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Friday, June 14, 2013

Daily Kos: BREAKING: StudentsFirst & ALEC group exploit Teacher of the Year to promote anti-union agenda

Daily Kos: BREAKING: StudentsFirst & ALEC group exploit Teacher of the Year to promote anti-union agenda:

This is offensive


In May of this year, Gary Abud, a science teacher at Grosse Pointe North High School, was chosen as Michigan's 2013-2014 Teacher of the Year by State Superintendent Mike Flanagan. It's an amazing accomplishment for a teacher who has only been at it for six years. Well-respected by both his students and his coworkers, Mr. Abud was a worthy choice.
To reward him for his outstanding achievement, the anti-union corporatist Mackinac Center -- an ALEC and State Policy Network affiliate funded, in part, by the Koch brothers -- did a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to find out how much money Mr. Abud makes. Once they found out, they proceeded to use him along with details about his salary to promote passage of House Bill 4625, a bill I call the "'Teach to the Test' Teacher Pay Act".
Michelle Rhee's anti-teacher StudentsFirst group got in on the act, too.
I was curious about how Mr. Abud felt about this blatant exploitation of his position and award