Photo by Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten spoke on a wide range of issues — from the troubled implementation of Common Core education standards to bullying — Wednesday morning at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
Asked about her previous comment that Common Core implementation is going worse than the Affordable Care Act rollout, Weingarten said she isn’t “a big believer in blame” but clarified that her objections stem from a lack of public involvement in the process.
“The public wasn’t involved. Parents weren’t involved. The districts weren’t involved. … It became toxic,” she said of implementing the academic benchmarks — which she supports — that spell out the skills students should have at each grade level.
Weingarten also delivered a pointed defense of public employee pensions in Detroit after being asked about a court ruling Tuesday allowing the city to file for bankruptcy. She slammed trickle-down economics and austerity measures and suggested that Wall Street banks, not unions, are largely responsible for the city’s financial predicament.
“It’s the people in Detroit, who served in Detroit, who are now subject to the bankruptcy. … The people who actually created some of this recklessness, with the swaps and everything else, worked their deals out.”
Asked if she thought labor would throw its support behind a Hillary Clinton candidacy for president, Weingarten said it is “premature” to speak about the 2016 race. However, she noted that “Hillary is someone that my union has supported for every single job” she’s pursued.
The breakfast discussion became more personal when Weingarten spoke about bullying in schools. She told attendees that her thoughts on the issue were greatly colored by dealing with her own sexual identity. (Weingarten first spoke publicly about being a lesbian at a 2007 gay pride dinner in New York.)
“What do you do to actually help kids to not have that anxiety?” she asked, asserting that bullying typically is related to a “fear of being yourself.”
Weingarten: Common Core Rollout "Toxic"
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