And the reality is that, if Crowley weren't a high-ranker with the NEA, he'd be just another progressive crank, easily ignored and sparsely published. The damage that the educators' union is doing to education in Rhode Island is an affront to decency and an insult to intellectual endeavors."

Which is exactly why you should shut up, get out of his way, and let him lead the rats overboard. He's a far more useful idiot for our cause than to his. All we have to do is quote him.

Crowley does this because he knows you're going to freak out. If you feel his doing this is that harmful, ignore him.
It's no fun twitting somebody who won't react, right?

I think RI Futurites have a tendency to view everyone according to a template and make judgements on them based on that,and forget they are dealing with actual people.
I don't think all teachers' union officials are anything like Crowley.I actually think very highly of the Teamsters-they do a good job for their members who are hard-working people.
My daughter was a teacher for about 9 years and is pursuing a doctoral degree now and she was in RIFT.I am glad she was not represented by Crowley.It's not what he does for a living-he has a legitimate job-it's how he acts and the things he says.He should just shut up about immigration and the laws that govern it.He simply is an ignoramus on the subject-as I certainly am about teacher contract issues-difference being I don't run my mouth about teacher contracts.The man acts like a buffoon and then seems offended that people take him for one.
The RI Futurite crowd frequently resorts to name calling and ranting-some do it more subtly than others.Crowley is sort of their court jester-I wonder how many of his cohorts there really respect him.

"And the reality is that, if Crowley weren't a high-ranker with the NEA, he'd be just another progressive crank, easily ignored and sparsely published."

...and that can be filed under "Duh" :)

I checked this morning with someone in a position to know about it, in order to make sure that the letter was indeed genuine. I don't take anything stated at RIF at face value, because they make a habit of massaging or manipulating the truth to fit their own ends (Machiavelli: "the ends justifies the means").

After checking, it is indeed genuine, in so much as it is not a forgery. I was initially skeptical of its authenticity as it [the pdf on RIF] appeared to be photocopied (and therefore something which could have been easily manipulated by simple cut and paste of publicly available documents). More importantly, the signature was clearly not originally handwritten, since it exactly matches other documents "signed" by him which I have (from what I understand, it's just a copy and paste of his signature within a computer program, which was then printed).

It was personally written to Mr. Walsh "off the clock", but not actually by the governor himself (he has more important things to do). I'm not even sure if the governor knows who Pat is; nor would honestly care if he did. The governor doesn't suffer fools gladly. Considering that Pat often appears to be "on the clock" at the time that many of his posts appear on RIF, it only seems logical for many people to assume that the NEARI is actually subsidizing Pat's blogging habit (I won't even go into the fact that the NEARI advertises on RIF. Of course, we don't know if money has actually been exchanged, or anything else).

All they were trying to do was to generously give the NEARI the "opportunity" to expressly disavow Mr. Crowley's kooky false statements, so that the union, and by extension, all good NEARI represented teachers, would not be unnecessarily besmirched by him. There were no threats made or intended, expressed or implied.

Will,

"More importantly, the signature was clearly not originally handwritten, since it exactly matches other documents "signed" by him which I have (from what I understand, it's just a copy and paste of his signature within a computer program, which was then printed).

It was personally written to Mr. Walsh "off the clock", but not actually by the governor himself (he has more important things to do). I'm not even sure if the governor knows who Pat is; nor would honestly care if he did."

So Will who actually wrote the letter and computer signed the Governor's name and sent it to Walsh???

Really he is a fringe figure who should be ignored. What shouldn't be ignored about the NEA is that

"The mainstream media have heavily covered sex-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, but some say the national news media have ignored an estimated 5 million students who have been sexually abused by their public-school teachers."
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003744.cfm

Anyone with the ability to google the words TEACHER SENTENCED will readily see what the NEA really means by "it's all about the kids".

Well I guess we can add not writting his own letters to the list of things this governor does not do. (the list is too long for this morning's post.)

When talking with public school teachers, they often lament the lack of respect that they receive. To this, I have frequently countered that they are represented by a union that is more akin to a 1940's style industrial union which represents a bunch of factory lineworkers, why would they expect to get respect? They certainly don't exhibit any qualities of educated people themselves. The union which speaks for them is made up of a bunch of punks and thugs. Just go to any local council meeting where the union has compelled the teachers to show up, and listen to the crowd of teachers that is lamenting their loss of respect. Who could be surprised.
Until these teachers understand that they must make a choice - publicly disavow these union tactics, or continue to be led by sheep - they won't get, nor deserve any respect.

Pat Crowly is a poster child for the poor reputation of teachers.

Of course, it'd probably be better if Pat was ignored. However, we'd have a lot less fun tweaking him ... it's just so easy! As far as I'm concerned, the more he quacks (or acts like a quack), the better it is for us.

PS The letter writer had the permission of the governor to send the letter. However, as I said, it was not considered something at a level of importance that the gov actually sat down and composed it himself. It was not a letter from the governor in his official capacity; just a friendly note to Mr. Walsh expressing concern -- and seeking clarity -- for some kooky false statements by his underling.

Will left off the rest of the story - "and the Governor was advised by his staff NOT to send the letter."

Bob,

I don't know that to be a fact. However, if YOU "know" that via someone there, that would only confirm for me that there are one or more double agents on the governor's staff in need of having their jobs "reduced."

Unfortunately, while the governor is a great executive, he has not always benefited by the advice of some of the people in his employ -- especially those who are not Republicans.

I think seeking clarification from NEARI regarding what if any views they share in common with Ducky McQuackers was appropriate (I think Pat is being extremely paranoid if he thinks they were trying to have him "fired" ... it's your teachers' money being wasted, not ours). As far as we're concerned, you should offer him tenure!

However, it is regrettable that by the act of sending out a letter, it might have inadvertently served to further inflate Pat's own distorted sense of self-importance.

Will,

Love the letter idea and it's having its' intended effect. Both Ducky and Ducky's daddy Bob Walsh are just a wee bit defensive. Very funny to watch! (note how Ducky is silent here but did post on the Bishop thread lol) Ducky is sleazy and both Ducky and Bob know it. This is the good cop/bad cop M O for Bob Walsh who routinely associates with sleaze and has them do his dirty work. (see Guy Dufault) The difference here is Bob Walsh is being called out on it. Love the letter idea. Hopefully Ducky Crowley will keep right on quacking. He's a sleazy gift that keeps on giving as he tarnishes his own employers.
Just outstanding! lol
Keep on quacking Duckster! Quack away!

Tim-I feel bad for many good teachers forced to endure these NEA leadership types.My wife teaches in a charter school-she likes her students and feels obligated to serve them well.I met her co-workers at an event and I was very impressed by the quality of people at the school(which is not religiously based),including graduates of Brown, and the nice thing is-no teacher's union messing with the education of the students.Maybe if the teachers in the NEA revolted and kicked out Walsh and Ducky they would get more respect and even better contracts.

Why doesn't Walsh tell us why so many of his members are pedophiles and how they make sure the mainstream media hushes it up.

Pat Crowley is the best hope to reform education. His antics are so far overboard and he has offended so many people at the local level, that he helps provides school committees generate the support necessary to initiate reform.

The bigger problem for the teachers unions is that RI is losing the younger population which is more willing to foot the bill for education. The elderly usually prefer that their tax dollars go to health care and human services. And I definitely don't see Crowley's "guerilla marketing" style winning them over.