Controversies Surround LAUSD's New Hire John Deasy

• MAJOR SPEECH IMPEDIMENT sounds like a Sociopath!!!  Very Evil deceptive and dishonest body language too.

• This guy is a total fraud, many people in the district truly believe he is a sociopath, principals despise him, he lied on his resume, lied about faculty postions elsewhere-this creep was never a teacher, paid for his phd. instead of completing the required 45-50 units, deasy only BARELY completed 8 units and paid $300,000 off to a faculty advisor/mentor who is now in federal prison for FELONY misallocation of fed funds, SMUSD REGRETTED hiring him, and immediately began maneuvering to get him out.  What he did to the children of Miramonte, removing their 90 + teachers was Traumatic, Deasy also broke state law by not reporting MarkBerndt to Sacramento a year ago and also Never informed the over 1,000.00 parents about the issue this past fall, endangering children.  MANY parents, teachers and principals, along with the Union and Sacramento demand he RESIGN, he then should repay back to the district the big $$$ he got for his FAKE phd., which he falsely made$ on. 

• Sounds like he's from New England to me. Educated at Rhode Island colleges. Maybe he's from Rhode Island.

• I never worked with, associated with or any with Deasy, but I bet I know what everyone called him. Something he really did earn. Sleazy Deasy.

• I don't know much about Dr. Deasy, but when a corrupt and bankrupt CEO like Fernando Espuelas praises him, that alone tells a lot about the man.

• Does anyone know what country John Deasy is from? He has a weird-ass accent.

• How can a man who apparently told untruths about his experience, and got a sweetheart deal at Louisville for his (unearned?) Ph.D. head the school system at $275k? Did LA have no good alternatives?

• If Deasy's narcissism led to improvements in student achievement, I could live with that. Instead, many of us in Prince George's County felt he had three agendas: recruiting fellow Broad graduates, instituting new initiatives (the joke around the water cooler was "Dr. Deasy never met an initiative he didn't like"), and advancing his career. Of course, we predicted he had his eye on the Department of Ed. We should have know when he didn't move his family out east that he was not here for the long term! It's not the first time, and probably won't be the last, that Prince George's has had the wool pulled over our eyes by a wolf in disguise. All I can say to LAUSD is to be careful of the "friends" he brings with him. We had one fabulous chief who we were all very disappointed to see leave when the budget cuts hit, but he also brought in people with no business being in the upper management of the 18th largest school system in the country. One of them virtually destroyed a department and refused to admit when she made a mistake. Beware, LAUSD, beware.

• I support LAUSD in hiring Dr Deasy at any price. Although I do not know him, I was taught by his father and his Uncle at Providence College in 1974 and 1975. They where both exceptional and profoundly intelligent educators. If it is true that the "fruit falls close to the tree" then he will bring a much change is the culture of the beast - LAUSD. When the Mayor states LAUSD "eats their young" and Admiral Brewer departs stating LAUSD has a, "gotcha culture" then Dr Deasy needs all of our support and good wishes. I wish him well and pray he changes the culture and focus of LAUSD and UTLA.

• I support LAUSD in hiring Dr Deasy at any price. Although I do not know him, I was taught by his father and his Uncle at Providence College in 1974 and 1975. They where both exceptional and profoundly intelligent educators. If it is true that the "fruit falls close to the tree" then he will bring a much change is the culture of the beast - LAUSD. When the Mayor states LAUSD "eats their young" and Admiral Brewer departs stating LAUSD has a, "gotcha culture" then Dr Deasy needs all of our support and good wishes. I wish him well and pray he changes the culture and focus of LAUSD and UTLA.

• Thanks for the article. I almost passed your we site up in Google but now I'm glad I stopped by and got to read through it. I'm definitely more informed now. I'll be recommending your site to some friends of mine. They'll get a kick out of what I just read too. LOL. --Rob

• He also did a very brief stint as High School Principal in Lake George, NY in the 1990's. We knew then that education was second to his own ambition. In 2005, the buzz was that he was headed for LA. Maybe dreams do come true! Who knew?

• Excellent job.

• Deasy was never cleared of accusations regarding how he got his PhD. The closest they came was that a corrupt head of the Education Department, who was later convicted of fraud, gave Deasy his PhD in violation of university policy. The university has declined, however, to revoke the degree. That does not mean he was cleared of wrongdoing, just that the university did not want to have more egg on its face.

• Wow anonymous 2, that description of the well dressed guy who is not too bright sounds like the principal of Fremont- a stooge of Cortines installed to destroy the school. It seems like almost everyone hired in this district by Cortines is an empty suit. Well if ever there were reasons to start fighting as educators, all of the above will do nicely. Educators, let's fight for our students and public education. I hate to give the mayor credit but I have met two of his principals at his partnership schools and they are great. It seems at least the partnership is hiring on quality.

• As someone who stood in Deasy's office while he was SMMUSD Superintendent and wondered--how did he get a BA and an MA from Providence College and a PhD from U of Louisville while working in Santa Monica, the truth came out during the Prince Georges quid pro quo revelation? The Gazette article to which someone linked simply reports that the Louisville committee agreed to stand behind the doctorate, but it in no way recounts any detailed investigation into the issue, the kind of investigation, one would think, that would be du rigeur before Deasy was put in line to take on the already challenging LAUSD. Further, I agree that the LA Times' report on Deasy's hiring was COMPLETELY lame, emphasizing the machinations of the city council to appoint this Gates Foundation (ergo must-be-qualified) hire rather than any fact-check on his b.g. Here's my impression of Deasy. He's a just-right dressing guy who talks a good game, but he doesn't seem too bright, certainly not smart enough to solve a problem that would challenge the best of us. Shame on the LA Times! I hope the Weekly investigates this matter thoroughly by sending a reporter to Louisville to determine how many others obtained a PhD with only 9 credit hours.

• We would like to hear John Deasy address his business relationship with Robert Felner, former dean of education for the University of Louisville, turned convicted felon for defrauding two universities out of $2.5 million. Deasy earned his doctorate under Felner after logging a whole 8 units and suddenly stepped down from his post at Prince George's County once his bogus doctorate came to light. How is a man with these types of associations and apparent core values, supposed to effectively lead LAUSD? Even more important, why would the LAUSD Board agree to hire him? Oh yeah, I forgot, he's a "fast talking New Englander". The real story here could be that Deasy may have bought his way into LAUSD using promised future contributions from the Bill Gates Foundation. No matter what, it is amazing that people don't check into (or seem to care about) his track record. He definitely knows how to talk and he very definitely knows how to play the political game. But what, if anything, has he really accomplished in any of the districts he has worked? Perhaps even more important, what has sustained after he left town with his own personal bag of loot?

• I worked fairly closely with Deasy for three years. All I can say about the LAUSD Board's decision to hire him is that PT Barnum was a prophet; a sucker truly is born every day. The man will put on a show, line his pockets with gold and leave town before the Board's hypnotic trance wears off.

• I worked with Deasy in Santa Monica. He's a smooth talker, and is always looking out for #1. He's a big believer in privatizing education, and is certain if you have a degree from an Ivy League school you are a golden child. He gets blinded by celebrity, and has a hard time focussing on any one thing for more than a month. I believe only one of the principals he hired worked out, most were gone in one or two years...gone as in run off. He's horrible at staffing. None of the initiatives he began has endured...it was a lost 4 years. Deasy directed district staff to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to his doctoral advisor without disclosing any connection between himself and the advisor. After the funds had been paid...presto! without ever going to Louisville, he's got a Ph.D from the university. Is this really the example we want to set for the students in LAUSD? Lie on your resume, pay (off) your advisor to get a degree without doing the necessary work...or somehow getting special treatment to get a degree with only 9 units completed at a university that requires many more...this is NOT the example the Board should be putting before our students. Our students could very well use "Dr." Deasy's life experience as their excuse to cheat. He did it, it worked for him, he's making $275,000/yr, why shouldn't I do what he did?

• that's about $25,000 a month to change cortine's diapers. Budget crisis my A**

• He was never cleared of these allegations. He bought his PHD

• He was cleared of the allegations regarding his degree in April 2009: http://www.gazette.net/stories/04222009/prinnew151326_32497.shtml

• Anonymous poster #1-- thanks for posting a dead link. That really proved your point.

• Deasy did teach ONE class in the LMU doctoral program (I know this because he taught that class the year before I joined the program, and several of my colleagues were in his class), but he did not teach at all beyond that one class in 2005. The LMU doctoral program itself has only been in existence since 2004, so he could not have been part of the faculty in 2003... Those colleagues of mine who were in his class universally described Deasy as arrogant, self-serving, and completely out of touch with reality. He should fit in just fine at Beaudry. Thank you to the LA Weekly for reporting on this... I guess the LA times has its head too far up the District's hindquarters to see what's really going on.

• That Gazette link doesn't work. I looked at the articles in Gazette and it never said he was cleared of the Doctorate degree. There was an article on Sept 25, 2008 that said it was still under investigation. Then on Sept. 29, 2008, it states he resigned. The investigation was never completed nor was he cleared of those charges.

• Dr. Deasy was very corrupt in every sense of the word during his tenure in Maryland. He hired Dr. Hite to help cover up wrong doing. Money was stolen by awarding tender to the wrong parties.

• Just because something gets reported doesn't make it true- the press seized on the accusation of an improper awarding of a doctorate with much coverage and virtually none of the final resolution clearing Dr. Deasy of any wrongdoing- perhaps this link would provide some balance: http://www.gazette.net/stories/09182008/prinnew165801_32479.shtml.

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