It's Irritating

I've made my opinion about who to vote for to represent the public on the Seattle School Board.  But now, after attending two forums and watching one on video (the NAACP/League of Women Voters), I want to add one thing that I find very irritating because two candidates are making statements that are not factually true in the context of what they currently do for a living.

Omar Vasquez, a candidate in District V, says over and over, verbally and in ads (like the ones on Facebook):

"As the only teacher in the race, I am running for Seattle school board so all students can reach their full potential. 

He isn't.  Chelsea Byers was a teacher.  Herbert Camet was a teacher and Vasquez was a teacher.


Okay, if you were an average voter and read his campaign statement, what would you think? Yeah, you'd think he was a teacher and probably a K-12 teacher.  He isn't. He is currently a lawyer who tutors kids.

Okay, so if you believe - as I do - that every parent is a child's teacher, then you may be a teacher. 

If you used to teach and now tutor, are you still a teacher?  Mr. Vasquez thinks so.  But I think it terribly disingenuous to use that line "I'm a teacher."  

It's weird because Chelsea Byers also says she's an educator.  It's right on her campaign home page (you have to go to her "About" page to see what she really does).  She was a K-12 teacher but now develops curriculum for the tech ed company so sure, still in a kind of education.

But she's not currently a teacher and she's not in K-12 education but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if people thought that.

Both these candidates want voters to believe that they are currently teachers and they are not.

Herbert Camet, on the other hand, is honest about his teaching background:
I am the ONLY candidate in this election who has any personal and professional experience working as a K-12 school principal, teacher, ESL/ELT training manager, and K-12 & ESL/ELT Curriculum Specialist in 10 countries worldwide for over 35 years.
You'll note he says "experience," not that he is a currently a teacher.

I find Byers and Vasquez' attempts to mislead voters disingenuous.  It is fine to say you were a teacher and you do tutor students in your free time but don't say "I am a teacher."  

It's that kind of fudging and fundamental dishonesty that is one more reason I could not support their election to the Seattle School Board.

Comments

Irritated too! said…
I get irritated when Byers and Vasquez claim to support "public" schools. They both support "public" charter schools. The play on words is getting old!!

If a candidate supports charter schools...fine....just say so!!

Vasquez stated- at the LWV forum- that Blanford recruited him to run for school board.
10/24/17, 2:24 PM
Be Honest said…
Omar Vasquez's campaign literature states: " Omar advises education nonprofits..." His campaign literature does not state that he sat on Summit charter school board.

Ah...hem.... charter schools are considered non-profit entities.

Beware of those selling snake oil.
10/24/17, 2:48 PM
alex said…
It's funny because I too used to be a teacher. As in, I was a teacher. Past tense. Did it for five years, but I have never once, since I stopped teaching, said I AM a teacher.

I love kids, have a kid, volunteer in my son's class, and generally miss teaching on a lot of levels, but all of that doesn't mean I am STILL a teacher. I have another job now. It's not like, once a teacher, always a teacher. I WAS a teacher. Just like Vasquez & Byers, but I never get tripped up with the verb tense. It's called the past tense.
10/24/17, 3:28 PM
Historian said…
Vasquez states he will be the only teacher on the school board. Not so. Betty Patu is a teacher.
10/24/17, 9:24 PM
Ed said…
Both sides as usual.
10/27/17, 7:49 AM
Elsa said…
And SEA supported Blanford ("the best board member") so its curious they
don't support Vasquez in public. Same old SEA.

10/27/17, 7:54 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more