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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

"WTU Alerts Teachers About a "Fake Debate Scheduled for McKinley Tech High School." The Washington Teacher

The Washington Teacher:

"WTU Alerts Teachers About a "Fake Debate Scheduled for McKinley Tech High School." 

WTU Dust-up 


 Today right before the close of the school day, the WTU President Nathan Saunders had a major meltdown and sent out an email blast to WTU members titled "WTU Alerts Teachers About a "Fake Debate Scheduled for McKinley Tech High School." What caught my attention was that Saunders actually sent the first email from his own WTU email account. Followed by a second email blast minutes later from the WTU Communication Director. Saunders email to union members stated "This is yet another attempt by individuals to misinform and mislead our members..... The individuals who are promoting this debate have put WTU members in great jeopardy for not following WTU membership and DCPS guidelines." It was suggested by Saunders that someone used the WTU logo to mislead members into thinking that the event was union sponsored. Saunders made a not so suttle threat to his members in closing when he indicated that WTU could not represent members who trespass on DCPS property for any event unauthorized by WTU. Saunders ended with "We hope to discover who initiated this false information, so that appropriate action can be taken." You can't make this stuff up really. So I decided to contact Liz Davis, my running mate for WTU President in the upcoming WTU election. Davis stated, "No one ever represented the debate as being formerly sponsored by the WTU leadership, the election committee, or inappropriately used the WTU logo. The organizers had reached out to both candidates and thought the debate was on. It is also not true that private insurance must be posted to hold any and all meetings in school facilities. These are scare tactics are simply being used to inhibit the democratic process." I'm saddened that WTU members have to