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October 25, 2007

Get That Log Out of Your Eye!

In a state congressional hearing yesterday examining how educator misconduct issues are handled in the system, a lawyer for Ohio’s teacher union complained that teachers are unfairly victimized by due-process policies and parents. No mention of the union rules that make it all but impossible to swiftly process such allegations of misconduct, much less fire teachers for cause (remember New York’s rubber rooms?). Thomas Ash, of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, was more forthright when he called on legislators to make it easier to get rid of such teachers: "We do a sleight of hand, a reassignment to make sure the person who is accused doesn't have access to witnesses or to the alleged victim."

And if unions are looking for culprits of teacher victimization, perhaps a mirror would come in handy. Out on the left coast, only recently was the Washington Education Association stripped of its ability to dip into teacher pockets willy-nilly to fund their own pet political causes. Not to be deterred, they’re now extending their sticky fingers and trying to roll back the taxpayers’ rights as defined in the state’s constitution, with a measure that would trim the current 60 percent ‘yes’ vote requirement for school levies to a simple majority. The various union organizations, from local to national, have ponied up more than half of the $3 million funding the campaign.

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