Sunday, January 22, 2012

Scenes From An Education Convention

Last week, Scott Walker returned to Milwaukee County to speak to a convention of school administrators, board members and business managers. He came to boast of his so-called reforms (remember: reforms can be negative as well as positive) to Wisconsin's educational system.

One problem though. He forgot to include the state's top educator in his plans:
An Evers spokesman said he hadn't been apprised of the package of reforms before they were released on Thursday.

"Policy and legislation are two different things. I'm a little bit in the dark on the legislative piece," Evers said.

Evers released a statement saying that while he worked in a "collaborative spirit" on various reform-oriented initiatives, he wasn't involved in the creation of Walker's plan.

"Despite my leadership in these arenas and constitutional authority, I have not been involved in the drafting of the education proposals that have been announced. Clearly, it is essential to see the details of this proposed legislation and ensure they match the intent and spirit of all the work that so many groups and individuals put into improving schools and academic achievement for all students in Wisconsin," he said in the statement.
As one might suspect, I knew someone who was in attendance at the convention.

My friend gave me some insight that was not reported in any of the traditional mainstream media venues.

For example, Walker was very much on edge and looked like "a scared little boy." (Was this Walkergate or just the fact that he knew they knew he was going to implode the educational system?)

Walker also said, "I don't want to talk about the past." Heh, my guess is he doesn't want to talk about the present or the future too much either.

My friend also had the, um, "opportunity" to experience the wit and wisdom of Karin Rajnicek, the clueless school board member from Waukesha.

Rajnicek takes her job very seriously, even if she apparently doesn't understand quite what her job is. She said that she spends her day wandering "around the halls of the schools keeping an eye on the teachers."  I don't know, but maybe she's a wannabe correction officer?

Rajnicek also appears not to do as well without a teleprompter to read from.  She couldn't iterate the points that she made in her commercial, much less show an understanding of what she is about to face when they look at next year's budget.

But she was able to complain that the hot lunches at the schools she oversees are so bad that she would only let her kids have one three times a month.  The irony of that sentence cannot be overstated.

2 comments:

  1. Did Walker forget to include Evers in his plans or does Walker actually want to listen to someone who might know a thing or two about education?

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  2. Ha! What would a drop out like Walker know about education? He obviously didn't care enough to get one for himself.

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