>Glad things are so rosy in Philly.

First, just to clarify, I'm in a first-ring suburb of Philly, though I was educated in Philly's public schools.

>
>A valiant defense of unions, but I ain't buying it.
>I would be surprised if the teachers unions were as weak in Philly as they are in Texas.
>
>Here in Texas, my daughter ended up with one teacher we had been warned was mediocre.
>She *was* trying, but this is not Lake Wobegone where all the teachers are above average.
>This teacher was then caught cheating on the state student achievement tests.
>Here is the long drawn out process that followed:
>* She was fired.
>* Immediately.
>She was not reprimanded.
>She was not transferred to another school.
>This could not happen with the strong teachers unions in California.

If she was fired immediately, I have a problem with that. Where's her due process? If you mean she was fired after being convicted, that's different and appropriate.


>We cannot afford to throw away the futures of our poor children of all colors by failing to educate them.
>It is a tragic and ultimately racist outcome.

I agree with this, but I don't think it's teachers unions doing it. It starts when kids are little and goes from there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/13/preschool-suspensions-are-made-worse-by-racial-disparities/?utm_term=.e331ac4dd872

Aside from the fact that a preschooler should almost never be suspended, there's this:

"an Education Department report released last week says black children account for almost half of the public preschool suspensions, but are less than a fifth of the preschoolers. "

There's a ton of research that shows that black kids in school are disciplined more harshly than white kids. I picked this article specifically because it covers a level where teachers unions aren't a factor.

Tamar