What Maria Pereira and her buddies have been saying about Kadisha Coates is not only ridiculous, but also completely false.

For the past two weeks Pereira has been repeatedly slandering the board’s new appointee. She’s made countless comments disparaging her name, wrote a 600-word letter to the editor, and now she’s even teaming up with Parent Advisory Council President Tammy Boyle to organize a rally protesting Coates’ appointment before tonight’s meeting.

Why is Pereira doing all this? What exactly is her beef with Coates?

Well, according to the press release Boyle sent out yesterday announcing the rally and Pereira’s nearly identical letter to the editor, Coates is allegedly “affiliated” with ConnCAN  –  a pro-charter school organizations that Pereira despises.

Except, according to officials from ConnCAN, Coates has no connection to them.

When asked about Coates’ connection with ConnCAN, the organization’s CEO Jennifer Alexander told me there wasn’t any.

“ConnCAN is fully supportive of parents serving on local boards of education and we congratulate Ms. Coates on her new position,” said Alexander. “While we look forward to working with her in the future, ConnCAN does not currently, nor have we ever, had a formal affiliation with Ms. Coates.”

Then of course, there’s the accusation that Coates is somehow affiliated with my blog.

Clearly, Pereira has a loose definition of “affiliation.”

My only connection to Coates is that I interviewed her back in September for a series of parent profiles. If this is what Pereira and Boyle mean when accuse Coates of being “affiliated” with Education Bridgeport, then by that logic both Pereira and Boyle are affiliated with the Connecticut Post and Only in Bridgeport, since they’ve both done interviews with reporters from those organizations.

Bottom line? Coates might not walk lock step with Pereira, Boyle and their union buddies, so she must be stopped. Pretty scary stuff.

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