Governor LePage Should Go Back to School

Governor LePage should go back to school. If he did, he would learn that slinging provocative statements about without bothering to cite any evidence at all would earn him failing grades in our schools in Maine. We have higher standards than that.

Seth Koenig, of the Bangor Daily News, reports LePage as having stated that our public schools work harder in support of the financial well-being of teachers than the educational needs of the students.

You could have fooled me. I didn’t realize that all those late afternoons and weekends and summer vacation days spent creating curriculum were really in service of my own salary. Silly me! I thought I was working to improve educational outcomes among the children I teach.

The teachers and administrators working late each day in Maine are apparently similarly delusional. I’m pretty sure they think that the incredible psychic, intellectual, and physical energy they expend each day is on behalf of the children. I must be sure to share with them that our governor sees what we do not – all that energy we put out is not to help children learn after all. It’s to improve our financial status. Who knew? And why then is my paycheck not larger?

Governor LePage does not truly support public schools. If he did, he would not consider that instituting surface-deep school grading systems and teacher evaluation systems and cutting school funding drastically is “…doing everything we can (to improve schools)”.

Maybe I’ve missed something. If I have, I hope Governor LePage has the evidence to set me right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kathreen Harrison

About Kathreen Harrison

Kathreen Harrison is a public school teacher in Maine. She has a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. She has worked in a variety of schools in New York and Maine in a number of capacities – French teacher, gifted and talented teacher, elementary school teacher, and curriculum coordinator for island schools. She has lived in Maine for 20 years and has a particular interest in school reform.