Re: The NEA is being called a 'Terrorist Association' by Paige.

["Young, Alan" <alan.young@dmps.k12.ia.us>]

Paige has a fax and an email as well. See below, if you want to contact
Sec. Paige and let him know what you think regarding his "attack" on the
NEA. While you are at it, let him know what you think about the
administration's "attack" on public education in the form of NCLB (which
was conceived primarily without the advice or input of most educators
across this country and without even inviting the NEA to the table). 

No wonder it has so many problems and why most educators do not support
the punitive, narrow, test-focused approach to reform. When you are
attacked from those who have the highest positions in the land who are
supposed to be there to support you, no wonder educators find it helpful
and necessary to organize as a union. Hopefully, many now will see why
it is essential that the NEA stay strong and organized. They represent
the majority of educators and they are possibly the most democratic
organization of a group their size (@2.7 million) that you will find.
The NEA IS educators and education support professionals (including our
national leadership which is elected democratically at the world's
largest democratic deliberative body/meeting in July of every year - the
NEA - Representative Assembly). 

While one would be hardpressed to find ways for almost 3 million people
to agree on everything or to agree with everything thing the NEA does,
what would happen in this country if educators had no recourse to
collective action? At least our decisions represent our members
democratically. A terrorist organization? Methinks Mr. Paige has a lot
to learn about democracy.

Alan


Contact Rod Paige

Phone 202-401-3000
Fax 202-401-0596
Email Rod.Paige@ed.gov



Alan

"Keep in mind always the present you are constructing . . . It should be
the future you want."  Alice Walker


-----Original Message-----
From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org [mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org]
On Behalf Of LLonald King
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:58 AM
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Subject: [arn-l] The NEA is being called a 'Terrorist Association' by
Paige.

If you'd like to express yourself to the Secretary, himself, phone (202)
401-3000. That's his office number. His staff will take your message in
the form of a handwritten note.

Be polite, of course, but express your outrage without qualification and
demand that both Paige and the President who appointed him make public,
unqualified apologies and that they apologize for both the remark and
for the backpedaling, almost equally insulting explanations that
followed it.

Page now says he was only joking (though in context the "joke" doesn't
sound much like a joke), but he qualified this by saying he was
referring to the organization not its members (what's the difference?)
and by claiming that the NEA uses "obstructionist scare tactics" against
the Bush Administration's education policies. If nothing else, this
shows that the Secretary and his boss are completely out of touch with
reality.

LLonald King



Here is the Associated Press report on Paige's remarks (dated 2/24):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-02-24-paige_x.htm

Paige: Teachers union 'terrorist' group
WASHINGTON (AP) - Education Secretary Rod Paige says he chose poor words
in calling the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist
organization," but he stands by his claim that the group uses
"obstructionist scare tactics" in its fight over the nation's education
law.

Paige used the terrorist reference Monday in a private White House
meeting with governors while answering a question about the National
Education Association, which has 2.7 million members. His words startled
members of his audience, triggered outrage from prominent Democrats and
deepened the divide between the country's top education official and its
largest union. 

Paige told The Associated Press in an interview that he made the comment
in jest. 

"I was making what I now know was a bad joke; it was a poor choice of
words," Paige said. "I was referencing the Washington-based organization
in general, not teachers." 

Reg Weaver, the NEA president, said Paige's comments were pathetic,
including the secretary's explanation that he was criticizing the union
organization but not teachers. 

"I can tell you what my first response was: Scary. That's really
frightening," said Diana Garchow, a special-education teacher at
Highland Elementary School in Bakersfield, Calif. "It's scary that you
can't voice an opinion in this country without being called a terrorist.
... I don't care if it was a joke or what it was, that was a totally
inappropriate comment." 

On Tuesday, Michigan's largest teachers' union called Paige's ouster. 

"Secretary Paige is acting like a schoolyard bully, resorting to name
calling and insults. He needs to be removed," Michigan Education
Association President Lu Battaglieri said in a statement. "Thousands of
MEA members have served this country honorably - and dozens are
currently serving in Iraq today - defending the basic American freedom
to debate and to disagree. 

The flap comes as the Bush administration faces increasing state
opposition to the No Child Left Behind law, widely considered the most
significant federal education act since Congress approved its original
version in 1965. The law, approved in bipartisan fashion, requires a
range of testing, teaching and school-choice changes to help children
succeed. 

Paige spoke at length Monday about his agency's efforts to help states
and schools understand the complex law, but his feud with the NEA is no
secret. The union - a reliable supporter of the Democratic Party - plans
to sue the Bush administration over funding of the law and wants changes
in how it is enforced. 

But Paige's language drew a rush of criticism, giving Democrats
election-year fodder. 

"Secretary Paige and the Bush administration have resorted to the most
vile and disgusting form of hate speech, comparing those who teach
America's children to terrorists," said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the
Democratic National Committee. 

A spokeswoman for presidential contender John Kerry called Paige's
remarks "inappropriate, particularly at a time when our nation has
experienced the devastation caused by terrorism." Kerry's chief
competitor, John Edwards, called Paige's words "grossly offensive." 

The nation's other major teachers union, the American Federation of
Teachers, said it was "unconscionable and irresponsible for any public
figure, let alone a U.S. Cabinet member, to undertake this kind of
name-calling." 

But Gayle Fallon, the president of the AFT chapter in Houston who knows
Paige from his work in that city, said Paige was merely being sarcastic.


"There were times when he'd pick up the phone and call and ask me,
'How's my favorite terrorist doing?' " Fallon said. "The NEA isn't
militant enough to be a terrorist organization. They're barely militant
enough to be union." 

Said White House spokesman Scott McClellan: "The comment was
inappropriate and the secretary recognized it was inappropriate and
quickly apologized." 

Included in 100-word statement that his staff characterized as an
apology was Paige's assertion that "the NEA's high-priced Washington
lobbyists have made no secret that they will fight against bringing
real, rock-solid improvements in the way we educate our children
regardless of skin color, accent or where they live." 

In the AP interview, Paige said opposition to the law has been stirred
by at least three groups that are "hard nosed, highly financed and well
organized." 

Since 1976, when it shifted into an active role in national politics,
the NEA has given every presidential endorsement to a Democrat. It is a
big political donor, mostly to Democrats. 

In the last presidential election cycle, the NEA and its political
action committee donated $3.1 million to federal candidates and national
party committees, with about $9 of every $10 going to Democrats,
according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. At that
time, national party committees were allowed to raise union donations,
part of the "soft money" they are now barred from accepting. 

-------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe ARN-L:
http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/subscribe.html