Fordham. A silly name.

Mike Petrilli, writes for the Fordham blog, Flypaper. He calls me out in a post. Back a few days after the election I mocked Petrilli for claiming Obama owed the teacher unions nothing in exchange for their electoral support. I suggested he was smoking something.

I am always amused when a wonker like Petrilli refers to something I said. As he points out, Fordham is “a well-respected education policy think tank.” Maybe the “well-respected” part is subjective and depends on whether or not you are a reactionary supporter of privatization, vouchers and union-busting.

But still. I’m a K-5 art teacher in a public school who teaches full time and is the unpaid president of a union local. Why would Petrilli even bother with me? I’m no wonker. No member of a think tank. What’s the deal Mike?

Here’s Mike’s point: I criticized the Fordham Institute and he points out that AFT President Randi Weingarten quoted from a report by Fordham. Mike thinks this is a gotcha. It is causing me cognitive dissonance says Petrilli.

Here is what Weingarten quoted:

Schools that make AYP in one state fail to make AYP in another. Those that are considered failures in one part of the country are deemed to be doing fine in another. Although schools are being told that they need to improve student achievement in order to make AYP under the law, the truth is that many would fare better if they were just allowed to move across state lines.

Actually, that’s a good quote. Weingarten is not agreeing with any policy issues that Fordham proposes. She’s referring to a fact.

Even a broken clock…

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