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

Just released:

Statement by Randi Weingarten,
President, American Federation of Teachers,
On Arrest of Matt Rector, President, Guam Federation of Teachers

WASHINGTON—The AFT was unaware of this situation until the media called us. We have since spoken to Matt Rector about it, and this is what we know. When he was 18 years old, he was convicted of a burglary misdemeanor. He thought the conviction was expunged years ago. When he recently applied for firearms permits, he was operating under the belief that his record was clear and therefore he was correct not to disclose it. If the conviction had been expunged, and it is unclear why it was not, the current situation involving an arrest would not have occurred.

Aren’t you guys reading Intercepts?

NPR has the basics, but you’ll get more details and flavor from the pro-labor Metro Times. If you’re a diehard, it appears the entire February 11 meeting was posted on YouTube. Here’s Part 1:

Steve Conn, who is behind the effort to recall DFT President Keith Johnson, has long been a thorn in the side of union management, but this time he may have enough support to get his way.

Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute has a new blog hosted by Education Week called Straight Up. We knew all along Rick was a Paula Abdul fan, but evidently the title has to do with Rick’s style of commentary.

His opening post was designed to warm my jaded heart, particularly with this sentence:

For what it’s worth, I find K-12 schooling to be one of the few places in life where we suffer a shortage of cynics and skeptics.

Yes, the road through education policy is paved with good intentions, but the destination is always the same. Welcome, Rick, to Local 3 of the Cynics and Skeptics Union. Unfortunately, the domain name is already taken.

Click here to read:

1) NEA HQ: Where Average Salary Is Way Above Average

2) NEA and AFL-CIO Extend Labor Solidarity Partnership

3) “Social Review” Site Reveals Teachers Have Brains Over Beauty

4) Correction

5) Last Week’s Intercepts

6) Quote of the Week

The photo says it all, but the Pacific Daily News has the story. Background here.

The National Education Association named Alice O’Brien as its new general counsel, replacing Bob Chanin, who retired after 41 years at NEA.

O’Brien has been the chief counsel for the California Teachers Association since 2008, but she has worked for many years at Chanin’s DC law firm, Bredhoff & Kaiser, performing many duties for NEA and its state affiliates.

Avvo gives her a 6.6 rating, but her “industry recognition” should increase signficantly now.

It has been a couple of months since the last time yet another genius suggested consolidating school districts in order to save money, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this week we had three proposals from three different states.

Kansas

Georgia

Vermont

This time for sure!

No doubt about it. We’ve got to get another hat.