Why the L.A. teachers strike is so uncomfortable for so many Democrats
Hey @arneduncan, why is it that when it came to guns in schools you were all for kids striking, but when their teachers want guidance counselors instead of arm[ed] guards, you blast them?Randi Weingarten
That’s the text of a tweet that Randi Weingarten, the Democratic president of the American Federation of Teachers, directed at Arne Duncan, the Democratic former secretary of education, on the same day a massive teachers strike began in Los Angeles, which has the second-largest school system in the country.
Weingarten was referring to an op-ed that Duncan, who worked under President Barack Obama for seven years, wrote in the Hill. Duncan opposes the strike called by the 33,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles, saying it is students who will get hurt by the labor action.
Not surprisingly, Los Angeles teachers were furious, union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said in an interview Wednesday. “Our members were enraged to see Arne Duncan and [former Democratic Los Angeles Mayor] Antonio Villaraigosa shaking their finger at them telling them not to go on strike when you could count on your hands and toes how many days these guys have spent in a classroom with the conditions that our folks deal with,” he said.
t wasn’t the first time Democratic-led unions have clashed with Duncan and his school reform camp. In her one-sentence tweet Monday, Weingarten underscored the very real divisions among Democrats about public education today — how schools should operate and what kind of schools the public should pay for.
The strike in Los Angeles is about money: The teachers want more funding for pay raises and for schools strapped for resources. But there’s an underlying theme: Does a genuine public commitment exist to support traditional public school districts against privatization efforts? And it’s not just Republicans vs. Democrats. Democrats have been fighting one another over the future of public education for years.
Hey @arneduncan, why is it that when it came to guns in schools you were all for kids striking, but when their teachers want guidance counselors instead of arm guards, you blast them? #UTLAStrong #WeAreLA thehill.com/blogs/congress…
.@arneduncan: I suggest you take a moment to read about what's really happening in LA and what @utlanow is fighting for, straight from an educator in the city: counterpunch.org/2019/01/09/oba…
President Obama's former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan call the LAUSD strike a battle between democrats.
And he's right. It's a battle between the Corporate, crony... thehill.com/blogs/congress…
The strike entered its third day Wednesday, with thousands of teachers and their supporters walking picket lines and marching. Caputo-Pearl said union protests were concentrated in six areas of Los Angeles, causing CONTINUE READING: Why the L.A. teachers strike is so uncomfortable for so many Democrats - The Washington Post
