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ROEA Reporter

Community Party for Public Education

Last month the ROEA hosted a very successful Community Party for Public Education.  The purpose of the party was to bring together people who share a strong belief in the importance of public education in our lives.  School board members, community and state leaders, parents, and members of our three MEA locals were present.  Our superintendent, Tom Shorkey, was the first speaker.  Mr. Shorkey talked about the central role of our schools in strengthening our democracy.  State Representative Dave Woodward spoke passionately about the need to stave off attacks on public schools by charter schools and voucher advocates.  Marie Donigan, our MEA endorsed candidate for state representative, talked about her plan for our schools.  Donigan’s plan includes more support for early childhood education programs such as our Lincoln pre-school program and fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act in order to give schools a fair chance to meet the NCLB testing standards.  Donigan concluded her remarks by telling the audience that she would always be available to her constituents to help support their education concerns.  Independent candidate for state representative, Dale Savage, also addressed the group.  Savage talked about the importance of different educational choices within Royal Oak for district students.

The remarks of our guests were followed by pizza, salad, and camaraderie.  Our ROEA gatherings have always been a great opportunity for teachers to see old friends with whom they used to work and talk with new coworkers in a relaxed and friendly environment; this one was no exception.

Thank you to all who came to our gathering for public education.  I want to extend a special thanks to Mr. Shorkey, Representative Woodward, and candidates Marie Donigan and Dale Savage for addressing the group.  The attendance of  Board President Kevin McLogan, Vice President Christine Hartwig, and Trustees Frank Tyndell and Deborah Wright, was greatly appreciated as well.  And last, but certainly not least, the success of the evening was due in great part to ROEA Executive Board members Chris Baer, Betty Ann Garlak, and Barbara Pollis, all of whom contributed many hours to the planning of the party.

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NEA/MEA Endorses Kerry

Pundits and other political observers have called this election the most important one of our lives.  Is this really so, or is that a bit of hyperbole, provoked by the significant differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush and their respective parties?  I’ve thought about that statement, just as many of you probably have.  I believe that the great significance of this election is that a chasm in political and social philosophy which began under President Reagan has become clearer than ever.  President Bush, driven politically and economically by a philosophy of social Darwinism, is intent on converting public institutions such as our great school system into private for profit businesses.  Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools will aggressively and unfairly be labeled as failing, with the ultimate sanction being a takeover by private profit making corporations.  As schools are increasingly under funded as a result of so-called failure, parents with the means to do so will seek out private schools. Ultimately, we will have an educational caste system of private schools for the wealthy (amply assisted by tax relief and/or vouchers) and under funded impoverished schools for the rest of us, including most of our Royal Oak students.  By contrast, the philosophy of Senator Kerry is to insure that everyone has the best opportunity possible through education to aspire to personal achievement, service to others, and a satisfactory life for themselves and their children; not because they are wealthy, but because they are American citizens.  This vision of democracy is supported by Kerry who has consistently pledged to fully fund NCLB and special education and increase funding for pre-school programs and after school programs.

Union members received especially harsh treatment under Reagan.  When the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike for better wages and to improve air traffic safety by increasing the number of controllers, Reagan summarily fired over 3,000 of them, caring not one whit for them or the well being of their families.  Today, we

have the specter of President Bush’s Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, calling union teachers terrorists.  The crime of us NEA “terrorists” was to disagree with the main premise of NCLB which is that testing is an absolute and fair measure of success for all students and that failure to meet standards which are statistically impossible to meet should result in financial punishment of schools and the loss of jobs for teachers deemed responsible for the substandard performance.  It’s a documented fact, by the way, that as superintendent of the Houston school district, Secretary Paige blatantly lied about suspensions, grades, and graduation rates on state reports in order to hide unacceptably poor student achievement and the incompetence of the district under his leadership.

Reagan reserved particular animus for the poor.  When he was unable to abolish federal funding for school lunches for children, he cynically declared catsup a vegetable in order to limit federal payments for impoverished children.  At the same time, an era of massive tax relief for wealthy people and big business was put in motion.  President Reagan, like his contemporary counterpart, President Bush, said that he didn’t believe that government should intervene in the lives of citizens.  What they both meant was that government should transfer its resources to the wealthy, rationalized by trickle down economics in the case of Reagan and the invisible job opportunities that President Bush says are being created when industry and wealthy individuals are given tax relief.

By contrast, Kerry views the shifting of resources to the wealthy as unfair to poorer and middle class members of our society and as eroding basic community services and institutions such as police and fire protection, schools, libraries, and other services through the diminution of the tax base.  Kerry wants to tax wealthier individuals and businesses as a means of generating the revenues that have intentionally been transferred to wealthier segments of our society under Reagan and Bush.

There is a great significance to this election.  The significance is whether we believe that national policies that blatantly favor the rich and harm the middle class should be continued or whether equitable policies that help all Americans are developed.

The NEA and MEA have endorsed John Kerry on the basis of his educational policies.  I’m voting for Kerry because I believe that the transfer of our common societal resources to the wealthy, the pay-outs to companies such as Halliburton in the form of tax breaks and no bid contracts, and the erosion of public institutions undermine our democratic principals.  Please vote for John Kerry for President; it is a vote for a better life for us and the children we teach.

Classified

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E-mail Cadine Nicholson at Cadinen@aol.com to be included.