In an unusual move for public school teachers, the members of the National Education Association, the teachers union representing many of the nation’s teachers, voted on July 4 to approve a resolution calling for Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign. This appears to have been a bit of an over-my-dead-body affair with regard to NEA leadership which has been accused of being overly cozy with the Department of Education and Big Ed corporations such as Microsoft and Pearson. Calling the federal policy “a failed education agenda,” a majority of the 9,000 rank and file delegates at this year’s convention declared independence from their own compromised leadership with a yes vote on the controversial measure.
Arne Duncan’s spokeswoman responded tellingly: “Secretary Duncan looks forward to continuing to work with NEA and its new leadership.” No doubt he does look forward to working with leadership. Elsewhere, he quipped: “I always try to stay out of local union politics. I think most teachers do too.”
The NEA resolution gives reasons for wanting Arne Duncan to resign, and no, none of them were for being an arrogant jerk. Instead, they cited: “the Department’s failed education agenda focused on more high-stakes testing, grading, and pitting public school students against each other based on test scores, and for continuing to promote policies and decisions that undermine public schools and colleges, the teaching education professionals, and education unions.”
The incident that seems to have most raised the teachers’ ire was Duncan’s support of a judicial ruling in California last month that struck down tenure and other job protections for teachers in that state. Teachers were reportedly livid when he made supportive remarks in the press. But dislike of Arne Duncan goes back to his days as the privatizer-in-chief (CEO) of Chicago public schools, a position he held just prior to becoming Obama’s Education Secretary.
Indeed, many naysayers claim that federal education policy is just a thinly disguised attempt to privatize public education, in order to eliminate unionized teachers and get all the gravy (i.e., taxpayers’ money) into corporate hands. There is plenty of evidence around the country to support this claim, including Chicago, and in fact, federal education policy specifically requires that schools that fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) according to the federal timetable must be privatized. How happy for the corporate school companies. Walmart Academy, anyone? Coming soon to a public school near you!
As for the teachers’ howl of frustration over Duncan’s leadership, it’s just that – a howl, a distress call, a gesture of frustration. Duncan is unlikely to resign, and even if he did, he’d be replaced in a hot minute by someone just as bad. Duncan supports Obama’s bad policy. All Education Secretaries support the official policy, just as local school administrators do. Duncan may even be a bad guy himself, but that’s not the point. He’s doing what he’s told. The source of the problem is the President’s education policy, which some have described as No Child Left Behind on steroids.
As for the teachers, even if all they can do is signal their dismay, at least they’ve done that much. The public knows that something’s wrong. And now, alas for teachers and students alike, it’s up to us, the public, to fix it. Do we care enough to dare? Probably not, but momentum is building, albeit slowly, for a change.
Postscript: On July 13, the other big teacher’s union, the American Federation of Teachers, also issued a statement on Sunday condemning Arne Duncan. Echoing the language of the federal law which requires schools and teachers to go on “improvement plans” if they don’t measure up by federal standards, the AFT suggested to President Obama that he put Duncan on an “improvement plan” or replace him with someone who’ll fund federal education programs adequately and stop the “test-and-punish” accountability system currently in place.
More info:
Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Calling On Arne Duncan To Quit
Improvement
I like that they demanded Duncan be put on an “improvement plan” or be fired. Seems reasonable that he face the same consequences as schools and teachers under him.
My impression is that our local teacher’s union doesn’t appear to have this sort of fighting spirt, at least not yet. They seem to be on the side of their managers with many issues, and union leadership seems cozy with those above them.
If taxpayers wake up and demand lower school budgets in the near future, that may change. That a big “if,” though.