School District Resources Used for Candidate Campaign Announcement

This practice is not new. It is done routinely by districts to promote the election of local officials and school board candidates who openly favor the selfish agenda of the "education" establishment. It's about time that folks realize that Michigan's failed education system, along with those of most states, has been co-opted as a cash cow by the National Education Association. If education of our students was their objective, our kids would not be delivering the generally mediocre performance that is evidenced today by international scores in science and math, as well as other areas. Michigan schools have lowered standards over the last forty years, just as the folks at SAT did. Why do any of us suppose there are so many 'A' students these days? It is time that the education of our children was taken away from the state and returned to local communities. Further, it is time to take on the NEA/MEA for the purpose of wresting control of the futures of our children from them, once and for all. We couldn't do any worse on their behalf if we were to cast off the union-oriented restrictions on teacher qualifications. Certainly, too many of the "qualified" teachers and administrators we have today are not capable of, or interested in, doing the job that we have a right to expect them to do. Things are the way they are because the "education" establishment wants them this way. Of course, they will deny my statement. The proof is in the product. If they don't want our children under-educated, they would pull out all the stops to remedy the facts. Higher standards and strict discipline would be a good place to start.

Roger, what does the this have to do with the MEA. Most if not all school boards in Michigan want to disolve all unions, including the MEA and Teamsters, bus drivers, janitorial, kitchen workers and paraproffessionals.The State of Michigan requires teachers to continue their education in order to maintain their certification, not the MEA. Teachers are required to continue their education, at their own time and expense,then price themselves out of the market. School Boards, if left unchecked, would gladly layoff all senior,top of the pay scale, experienced teachers, so they could hire inexperienced 20 plus year olds,at half the price, who are only a few years out of high school, teaching our children. It is like going to college and being taught by student assistants vs. proffessors. If you ran a corp. , why get rid of all the experienced engineers? Your product would suffer, and so will our children, if the school boards continue to force experienced , well educated teachers out, just to save the bottom line, kids pay the price. We need to force Lansing to come up with a solution on how to fund our schools, not keep putting the blame on the unions.School boards can abuse their authority , as this article indicates. That is why teachers need a voice in the process only their union can provide. The MEA does not affect how a teacher teaches, but if he or she is constantly concerned about their job or benifits, or how they will provide for their family, layoffs, cutbacks, health care, sick days, that effects their ablity to function 100%. As with any worker , satisfied workers, produce better results, and that benifits our children. School boards are being forced to do unwise things, instead of cutting out the bad parts , they are trying to throw out the whole fruit. Teachers need a collective voice to protect their interests, just like any other large employee groups do. The ablity to teach effectively comes from within the teacher, has nothing to do with being a union member. If a teacher is ineffective then action should be taken to correct it, and school boards can remove teachers just like poor administrators or school board members who misuse their position or school resources for political gain.

This is nothing new from the Northville District, in prior school board elections the board used PTA members and member directories to do fan out calls the day before the election to support their chosen incumbents, The PTA endorsed candidates in violation of their bylaws and without the consent of the teachers, It is afterall a parent/teacher association. The supt. personally introduced only the two incumbents to the crowd at the Sate of the Township/ School District annual luncheon . This was also the case at one , if not more, local business club annual meeting. The school board and supt. have over and over again misused their position and authority to support only slected candidates. Ms. Wadsworth has personally campaigned , obtained absentee voter lists, and personally endorsed only selected candidates while holding, what is perceived as, and should be, an impartial elected position. At school board candidate debates it was clear that many of the host's questions to the candidates had been screened and incumbents preped for the majorty of them.