Unions don’t want bad teachers

I’m always amazed how eager conservatives are to relitigate past battles, from the Civil War to the culture war. Christian Schneider, like many Wisconsin conservatives, is stuck in 2011 (“Evers has a problem with discipline,” Sept. 20).

While slamming state Superintendent Tony Evers’ campaign for governor, Schneider dredges up the fight over Act 10, the law limiting collective bargaining for most public employees. Schneider states that Evers, an opponent of Act 10, would use his power as governor to protect the jobs of bad teachers.

To prove this, Schneider cites exactly zero relevant examples. Schneider waxes rhapsodic for two paragraphs about New York City’s infamous “rubber rooms,” a situation with no analog in Wisconsin. He devotes another quarter of his column to the case of Andy Harris, though he has to admit, twice, that the case simply doesn’t support his argument.

That Schneider can’t name a single bad teacher Evers protected or would protect is telling. Schneider also says the state teach ers union has bought Evers’ complicity with “more than a million dollars” in support over the years without noting that Gov. Scott Walker received more than twice that from pro-voucher forces in a single election.

I was a Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association building representative for years. I protected exactly zero bad teachers and counseled more than a few out of the profession. It is simply a myth that unions want to keep bad teachers around to hurt kids or to do the job badly. Schneider needs to let it go.

Jay Bullock Milwaukee