A few weeks ago I received a mailer from Chanda Smith Baker, who is running for an at large position on the Minneapolis School Board. The mailer, like her website, touted Baker's endorsements from the labor union SEIU, Stonewall DFL, and something called Women Winning. Not included in the mailer, or on her website, was Baker's vicious attacks on public school teachers and their unions.
Earlier this year Baker, along with Don Samuels and his wife Sondra Samuels penned a poison letter to school teachers in the Star Tribune, filled with slanderous attacks comparing public school teachers to Bull Connor, saying the teachers were responsible for an "endless cycle of poverty and failure" in north Minneapolis. In a bit of projection, Baker asserted that hard-working school teachers are "cynical and morally bankrupt." Her co-author, Don Samuels, says he wants North High School burned to the ground. Baker is decidedly NOT the kind of person we want running our schools. Why would SEIU endorse a woman who stands four-square against teachers' unions? Fortunately there are four people running for the two at-large positions on the school board, so no one need vote for this enemy of public education.
2 comments:
Can't say this enough. The market based reforms espoused by the Obama admin, and this lady are best exemplified in states like Alabama, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. According to their own reports, these states score best on contract reform. On student progress, not so much. reform is needed. Let's improve the teachers we have, isntead of tearing them down. The biggest problem by far is not how to get rid of the few bad teachers, but how to retain and grow the teachers we have. That's where the real gains are possible.
Oh yeah, Arne Duncan led the reforms in the Chicago school district. That didn't go sop well. Bush's Ed. Sec ran Texas. That didn't go so well. I'm sure our next Ed Sec will probably be from Alabama.
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