Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

Imagine a place where the pay was so bad, the working conditions so horrible, and management support so lacking that the employee turnover rate was 41 percent over a five-year period.

Inner-city public school? Not this time.

No, it’s the National Education Association itself. An examination of the union’s list of employees (staff only, not elected officers) from its annual U.S. Department of Labor disclosure reports reveals that of the 706 people who received wages from NEA in 2001, only 419 were still working for the organization in 2006.

Aha, you’ll say. These folks didn’t necessarily hate their jobs. They might have found better opportunities elsewhere, including those in other states and other unions. They might have had family obligations. They might have retired or died. They might have become stay-at-home moms or dads. They might have sought a less hierarchical system of rewards and advancement. To which I would say…

Exactly.

Here is the August 2007 EIA Video Intercept, meant to accompany the July 23 Communiqué:

Click here to read:

1) The Strangest NEA Keynote Speech Ever
2) Last Week’s Intercepts
3) Quote of the Week

More and more, it looks like Democrats.

In South Carolina.

In California.

Nationally.

* In Pennsylvania, school district consolidation enthusiasts are learning why their plans might actually cost more money.

* Amid the widespread public ignorance of the contents of the No Child Left Behind Act and the constant wailing about mandates, curriculum narrowing and unrealistic goals, it’s useful when a newspaper actually publishes the standards in a sidebar next to one of these stories.

In an article that bemoans the U.S. Department of Education’s decision not to grant Hawaii a waiver from NCLB standards and place the state in the “growth model” program instead, the Honolulu Advertiser printed this handy little fact:

“To meet minimum federal testing goals this year, 28 percent of Hawai’i students must meet math standards and 44 percent must meet reading standards.”

It doesn’t matter who’s to blame. That’s not a goal. It’s a surrender.

The Hillary Clinton campaign issued a press release announcing the endorsement of her candidacy by Debbie Cahill and three other Nevadans.

Who is Debbie Cahill? She’s the deputy executive director of the Nevada State Education Association.

If Obama gets the endorsement of NSEA’s executive director, I suspect he’ll stage a parade.