and discuss.
I do also take issue with the idea that private and public are enemies and fighting against each other. I don't think that has to be the case. We set up this adversarial relationship, and then pay these companies hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for their services. That doesn't help things either.
As always, I appreciate Darren's pushback.
