Reformer Love for the Opinion Pages
For reformers advancing their cause in the ubiquitous education reform battle, no medium is too insignificant for promoting privatization. As such, an important yet unassuming battlefield involves the opinion pages in community newspapers.
My first experience with this opinion-page battle involves reading then-Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) President Penny Dastugue’s October 9, 2012, defense of Louisiana’s own former Teach-for-America, Broad-Superintendent-Academy-trained John White in the Baton Rouge Advocate. In her letter, Dastugue praises White for his effective communications, a statement that is absolute nonsense to anyone who has asked White for a clear answer on any complex or controversial issue. Here is how Dastugue concludes her letter:
The Department of Education has an obligation to inform the public about changes that impact education. As president of BESE, I am grateful Superintendent White takes this responsibility seriously.
Penny Dastugue, president
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
Mandeville
Dastugue’s propaganda is aimed at the unassuming reader who will not see this