NEA president reams the Bush administration

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

NEA President Reg Weaver said it was "morally repugnant to equate those who teach America's children with terrorists."

"Yet this is the kind of rhetoric we have come to expect from this administration whenever one challenges its world view," Weaver said in a statement.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=2&u=/nm/politics_education_dc

[CRK7376]

1. Paige is as

bad as Shrub...Jackass calling teachers, or those that belong to NEA a terrorist organization is really stupid. He should step down but of course Shrub will want to keep him on and say it was just a bad joke...But then that is coming from the one who said "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

[rvgwinn]

2. paige

i don't care if it was a "joke". Now WE know how they really feel about Teachers and organizations and unions. Everyone, time to stand up and start howling!

[KharmaTrain]

3. This Is War On Union

I spoke with a local NEA member last night and got her take on Paige's outburts...she said she thought this was an orchestrated move to attack unions and blame them for the troubles of the rank and file...especially in unions tied to tax dollars like school unions.

She said the union isn't that strong...most members are only in it for the benefits and couldn't care less about issues and lots grumble about the dues and union structure. She thinks this was to put the seed in these minds...while the person may chirp Pro-NEA or union in public, they'll pull the lever for * in private to get even at those nasty unions.

She might be right...this regime doesn't mis-speak, there's always ears for what they have to say.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Evil cover up for failed promises re funding for the program

Blaming Unions is par for the Pub Course. Its Distraction at Best and Evil at worst.

[LWolf]

5. She could be right.

It all rings true.

[yellowcanine]

6. Don't forget that Paige was in charge of the Houston school system

When they used Enron accounting methods to make it appear that the high school dropout rates had decreased - simply reclassify dropouts as transfers and presto - Mission Accomplished!

[myopinion]

7. He should be fired

I guess I duplicated these thread, but it can’t be left unnoticed the total disregard that this administration has for the people who really do the work to make this a great land.

My wife is a teacher, not me but I can tell you what has the NEA and its thinking members so pissed off.
She works with kids who are disabled, both mentally and physically; with the “no child left behind rule” they are tested at the same level- same test as all others. I want to put this nicely but there is no way that they will score except at the bottom percent because of their challenges. It not only lowers the Childs self esteem but the score is not “pro-rated” to reflect reality and is held against the school and teacher as non-performing.
Not to mention shrub and his crooks are keeping the funding back and giving it to the rich 1 percent, believe me teachers do not make much money.

[JPZenger]

8. NYTimes Article on Paige's failed promise

Education chief defends policy and past

By Diana Jean Schemo
New York Times
January 28, 2004

"An education secretary whose doctoral dissertation was on the response time of football linemen dedicates himself to "bringing the President's vision into reality." -- EDs

Rod Paige arrived in Washington as a champion of urban schooling, a Republican honored by a billionaire Democrat, Eli Broad, at a lavish inaugural gala. Over Champagne and lobster, the most influential figures in education toasted the new education secretary, an architect of the Texas miracle they had heard so much about. Dr. Paige, a Texan wearing cuff links and cowboy boots as he mingled under the crystal chandeliers, was the Bush administration's star symbol of compassionate conservatism.

But these days his critics say Dr. Paige, who had been superintendent of schools in Houston, has become a symbol of its failed promise, as opposition to the administration's overhaul of public schools grows, and lapses in Houston's record of success - including falsified dropout rates - come to light.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/28/education/28PAIGE.html

(need to be registered with NYTimes to view)

[JPZenger]

9. Houston's Falsified Education Successes

The following is an excerpt from http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_miracles.html#zerodropout

That site includes more links on the falsified measures of success of the Houston school system under Superintendent (now Secretary of Education) Rod Paige:

The Texas Education Miracle "went unchallenged until February of 2003 when an assistant principal at Houston's Sharpstown High School couldn't believe his eyes: a "zero" dropout rate for his school. Even though 1000 students had started as freshman and by senior year only 300 were still there, no dropouts. (Left unsaid is that many of the missing 700 were at-risk students who might have brought down the school's scores, a fact uncovered in a similar scandal in New York). When the Houston assistant principal, Robert Kimball, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran, looked into the matter, he found a can of worms that resulted in a state audit reducing the academic rating on 15 of the district's 16 middle and high schools that had been rated "outstanding."

In addition to Sharpstown's missing 700, there were an additional 2,300 missing students who should have been labeled "dropout." While many may drop-out, in such instances many also are pushed-out, encouraged to leave by frustrated administrators bent on raising the scores."

"In Houston's case, the incentive to change the academic records was "education mandates" — the ones handed down by the superintendent to principals."