One of the most recent strategies implemented by education reform groups is the push for “student centered” policies and the overuse of the term “adult agendas.” These phrases have spread like wildfire among ed reform groups in regards to the new Every Student Succeeds Act. You can generally find all of the usual participants in Louisiana reposting and retweeting propaganda that includes these phrases. I find the agenda statement to be comical and at odds with the supposed mission of some of these organizations. After all, children don’t have agendas; therefore, all agendas are adult.
Since the earliest days of the disastrous flooding in Baton Rouge, and most of the coastal parishes, the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana (A+PEL) has had their agenda. While I commend them for providing financial assistance to the many people in need, it is disheartening to know that their true agenda is to demonize teacher unions and increase their own membership by instilling a sense of debt and gratitude in teachers. I even went so far as to express to a lifetime A+PEL member, and current employee of Stand for Children, that it was a bit unprofessional to bash the other organizations that were raising money for a good cause while praising to the heavens how good yours is.
Today, A+PEL Executive Director, Keith Courville, decided that it was in the best interest of children to fabricate lies about teachers, principals and unions. Courville turned to ed reform blogger extraordinaire, Peter Cook, to get the story Cooking, and then proceeded to engage the usual culprits to spread the lies. Here is the original story. I want you all to read it.
Recently, the news has been filled with the dangers of fake news, and many articles have been published to raise awareness about fake news and how to spot it. There were a couple of things that stood out.
Courville initially claims that a secretary at Kaplan Elementary threw away the checks when she saw the A+PEL logo on it. Then he claims that Vermilion Parish School Board blocks emails from A+PEL, and these two claims result in the assumption that Vermilion Parish is Anti-A+PEL. Well, yeah. I’m sure they are, and they should be; however, none of Courville’s account of the story is factual. I contacted those involved in Vermilion parish and gathered a few facts which I will share here.
- Vermillion Parish School Board uses a spam filter on its webserver that identifies potential spam. It sends a message to the sender telling them how to remove the block. I, myself, have navigated this system with this very school system. Courville’s email apparently included blind-copy recipients and was rejected.
- I question how Courville came to know the fate of the checks? I learned that the secretary he references had personally delivered the first round of checks to the receiving teachers to make sure they were received.
- The second round of checks was not expected and came in two batches. When the secretary received the second batch, she realized she had accidentally discarded the first batch and immediately contacted A+PEL to explain what she had done and asked what she could do to make sure the deserving teachers received their checks.
- Outside of the rejected email, Courville made no attempt to contact the principal of the school and apparently made no attempt to assure the secretary that it could be worked out.
As you can see, Keith Courville, and A+PEL clearly did not have the welfare of the students in mind. He, in fact, attempted to forward an adult agenda.
Thanks Ganey. Your version is indeed the correct one. I just want to add that no employee is forced to join an organization and can join any one Thur desire. Many do join VAE because it is cared for by their colleagues who negotiate for them. These colleagues listen to their fellow educators and through a mutual
Relationship of respect with the school board, superintendent, and board negotiator work on solutions to problems that allows everyone to focus on the work of educating children. With parameters set by the contract, everyone is able to work together in greater harmony to serve the public school children of Vermilion Parish.
The parish scores prove the efficacy of being free to focus on what is important rather than working in an oppositional environment.
I remember clearly the lather over the soon-to-be-adopted Act 2. All of the real unions came out strongly in opposition. A-Pel was the only “union” that gushed enthusiasm for Jindal’s crock of “s_ _t”.
Since the local union, the VAE is the designated bargaining agent and therefore legally bound to represent all bargaining unit employees, why would anyone join another organization. That other organization can do nothing of any significance for the employee. The VAE members make a difference in the lives of children everyday and deserve the respect of an outside organization.