An Open Letter to Richard Iannuzzi, President of New York State United Teachers

Dear Mr. Ianuzzi,

I am writing to you to express my profound exasperation over President Obama's education policy, his recent actions and the current media focus on teachers.

Never before in my 26 year career as an educator have I been this concerned. It seems everywhere you look, the sole theme of education reform is that getting rid of 'bad teachers' is the golden solution to all that is wrong with the world. Newsweek's recent edition (Cover: What's Wrong with Education? Fire the bad teachers, fire the bad teachers, fire the bad teachers...), the New York Times constant harping on 'bad teachers' and most unnervingly the President's endorsement of the wholesale slaughter of teachers in Rhode Island have created a witch-hunt atmosphere in which no teacher, even the best of us, can feel safe.

I have always had doubts about Obama's education policy and his choice of Arnie Duncan as Education Secretary. I never imagined that all that could be wrong with America's educational system, real and imagined, would be put at our door by this supposedly liberal administration. What are we supposed to think? That Obama is pro-labor while he is so obviously trying to break the backs of the NEA and AFT? That Obama is pro-teacher while ignoring the fact that NCLB has had us tied to the whipping post for the past eight years, and that now real education reform is under way? No mention of community and parental responsibilities. No mention of the impossible urban working conditions and teacher turnover. No mention of building administration, social malaise, electronic distractions, unfunded mandates, higher class sizes and the testing madness that has dehumanized the entire system? Why would anyone of even mediocre intelligence want to enter the profession under these conditions? Every day there is a headline. This is from today's AP: "President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration's help they will have better teachers in improved schools..."

I guess "parents and their kids" are not a factor. Just us. How politically expedient.

How many veteran teachers who would otherwise keep working are considering retirement? Who will replace them, especially under New York's new Tier 5? I'm four years from retirement and I would feel a lot safer if it was closer.

What steps are the unions, at all levels, going to make to push back? The President needs to know he cannot take our support for granted. I, personally, will not vote for him again given that his polices look to make Bush's seem like the good old days.

Please tell me NYSUT, the NEA and AFT are crafting a strategy to counter this propaganda that can only do more harm to our profession, our students and our nation.

Most sincerely,
Michael Lambert
Gloversville Teacher's Association