Did they really give VanderArk his own chain of charter schools?

Tom VanderArk, was the Gates Foundation’s former executive director of education and a national proponent of online learning. His for-profit company was granted charters in 2010 to open a high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and two others in Newark. The New York school, Brooklyn City Prep, also got space in a public school building — a precious and controversial commodity — hired a principal, and welcomed applications from 150 eighth graders this spring.

But after spending more than $1.5 million of investors’ money on consultants and lawyers, Mr. Vander Ark, 52, has walked away from the project, and the schools will not open as planned this fall, leaving others involved stunned and frustrated.  -- N.Y. Times

NY Mag: Klein should be well-prepared for fixing Murdoch scandal

He took a position with News Corp. after stepping down from his education post in December, and now it looks as if he's got his first big project on behalf of Rupert Murdoch: Klein, a lawyer by training, will "provide important oversight and guidance” as the company deals with the fallout from the ballooning News of the World scandal. (Among other things, the tabloid reportedly hacked into the cell phones of a murdered 13-year-old and families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.) -- New York Magazine

Verizon & IBM played a role. "Consultant" pocketed $3.6 million.

Willard Lanham, a former consultant for the New York Department of Education surrendered to federal authorities on Thursday to face charges that he stole $3.6 million in the six years he worked managing projects that were meant to provide Internet access to city schools. Verizon and I.B.M., the largest of the vendors involved in the projects, played a role in the scheme and profited from it, according to the city’s special commissioner of investigation, Richard J. Condon. -- NYT City Room