Teachers’ Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention

[Elmore Furth]

Not everyone like the sweat shop overtones to the 'race to the top.'

I think these repeated tinkerings with education policy should be called 'no politician left behind.'

By SAM DILLON
Published: July 4, 2010
NEW ORLEANS — For two years during his presidential campaign, Barack Obama addressed educators gathered for the summer conventions of the two national teachers unions, and last year both groups rolled out the welcome mat for federal Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

But in a sign of the Obama administration’s strained relations with two of its most powerful political allies, no federal official was scheduled to speak at either convention this month, partly because union officials feared that administration speakers would face heckling.

The largest union’s meeting opened here on Saturday to a drumbeat of heated rhetoric, with several podium speakers calling for Mr. Duncan’s resignation, hooting delegates voting a resolution criticizing federal programs for “undermining public education,” and the union’s president summing up 18 months of Obama education policies by saying: “This is not the change I hoped for.”“Today our members face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment I have ever experienced,” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, told thousands of members gathered at the convention center here.

President Obama and Mr. Duncan have supported historic increases in school funding to stave off teacher layoffs, while seeking to shake up public education with support for charter schools, the dismissal of ineffective teachers as a way of turning around failing schools, and other policies. That aggressive agenda has spurred fast-paced changes, including adoption of new teacher evaluation systems in many states and school districts, often with the collaboration of teacher unions. But it has also angered many teachers, who say they are being blamed for all the problems in public schools.



Teachers’ Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention

[Dinger]

1. They Need To Go Is Obama Stands A Chance In Hell Of Getting Their Votes In 2012

It ISN'T too late Mr. President, please.

[MichiganVote]

2. Uh parents of American children listen up...that big money for education---

Arne has only spent about 1/3 of it on your kids. The administrations plan is ineffective, the planner is inept and they care more about the pittance that teachers make as compared to the BS they spin.

NCLB meet NCLB by another name. Don't buy the bullshit...please. Your kid's education depends on it.

[Starry Messenger]

3. New Teacher Project--mentioned in the story

One group that helped the administration to defend Race to the Top was the New Teacher Project, a non-profit that has pressed for changes in the way teachers are evaluated. Timothy Daly, its president, said the angry rhetoric from union leaders now was less important than the long-term changes the administration has begun to coax from them.

http://www.tntp.org/aboutus/board_of_directors.html
Board of Directors


Ms. Kati Haycock (Chair)
Director
The Education Trust

Mr. John D. Arnold
Founder
Centaurus Advisors, LLC

Co-Founder
Laura and John Arnold Foundation

Mr. Chris Bierly

Partner

Bain & Company

Mr. Christopher Cross
Chairman
Cross & Joftus, LLC

Mr. Daniel Keating
Partner
Hogan & Hartson, LLP



Ms. Wendy Kopp
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Teach For America

Ms. Julie Mikuta

Partner

NewSchools Venture Fund

Dr. C. Kent McGuire
Dean of Education
Temple University

Mr. Frederick M. O'Such
President
The Partners of '63

Dr. John Simpson

Advisor

The Stupski Foundation

Dr. Uri Treisman
Professor of Mathematics & Executive Director, Charles A. Dana Center
The University of Texas at Austin



You know, maybe Bill Gates should just consider running for President himself since he seems to be running an important Federal Department all on his own. Then I would at least know not to fucking vote for him.

[Catshrink]

4. Notice how the media always boils teachers' concerns down to two things

1) refusing to dismiss incompetent teachers -- not true of course. We advocate for due process and not arbitrariness.

2) opposition to teacher evaluations, what they call accountability. We are not against accountability. We are against using one test score to determine teacher effectiveness because test results are easily manipulated by raising or lowering the passing score and it's one day, one test that doesn't measure student growth and treats all kids alike, regardless of where they start from.

[TruthTeller]

5. are you at the convention?

I am at the convention and wish I could be blogging it. Bad access! Some are upset that we might insult Arne--too bad!

[Catshrink]

6. After all Arne's scapegoating and union-busting they're worried about insulting him?

You know, that's what we're up against - apathetic chickenshit scaredy cats within our own ranks.

[roguevalley]

7. tell them, truthteller, that an old teacher in Alaska tells them to

grow a spine. the wimps. that is one of the biggest problems with teachers, they are cowards.

[Hannah Bell]

8. shunning is too good for them.