Rabble Rouser
Lily Eskelsen Garcia is the new president of the NEA and she’s got something to say…
EduShyster: You recently met with President Obama. I’ll ask this next question on behalf of all of my readers: did you set him straight?
Eskelsen Garcia: I can tell you that I had an amazing opportunity to have a very short conversation with the President. I got to ride in the Presidential limo on the way to a labor rally in Milwaukee and I was able to tell him a little about the back-to-school tour I’ve been on and what I’m hearing from teachers. I told him that the constant testing is the number one issue and that teachers tell me again and again: *I’m so excited for school to start and I love my job. Now if I could just get these idiot tests out of the way so that I can actually teach.* I had a chance to express what I think are very honest, passionate and heartfelt responses of educators all over the country. I could see that the President’s wheels were turning.
EduShyster: You have such a remarkable personal story. You started your career as a cafeteria lunch lady and are now heading up the largest union in the country.
Lily Eskelsen Garcia: Let me qualify that. I wasn’t actually a lunch lady—I was a salad girl. I didn’t have the status to work with the hot foods. Folks want to know what brought me here. That’s how it all started—in the cafeteria. I used to joke with my kids that they’d better be careful because I’d be the one picking who got to play them in the made-for-TV-movie. But everyone has a story. Everyone has joys and tragedies and disappointments in their lives. I think what’s unusual about my story is that, by all stereotypes, I’m not supposed to be here. I come from Utah!
EduShyster: Your passion, along with the sharp way you’re talking about these issues, is winning you some serious admirers. My sister, a teacher in southern Illinois and an AFT member, keeps texting me: *you won’t believe what Lily just said :)*Eskelsen Garcia: I try to be as clear as I need to be. That’s how I’ve always been, but when you have a title, all of a sudden people pay a different kind of attention to you. All I know is that I have a responsibility to express that this is really important, and express it in a way that people can understand. That’s something I learned how to do when I was teaching 6thRabble Rouser | EduShyster: