Have you read the history books and seen the Blatant mistruths of how this country was founded or on what principals. obviously NOT. The history books are being rewritten to be politically correct. I choose to give the history books version and the challenge my students to seek the TRUTH!! I will stay in it to thwart untruths.

also do you not see that because of the teacher’s union Namely NEA (not all unions) are keeping teachers who need to be rooted out all because of tenure? Yes, you have seen a freeze etc… but it is because mainly the unions keep people who have NO business teaching if these people were rooted out there woul be more money for thise of us who TRULY want to be a teacher. think about it….

You obviously know nothing of the teachers’ unions in this country. If you did you would know that they have been instrumental in creating programs that have helped students. The Priority Schools program that was started several years ago and helps the schools that are struggling the most, was started by the National Education Association. Read Across America, that fosters a love for reading and calls upon schools to invite community members and celebrities into the classroom to read with children is another program started by NEA. The message of the National Education Association, ” a strong public school for every student”, doesn’t sound like a campaign to promote teachers above everyone and everything else.

Unions were started at a time in our history when the rights of the worker were almost non-existent. People died trying to bring safe working conditions, fair wages, reasonable hours, to the workers. That is why the teacher unions were started, to protect the rights of teachers and to be a voice for those who might not otherwise have a voice. Today we fight for far more than just the wages and benefits of our members. We work for strong professional development, for equity for all students, for community programs that advance the education of students as well as adults.

For all our critics who think we are only in it for ourselves, I encourage you to educate yourselves about who we are and what we really do. Public education is this nation’s best hope for the future, and public educators are what makes education happen.

We, oddly enough, take into consideration cost cutting. We are part of the community, immediately exposed to those for whom we work. How many of you have ever had to sit in on a forum of the buyers of your product and how many of you have ever had to shut up and take it, when unjustly berated by the final consumer of your service or good. We know what the budget is and work with the school boards to deal with issues.

One last thing, remember why all of you don’t drive Yugos… you get what you pay for. If you don’t get good educators you don’t get good educations for the average students. I had a curriculum day Thursday. One parent told me they lived in Texas and Georgia, their children got to be of school age. They left to come back to the Columbus area to put their students in Olentangy PUBLIC schools – just because they wanted the best. Seems Ohio has some good schools and Olentangy happens to be one of them. Cut the pay and benefits like the governors Kasich and Walker want to do and that won’t last long. I’d go back to private industry. I almost left teaching once due to that.