When the leftist educator Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee teachers union, addressed his “comrades” at the Save our Schools conference in July, he couldn’t contain his emotions.  He openly shed tears over the fact that Madison teachers walked away from their jobs during the February protests, leaving their students behind.  According to footage obtained exclusively by EAGtv.com, Peterson told attendees:

“When things came down in Wisconsin – the Madison teachers…I’m getting emotional…the Madison teachers (Bob drinks water)…went out four days straight.  It’s illegal to strike in Wisconsin.  It’s illegal to strike.  It wasn’t a strike.  They called in absent.  They exercised their political – their right to free speech.  They weren’t striking against their employer.  They were striking, really, against state power.  They inspired the rest of us.  The school I’m at – the first day, 87% of us teachers at Fratney [Elementary School] called in sick and went to Madison.  We couldn’t shut down.  We had a phone bank at Rethinking Schools the previous night trying to call enough teachers in Milwaukee to close down, we didn’t succeed.  Our principal, though, said ‘go to it.  If I have to have 400 kids in the gym, I’ll take care of it for you.’” (applause)

Peterson told his audience that a school administrator participated in a union plot to abuse sick leave policies and close schools.  I stand corrected in my belief that the teachers unions were the only ones ignoring student needs while looking out for the selfish interests of adult employees.  Fratney Principal Rita Tenorio is allegedly guilty, too.

Peterson told the audience that power comes from money and people.  “We don’t have as much money as our enemies, so we have to organize ourselves.”

“We also have to name the enemy.  We have to name it accurately.  In Wisconsin, for instance, there’s a whole section of the ruling class – say, the GE company, the GE foundation – that doesn’t like Walker.  They only support public schools.”

It’s virtually impossible to verify that statement. And who in their right mind thinks in terms of the “ruling class?” Only Marxists think like that.

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On July 30, 2011, about 8,000 unionists gathered in Washington, DC to protest education reform.

It featured the rapper Notorious PHD, who, rumor has it, moonlights as a teacher, claimed the problems are all manufactured.

On July 30th, 2011, teachers, parents and advocates such as actor Matt Damon, author Jonathan Kozol, and historian Diane Ravitch gathered for the Save Our Schools Rally outside the White House.

The purpose of the event: “To put the public back in public schools.”

Reason.tv was on hand to talk tenure, the role of money in education, and whether parents should have the right to choose where their kids go to school.

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Teachers unions and their supporters hoped to draw 1 million people to Washington D.C. last weekend for their “Save Our Schools” rally. They apparently fell about 992,000 people short.

The embarrassing attendance underlined one major truth – there is no mass movement to maintain the status quo in our nation’s public schools. The only people defending the current system are those who profit from it, like the leaders of the nation’s teachers unions.

The “Save Our Schools” message was honest in one respect – the union goal is to save public schools as they currently exist. Notice that there was no call to improve the quality of education for students, because that’s not what the unions are fighting for.

Their only concern is to maintain a system that has kept unions financially health for decades. The fact that American students are struggling in this system is not on their agenda.

The unions certainly did their best to draw a crowd, even going as far as inviting Matt Damon to be a keynote speaker.

The burning question in my mind was if Damon would draw more people to this rally than he did to his recently flopped film “Green Zone.” The answer was a definite no. And he got a little temperamental when pressed by a reporter from ReasonTV.

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