I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that some teachers--facing layoffs, pay freezes, and the rest--would strike out in violence. But it's inexcusable all the same. See today's story from Idaho:
The night after Idaho's school chief publicly detailed changes to his plan to overhaul the state's K-12 education system, vandals spray-painted his truck and slashed two of its tires as it was parked outside his home.He was heckled a few hours later at a coffee shop, and he says he filed a police report after an angry teacher showed up at his 71-year-old mother's home over the weekend.
Debate over Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's plans to restructure how Idaho's scarce education dollars are spent have dominated the legislative session this year, and emotions have been running high at legislative hearings and in public.
In the latest incident, Luna said he woke up before dawn Tuesday and found his name painted on the truck with a slash through the letters.
"I'm not pointing any fingers at any individuals or groups, but there's no doubt in my mind" the vandalism involved the reforms, he told The Associated Press. Nampa police are investigating and have not yet determined a motive or identified any suspects, Deputy Chief Craig Kingsbury said.
I worked with Tom at the U.S. Department of Education; he's a sweet man pushing a very mainstream reform agenda. If this can happen in Idaho, what can we look forward to in strong union states like Ohio, Wisconsin, and New York?
Rod Paige was publicly ridiculed for calling the NEA a "terrorist organization." I'm waiting for Dennis Van Roekel to denounce this act of intimidation (and any others like it), lest we discover that Paige simply erred in stating the truth out loud.
-Mike Petrilli
