Defensive WEAC Chief Has Selective Memory

James Wigderson:

It was interesting to read the op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from Mary Bell, the president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). In Bell's world, the state's teachers unions are a benevolent force for education in Wisconsin.

Maybe that is the view from the WEAC office building on Nob Hill outside Madison. Parents, advocates for reform in education, and even a few teachers might have a little less sanguine view of the supposed benefits of the teachers unions.

We should be grateful to Bell for at least differentiating between the role of the teacher and the union. "As educators, we are determined to help every student succeed. As a union, we are determined to help every educator - and our schools - succeed."

We're just not sure in what the union wants the teachers and school districts to succeed. If it's in educating children, the union has done it's best to fight any needed education reforms that would allow teachers and schools to succeed.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 5, 2011 1:56 AM
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