The Ed Show

I got a call in study hall yesterday from MSNBC to see if I would want to be on the Ed Show last night. The situation was that our Governor Christie treated a teacher poorly at a Republican Town Hall meeting last Friday when the fellow was only asking a question! Ed Schultz was interested in my response.

I had seen the film of the teacher and read some articles about the Town Hall meeting and was horrified to see how the Governor ordered this elementary school teacher off the stage and asked a state trooper to accompany him! Incredible!

I really don't understand why this happened! The teacher was asking about the municiple cuts that are affecting our classrooms, our staffing and what we can provide for our children and the Governor just wouldn't hear it!

Why not? I see that he was blocking dialog and was unwilling to respond to the questions he was asked.

I wouldn't allow such behavior in my classroom!!!

Under the lights, when you are asked questions on live television, you respond the best you can, but I have found that some really great answers come up just after you are off the air!

Here's the clip of what I said - just copy and paste it into your brouser to view!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40541497#40541497

Besides that, I would have added that the Governor must come to the table to engage in dialog with his state's teachers. The NJEA is working hard to be a proactive partner for educational reform and we need to all put our heads together to come up with the best solutions for the children.

We cannot afford this name calling and poor treatment. It is intolerable and inappropriate. We cannot permit our elected officials to belittle, demean and disregard teachers! Those days must be over and done. They should never have happened, but since they have, it's time to see this as a bad time which we must dig ourselves out of to start anew.

We must look forward to a new day of collaboration in which we come to terms with the issues that we face in the 21st Century, in our classrooms and in our profession. This is what is right. This is what we need to be doing.

No more blocking dialog. No more grand standing. No more, Governor Christie - please!