Teacher of the year declines invitation

["Susan Allison" <sueallison@comcast.net>]

http://www.educationnews.org/teacheroftheyeardeclines.htm

Teacher of the Year declines invitation to DOE event
Monday, March 1, 2004 
The following e-mail was sent to a U.S. Department of Education official who had invited all state Teachers of the Year to an event in Washington on March 1.  The e-mail is from the Massachusetts 2003 Teacher of the Year.


Dear Ms. Jacobs,

    I wanted to thank you for your gracious invitation to the conference of Teachers of the Year that is scheduled for next week.  I was hoping to attend, but I am sorry that, considering Secretary Paige's recent remarks about the NEA and the teaching profession, I no longer feel that his invitation is sincere; neither do I feel that he will be providing a healthy and constructive environment in which to enhance the education of our young people.  I am sure that you, Ms. Jacobs, are a sincere and well-intentioned individual, and I am sorry to send these words through you to the Secretary.  I do believe, however, that the Bush Administration is hostile to public education and that the No Child Left Behind Act is a disingenuous, cynical plan by which to attack the poor and the non-white.  Again, my comments are in no way meant to be uncivil to you.  I do not see, however, how I can justify leaving my own students in order to attend a meeting with a gentleman who seems to harbor nothing but ill will and contempt for us all.

    Thank you for the invitation, and please accept my good wishes for a peaceful, fulfilling springtime.

    Sincerely,

    Jeffrey R. Ryan, Ph.D.,
    Massachusetts Teacher of the Year 2003



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