POST KATRINA: A NEW BEGINNING

Betsy Newmark has posted about the school system in New Orleans. It appears that it took a natural disaster to bring about real school reform, and the NEA isn't going to like it nor can they do anything about it. And I doubt you will hear much about this in the MSM, that is, for now.

Because of Katrina, New Orleans now has the nation's highest percentage of Charter Schools at 70%. Prior to Katrina, the school system was in sad shape, "abysmal," as Newmark puts it. Now that Charter Schools are the RULE and not the exception, the two systems will be judged for their effectiveness in educating its students, and I'm fairly certain the NEA will not be enjoying the comparison.

The inevitable future comparisons of the two systems could very well be the beginning of the end for the NEA and its stranglehold on our schools.

The NEA is just like our Congress: Their #1 priory is keeping their jobs, holding political power, and getting a better deal, even though they're doing a lousy job. The welfare of the students is somewhere on the list but I'm not sure where.

Newmark is a teacher so she knows what she's talking about. Read her post and the linked article. As is stands, now, the schools and the kids of New Orleans have a fighting chance.