She got booed in a packed-house full of Democrats! Is this announcement the sign of a free fall?
While FBI Director James Comey was announcing to the nation he was not recommending that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton be criminally charged for her handling of classified emails on her private email server, Clinton was giving a speech before the National Education Association.
The broadcast images of the Democratic presidential candidate receiving a warm reception from the nation’s largest teachers union hid the fact not all of the comments she made at the rally were well received.
Politico reports that when Clinton attempted to speak to what she said is a needed dialog between public schools and charter schools, she was booed.
Specifically, when Clinton stated, “When schools get it right, whether they are traditional public schools or public charter schools, let’s figure out what’s working … and share it with schools across America,” several teachers in the audience voiced their disapproval.
Many NEA members complain that charter schools draw away some of the best and brightest students at the expense of the public schools. In fact, many charter schools only admit students on a lottery basis where parents who are motivated to provide a better education for their children are placed on waiting lists until their child’s number is drawn.
After being booed by the NEA teachers, Clinton tried to win back the crowd by drawing a distinction between the public charters she supports and charter schools that exist for profit. She received applause when she said, “We’ve got no time for all these education wars, where people on the outside try to foist for-profit schools on our kids. We will never stand for that. That is not acceptable.”
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia told Politico the union stands against for-profit charter schools because of their impact on public schools. “For us, the anger comes from the growing franchise for-profit charter schools,” she said. “When they move in, they devastate the local school district.”
The New Yorker reported Clinton’s support for charter schools goes way back to 1998 when she said they are necessary for “bringing teachers, and parents, and communities together.” And President Obama, her former boss, agrees. His administration just asked for a 50 percent increase in federal funding for charter schools.
Still, Clinton tries to balance her support for charter schools and public schools simultaneously. In November 2015, just after receiving endorsements from the NEA and the other major teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, she said, “Most charter schools — I don’t want to say every one, but most charter schools — they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids. Or if they do, they don’t keep them. And so the public schools are often in a no-win situation, because they do, thankfully, take everybody, and then they don’t get the resources or the help and support that they need to be able to take care of every child’s education.”
Source: Western Journalism, Youtube