Speaking of Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Kevin Huffman:
“As with many of the “problems” he pointed to during his talk, he didn’t offer up any suggestions on how to rectify the lack of parental input in his reform process, nor did he ask for ideas from the audience. He went on to give a very convoluted reason for not reaching out to parents which made my jaw drop in disbelief: He told the CEOs that “there are several faux parent groups that claim to represent parents but they don’t and they have ulterior motives and agenda.”
Um. WOW! My hand shot up in an attempt to get the opportunity to ask what “faux parent groups” he was referring to exactly. One could argue that StudentsFirst could be labeled in such a way, but somehow I don’t think he was disparaging his ex-wife’s astroturf education group which has lobbyists on the Hill advocating for Huffman’s reforms. I got the distinct impression he was talking about TREE and all the other parent groups that have popped up across Tennessee because parents have had enough of his “do-what-I-say-or-else” reforms”
If you are a parent, and fed up with the spin coming out of Nashville, please click this link to read the full article.