Re: Fw: [LiteracyForAll] Reading First and the AFT

[aburke5054@aol.com]

 I am bewildered as to why Jerry would copy these calumnies into this list (not that this list doesn't go into tin-foil hat country on its own). The presence of a few bad apples in the unions, even outsized ones, does not indict the thousands and tens of thousands of others who play by the rules. And what on earth do these isolated examples of corrupt union leadership have to do with Reading First? Is the dark conspiracy really that all-encompassing?
 
 Art  
 -----Original Message-----
 From: gbracey1@verizon.net
 To: arn-l@interversity.org
 Sent: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 6:26 PM
 Subject: [arn-l] Fw: [LiteracyForAll] Reading First and the AFT
 
  ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich Gibson" <rgibson@pipeline.com> 
 To: <LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com> 
 Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 9:13 PM 
 Subject: [LiteracyForAll] Reading First and the AFT 
 
 > We might keep in mind that the American Federation of Teachers leadership, 
 > which joined the US Chambers of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, > Achieve, 
 > and the leadership of the National Education Association in insisting upon 
 > the regimented curricula and high-stakes testing that sums up NCLB, > praised 
 > and touted Reading First since its inception. 
 > 
 > Antonia Cortese, an AFT VP, repeatedly insisted that Reading First is 
 > effective, and especially effective for teachers dealing with poor and 
 > working class kids, who, as I remember it, she called, "disadvantaged." 
 > 
 > Cortese's home local, NYSUT, the bellweather of AFT, offered letters of 
 > support for Reading First, and curricula guides as well. 
 > 
 > The National Education Association leadership trailed behind AFT's loud 
 > enthusiasm for Reading First, but listed the program among those NEA 
 > recommends. 
 > 
 > The AFT is a notoriously corrupt union, and given the nature of union 
 > corruption, that is saying something. Cortese sat on an AFT executive > board 
 > composed of thieves, and it is hard to believe she was unaware of that. 
 > 
 > The top leaders of the Florida AFT , Pat Tornillo and Tony Gentile, who 
 > both were key players at the top of AFT in the development of NCLB are > in 
 > prison now, Tornillo for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of 
 > teachers' dues, teachers in Florida who often live in trailers because of 
 > bad pay, and Gentile for molesting children. The boss of the AFT > Washington 
 > DC local, Barbara Bullock, representing teachers in one of the most ruined 
 > and impoverished districts in the US, is in jail for embezzling, again, 
 > hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
 > 
 > What is doubly significant about these AFT crimes is that everyone in AFT 
 > leadership had to know about the embezzlement as it was going on, as did 
 > the leadership of NEA. Despite repeated warnings and complaints from > staff, 
 > the AFT and NEA both just allowed these crimes to go along, not unlike the 
 > path Reading First followed. 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > Yahoo! Groups Links 
 > 
 > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: 
 > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteracyForAll/ 
 > 
 > <*> Your email settings: 
 > Individual Email | Traditional 
 > 
 > <*> To change settings online go to: 
 > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteracyForAll/join 
 > (Yahoo! ID required) 
 > 
 > <*> To change settings via email: 
 > mailto:LiteracyForAll-digest@yahoogroups.com 
 > mailto:LiteracyForAll-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com 
 > 
 > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: 
 > LiteracyForAll-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com 
 > 
 > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: 
 > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 ------------------------------------------------ 
 Direct list questions to listmom@interversity.net 
   
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.