NYC Educator: Al D'Amato, Education Expert

NYC Educator: Al D'Amato, Education Expert

Al D'Amato, Education Expert

Last week I wrote about how the NY Post had yet another article trashing the teachers who've been reassigned. I've read this article a million times. First it was Campbell Brown, on her mission to save the world from the perfidious individuals who teach children. This was covered quite a bit by then-education writer Ben Chapman in the Daily News.  This week former Senator Pothole, Al D'Amato, wrote essentially the same thing.

Here's the recipe--You take a few extreme cases, outliers at best, and paint them as though they're typical. After that, add a few dashes of union and teacher bashing, and then, no matter how little you know, paint yourself as an expert. Now D'Amato's piece has a title that suggests otherwise--We have a lot to learn about education's cost and quality. Unfortunately, Al is pushing the same old anti-union nonsense he did when he was a Senator. That's probably one reason he was voted out.

I'm not sure how many people read the Herald, but I'm glad Al didn't manage to get his story into something like Newsday, with wider circulation. Al's source appears to be the Post article, which I suppose is as good as any when it comes to teacher-bashing. Al, of course, is himself a paragon of virtue, so he can say this stuff. After all, he was cleared in the whole Roosevelt Raceway sale, even though it stunk to high heaven.

Hey, does that remind you of anything? It kind of reminds me of the teachers who were reassigned. They were never convicted of anything. Yet Al says the system sucks and CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Al D'Amato, Education Expert