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CAT Tracks for October 20, 2010
MEET THE PRESIDENT |
...Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education Association.
If you have broadband access and have never set eyes on the NEA President, much less heard him speak...Jay Mathews does an interview. (The "bonus" of course is that you also get to "meet" Jay. I'm sorry, he doesn't look like the picture on his blog to me...I was expecting an older, more distinguished looking gentleman. Of course, Jay would be pleased, I'm sure, to hear that he looks younger "in real life".
Anyway, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Jay, interviewing Dennis Van Roekel...
From the Washington Post...
Class Struggle
Video reveals mystery man who runs largest teachers union
Our "On Education" page has a new video up, exposing the teachers union chief nobody knows, Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education Association.
I am exaggerating, of course. The NEA has 3.2 million members. I expect almost all of them recognize Van Roekel's name, and maybe even his face. But in recent years the head of the smaller teachers union, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, has been getting more press coverage. Her union represents teachers in mostly urban school systems, where the problems are greater and thus more newsworthy than the NEA's mostly suburban base. Weingarten was also prominent, as the villain, in the much-discussed new documentary on failing schools "Waiting For 'Superman.'"
I had never met Van Roekel before our interview for the video. He turned out to be an engaging, friendly, unruffled former math teacher. The interview reveals his desire to focus his union efforts on raising achievement for low-income children, what he thinks about the trashing that unions and Weingarten got in the documentary, and other intriguing thoughts.
By Jay Mathews
