Larry Pastor resides in the Neshaminy School District, and has decided to speak his mind about the ongoing contract negotiations between the teachers union and the school board. He has his own political action committee (Taxpayers for a Fair Neshaminy School District Budget)and his own website (http://www.neshaminytaxpayers.com/). He also has an approach that relies upon name calling, fear mongering, and intimidation.
I have children, one of whom will be starting Kindergarten in the Neshaminy School District in the fall. Nonetheless, I have not paid much more than cursory attention to the labor dispute with the teachers. I have read the articles that appear in the paper, and talked to friends, but not tried to do any real research into the issues. I don't honestly know if Larry Pastor's substantive arguments, wherever they may be, have any real weight. I don't care. What I care about is his approach. When people approach serious problems in the way that Larry Pastor does, with no apparent interest in compromise or common courtesy, I don't care what he's saying. I can't support him. I strongly believe that how we make our arguments is as important as what we say. The solution to most problems require a willingness to compromise, listen, and be something close to respectful. Larry Pastor shows none of this.
When the school board president said his message might be overhsadowed by his delivery. And also said the following: "[h]e does come with what I would consider a great business attitude ... the biggest concern is that he might come on too strong and would alienate our teachers. Ultimately, when this dispute is resolved, we would like to have peace and harmony. I am always concerned that when he or others say something at the meetings that it would be construed as a personal attack. Although I don't believe he's ever meant to do this, sometimes the verbiage could come across that way." I read this and I knew what to expect from Larry Pastor. The school board president is using Larry Pastor as his pit bull. Larry Pastor says the things that the school board president couldn't in a way that he couldn't, and the school board president can keep his distance from crazy Larry.
A visit to his web site did not disappoint. He calls the teachers union, "self interested," which is just kind of silly. Of course they are self interested, why wouldn't they be? Isn't that their job? Aren't teachers allowed to have their own interests? Calling them "self interested" is just a bit of poisoning of the old well, with a trace of hyperbole.
He talks about teachers "affluent lifestyle." I am sure teachers eat caviar and drive Rolls Royces. This is just a transparent attempt to play the old blame the elite/they aren't like us ordinary folks game.
He says "Teachers' Unions are on the run but have no place to hide. Even their once 100% NEA-AFT OWNED DEMOCRAT politicians, maybe even the head union man, Obama himself, are publicly running away from them as fast as they can." This is just silly name calling. 100% owned? Who is really 100% owned by a teachers union? Obama is the head union man? Is this an official title?
"Go here to read critiques of Obama's SOTU address statements on Education reform. HE UTTERED NOT A WORD ABOUT HIS BFFs, and biggest union PAC contributors to his 2008-12 campaigns-- the NEA and THE AFT." Bff's? Really? Using texting lingo doesn't make it a serious comment.
Larry Pastor refers to "obscenely excessive NFT labor contract." That's fine and dandy, but I'm a stick in the mud and I'd like to know what made the contract "obscenely excessive."
Larry Pastor frames this as taxpayers and the board versus the teachers union, as if the other side of the debate doesn't pay taxes. It's an attempt to cast the other side of the debate as the 'other.' If you disagree with me, you are less than a full citizen. This is an old and tired argument, and certainly not conducive to anything but alienating the opposition and galvanizing your own supporters around fear and anger.
I could keep doing this, but I think you get the point. I am not really a fan of teacher's unions, although I do believe that teacher's are generally under appreciated and not given as much space to look after their own interests as other professionals. I certainly am not saying that the School Board is wrong in playing hardball. Larry Pastor might indeed be right, but it really doesn't matter. Right or wrong, this approach to serious problems can't be tolerated. How we say things matters ... and that is something well worth practicing, preaching, and even teaching.
No comments:
Post a Comment