Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Ed Show Tonight! MSNBC

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I got an email near the end of the day from Washington D.C. to see if I wanted to be on the Ed Show. Ed Schultz is horrified at the way that our New Jersey Governor is attacking public employees and I am too.

I'm a full-time teacher. Last year I won the New Jersey Teacher of the Year title and now I am in the running for the National Education Foundation Teaching Excellence Award. I'm very excited about all of the acclaim and honor that I have received. There are many good things about being recognized, but one of the best is having a bigger microphone to share the excellence of my colleagues.

Tonight, the taxi was waiting for me at 4:15 in front of my house when I pulled up from school so I ran in to get dressed in a flash. We hit the traffic on the G.W. Bridge and then got into midtown without a whole lot of fuss.

Before speaking on the Ed Show, I thought a lot about the way our Governor said that people shouldn't have pensions and about how he wanted to expose the unions and tell the truth.

I feel that what Governor Christie is doing is creating a giant myth about what is happening in our classrooms and is somehow engaged in an anti government worker public relations campaign. How is that possible for the leader of my state?

In order to attract the caliber of professional that we want to be teaching our children, we need to offer a reasonable package to them. I just read an article that the number of people in California who are seeking to get certified as teachers is down 40%!

We are at a time when we need to recruit and retain these talented young people, not attack their salaries, dishonor their work and call their professional leaders "bosses!"

Tonight, I felt so upset with Governor Christie and frankly baffled about why he would launch such an attack on his own public employees!

Tonight on the show, I felt that I was able to say much of what I wanted to say, yet I could have gone on.

Maybe Ed will invite me back some time.

Governor Christie needs to understand that teachers and public workers are an important part of the excellence of our state. If not, he seriously threatens to shortchange the future of our children and that would be inexcusable!

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