It's a great story and I am late to it. A lone crusader takes on the education establishment, in the form of the Madison teachers union, on behalf of under-privileged students at his struggling school. The real-life young principal is Mickey Buhl. Glenn Ford would have played him. (Another cultural reference > 30 years old.)
My friend Sunny Schubert at WPRI picks up the story:
Two salient facts: Glendale has the highest percentage of poor and minority students at any Madison elementary school. And since Mickey Buhl took over as principal in 2005, test scores have risen dramatically.
Did Buhl have to crack some fragile eggshells to make this omelet? Perhaps. Shaking up the status quo is a tough slog. Which led some of Glendale's unionized teachers to inflict death by a thousand paper cuts on this upstart principal with grievances enough to fill the Balkans.
District administration hired a private attorney to sort out all the complaints. Verdict: innocent of all charges.
"I challenge anyone who is not either a member of the education establishment or a professional victim to read this report without laughing out loud," Sunny writes.
Christian Schneider picks up the story:
It is an astounding document. It details the travails of a principal merely trying to provide the best education for his kids, yet having to spend most of his time refereeing the most banal, petulant disputes between teachers and himself. Even when Buhl attempted to mediate disputes between teachers or between a teacher and himself, the teachers generally lawyered up and demanded a teacher's union representative be present.
And as for Buhl, this is the thanks he gets for trying to give kids the best education they can get. He was exonerated on all of the complaints mentioned in the report, yet he clearly spent hours and hours trying to mediate the BS the teachers slung at him.
... "bullying?" Rational people would call it "having a boss."
Sunny concludes:
... Needless to say, the teachers union, Madison Teachers Inc., is so upset over the report that they're demanding the district institute a policy to prevent principals from bullying teachers. ... Grow up. Put on your big boy pants. Your job is to teach.
Lt. Gov. Kleefisch answers the Sly-mer
"The Left wing's relentless assault on civility," as seen on Fox's Hannity program.
Now, who is mature?
Where is my complaint to the FCC? Probably not going anywhere. The Sly-mer has violated no law, just the public's sense of common decency and fair play. The Sly-mer discredits whatever cause or candidate he espouses. His station management's refusal to allow him to defend himself on Hannity confirms that. I just wanted to emphasize the point.
I like it like that
Debated Fighting Ed Garvey on Joy Cardin's WPR show this morning. Poor Ed was gloomier than Joe Bflstk (another cultural reference > 30 years old), which means I was right about liking President Obama's State of the Union address. Here's a few more likes:
- Did not back down from education reform. "Instead of pouring money into a system that is not working ... We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones."
- Coal and nuclear remain on the energy shopping list "... we will need them all."
- Reduce the corporate tax rate. At a practical rate of 39% (35% plus the average state rate), America's corporate tax rate is second-highest rate among developed countries, only a fraction below Japan's. Mexico and the UK are at 28%, Czechs and Hungarians are at 20%. Given that Wisconsin's state rate is above average at 7.9%, figure that Scott Walker will lower ours, as well.
- Tort reform!
It will be hard to argue against Gov. Walker when he follows suit. Wisconsin will also become a right-to-work state.
On the radio this morning, Fighting Ed was lamenting that Obama did not call for raising the minimum wage and setting up CCC camps. That's the Left's idea of economic development!
Did not see Justices Alito, Thomas, or Scalia at the POTUS SOTU address Tuesday night. Don't blame them. The President crossed the line of propriety in his address last year. And violated the separation of powers.
