Like A Chicken Without A Head

So Arne Duncan wants to reform schools but he's running around like a chicken without a head trying to do it. He has no clue as to what schools need. His answers are close them down, open charters and fire teachers, reopen them as charter schools. Finally, just a few short weeks before New York schools reopen and several weeks after many other states have opened schools, money has been awarded to states to give the schools the makeover they need, money that was given too late to make a difference

Wiki answers says that a decapitated chicken may continue to run and flap its wings for some time, although it has no purpose. People who respond inefficiently or seem disconnected are referred to as a headless chicken. For more on the fiasco, known as education today, go see

In other education news, Newsday has an article about the Obama administration reaching out to teachers. He claims teachers "are the single most important ingredient in the education system" but he talks from two sides of his mouth and no matter what Weingarten (AFT) or Van Roekel (NEA) say, he is still sending out the wrong messages.

Cheap Newsday does not allow non subscibers access to their paper , so the article is copied below:

Obama reaches out to teachers
Originally published: August 23, 2010 9:22 PM
By KENDRA MARR. Politico.com

In the past few weeks, President Barack Obama delivered two major speeches touting education reforms. He invited teachers to the Rose Garden and pushed the House to pass an emergency spending bill saving thousands of school jobs. This week, his education chief is traveling on a cross-country bus tour to highlight school success stories.

"Teachers," Obama said in Ohio last Wednesday, "are the single most important ingredient in the education system."

The White House says it's a back-to-school message that fits squarely into the president's plan for economic recovery, stressing the role of educators in shaping a competitive American workforce.

But all this apple polishing hasn't gone unnoticed by teachers' unions, which have had a rocky relationship with the White House over Obama's unflinching support for reforms that unions view as an affront.

After 18 months of frosty relations that at times bordered on outright hostility, it seems Obama has called a truce - one that several education experts said comes just in time for the midterm elections, when teachers' unions can be a powerful Democratic ally.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan disputed that there's any political motivation. "This is part of that continued outreach," he told Politico.

Yet, as Obama's outreach has continued, tensions have simmered down.

"In the last month, there's been a shift in tone," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Obama's recent speeches, she said, have "made it clear that his strategies were not about firing teachers."

Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, whose group's recent convention included several speakers calling for Duncan to resign, downplays the notion of a major mood swing, but said Obama's recent pro-teacher language has been appreciated.

"He's recognizing that the very thing he cares most deeply about can't happen without the involvement and collaboration of those people who are teaching," Van Roekel said. "I like the message he's sending."

Obama and Duncan have presided over historic increases in school financing and hastened changes, such as new teacher evaluation systems in states and school districts, often with the cooperation of local unions.

At the same time, this Democratic president has aggressively confronted teachers' unions with a spate of reforms out of a Republican playbook: more charter schools, merit pay for teachers and firing educators in failing schools.