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

On June 30, the National Education Association decided to send $3 million to Oklahoma to support SQ 744, the school funding initiative.

I spent a good part of the next three weeks trying to get confirmation of that information, finally succeeded, and published the story on July 26.

Four days later, the Tulsa World files a story with the headline, “NEA gave $3 million for Yes on 744 ballot measure.” It is then picked up by the Oklahoman, with the headline “National Education Association donates $3 million to campaign.”

I wonder what prompted this sudden spark of journalism, and the acknowledgment by the Yes on 744 campaign. Hmmm…

From the President’s speech to the National Urban League this morning:

So, I want teachers to have higher salaries. I want them to have more support. I want them to be trained like the professionals they are – with rigorous residencies like the ones doctors go through. I want to give them career ladders so they have opportunities to advance, and earn real financial security. I want them to have a fulfilling and supportive workplace environment, and the resources – from basic supplies to reasonable class sizes – to help them succeed. Instead of a culture where we’re always idolizing sports stars or celebrities, I want us to build a culture where we idolize the people who shape our children’s future. 

All I’m asking in return – as a president, and as a parent – is a measure of accountability. Surely we can agree that even as we applaud teachers for their hard work, we need to make sure they’re delivering results in the classroom. If they’re not, let’s work with them to help them be more effective. And if that fails, let’s find the right teacher for that classroom. As Arne says, our kids get only one chance at an education, and we need to get it right.

UPDATE: Here is video of the entire speech. The President’s remarks on education begin at the 11-minute mark.

Every year, some delegate at the NEA Representative Assembly submits a new business item demanding a march on Washington, and every year it gets voted down (ref. 2003 and 2006).

This year, there will be a large march on Washington on October 2, and NEA decided to join in.

The organizers are a coalition of 170 liberal and civil rights groups, such as the National Council of La Raza, the Service Employees International Union, the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, the United States Student Association, AFT and now, NEA.

All of these organizations are powerful special interest groups with headquarters or offices in Washington, DC.

Isn’t time someone organized a march out of Washington?

Last February an Alabama jury convicted Jessica Heath­er DeFoor of second-degree sexual abuse and enticing a child for immoral pur­poses. She was sentenced to two years in prison, but she is currently free on a $30,000 appeal bond.

Posting that bond wasn’t as large a financial burden for DeFoor as it might have been because she has continued to receive her teacher paycheck from the Morgan County school system for the last three years – including the five months since her conviction.

The school board voted to fire DeFoor in April, but she remains on the payroll until an arbitration hearing is held to determine whether the firing is justified. The law allows arbitration hearings to be delayed while appeals continue, so DeFoor might be drawing a teacher’s salary for a while yet.

Click here to read:

1) NEA Will Spend Up to $3 Million on Oklahoma School Funding Initiative

2) Unions Rank 13th of 16 in Public Confidence

3) Last Week’s Intercepts

4) Quotes of the Week

AFT President Randi Weingarten was the subject of Politico’s “Answer This” feature, and she had some trouble entering into the spirit of it. For example, there was this exchange:

Tell us your favorite joke.

I take myself far too seriously, so I have none.

C’mon! Not even a knock-knock joke? No mention of the Teamster looking for a union brothel? No New York wisecracks? I’m very disappointed.

I’m not a technophobe, but I am a very late adopter. I’m used to feeling behind the times when it comes to Blackberrys, Facebook, texting, cell phones, Kindle and any device with a small-i in front of it.

I worried we could be reaching the stage where expecting people to fire up a computer, launch a browser and point it to your blog was getting to be unrealistic. I should at least tweet people “I’m writing a blog post!!!” while I’m writing a blog post, then tweet again with a tiny url when I’m finished.

So imagine my surprise to discover that people are launching new education blogs like it’s 2002. This is heavy.

Over at the Education Writers Association we have Ed Beat.

Education Week added Sara Mead’s Policy Notebook to its considerable stable of blogs (rivaled only by the Hechinger Report).

Andy Rotherham of Eduwonk fame launched Education Insider, which you can read for the bargain price of $4,900 a year. This answers the age-old question: Can you make a living blogging for 10 readers?

Over at Bellringers, they’re trying to bring back the Carnival of Education, but calling it Education Buzz.

Even the late Al Shanker started a blog – well, his eponymous institute did, anyway.

I anxiously await NEA’s plans to bring back OWL.org or NEA Online.