A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud; New York Times, 8/31/16

Katie Benner, New York Times; A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud:

"Along with the start-up, Mr. Choi’s personal credibility is on the line. As he built WrkRiot, the entrepreneur said that he graduated from the Stern School of Business at New York University and that he worked at J. P. Morgan for nearly four years as an analyst. N.Y.U. and J. P. Morgan both said they had no record of Mr. Choi. At least one company listed on his LinkedIn profile also could not be found.

Mr. Choi, whose LinkedIn profile has since been wiped clean, did not respond to questions about his résumé. His lawyer, Bernard Fishman, said he was not aware of the allegations against WrkRiot until contacted by The New York Times."

Superintendent Hamlet: Let’s see how the new city school leader performs; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/3/16

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Superintendent Hamlet: Let’s see how the new city school leader performs:

"One paradox of the fracas over Mr. Hamlet’s resume is that the appropriated sentence in his resume’s educational philosophy expresses a truth that is universally supported: “A successful superintendent has to satisfy many constituencies, keeping high achievers in the system while devoting resources to those who need them most.” It addresses the central anxiety for urban school systems: how to retain and attract families who prize excellence for their college-bound kids, while making sure that schools serving children from challenged families in distressed neighborhoods can get the academic uplift and rigor they deserve. The fact is, an urban school system collapses if the college-oriented families sense trouble and, exercising their options, hightail it for the suburbs or cough up for private schools.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools can, right now, claim to be a good system, even though critics on both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum may find reasons for complaint. The finances always seem perilous, but even suburban public schools have budget pressures. The immediate challenge for Mr. Hamlet is maintaining the confidence of families already in the system — while making sure that the parents of a kindergartner enrolled for classes on Sept. 1 don’t get cold feet and withdraw. He must also fulfill the mandate set out by the board and his champions to lift up students in schools with poor performance — again, a goal that must be supported by all parents as well as every resident of Pittsburgh."