National union leader thwarted in school visit Randi Weingarten ,
national union president, with teacher John Larsen outside Lincoln High.
RON TARVER / Staff Photographer
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer POSTED: Friday, September 13, 2013, 1:08 AM Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, got what she wanted Thursday at Abraham Lincoln High School in Northeast Philadelphia - even though she was stopped just past the metal detector. Told that a tour of the building would be disruptive, Weingarten instead convened outside Lincoln after the 2:55 p.m. dismissal bell with members of her union's local and students to discuss budget cuts in city schools. "Obviously they said no today because they don't want us to see the conditions," Weingarten said, TV cameras rolling. "I'm just astounded. . . . I have never been denied access to a public school where our members are working." A School District spokesman said the principal told Weingarten she was welcome inside after the dismissal bell. Weingarten was visiting the city on the fourth day of the school year to try to rally public opinion against the Corbett administration's demand that the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) agree to concessions, such as wage and benefit cuts and work-rule
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