Teachers unions often claim to be for the students. Katie Nash, the boss of the Chandler Education Association, CEA, stops this pretense. Video at end of article.
In the 11 May 2022 CUSD80 board meeting, Katie Nash, the head of the Chandler Education Association, CEA, which is the local teachers union, dropped any pretense of working for families and students. She made but passing mention of Chandler families. She didn't mention quality, achievement, attainment, education. Also, she spoke with a cloth mask on her face, when science has clearly shown that such masks don't do anything to stop the spread of Covid. As the video at the end of the article shows, Nash, who is a biology teacher at Chandler High School, seemed to almost exclusively focus her 3 minute speech on:
Demands for larger teacher salaries using tax dollars
Hostility to school vouchers
Hostility to private schools
Hostility to school choice
Teachers unions often pretend that they work for families, students, children, the community, public education and so on. In truth, they work for only one constituency, unionized public school teachers. And they are very good at it. Public school teachers receive very generous compensation packages. In the Chandler Unified School District, CUSD80, for example, the average teacher salary is around $65,000, plus bonuses and benefits. This is for around 9 months of work per year. The average Chandler residents makes about $45,000 a year, and has to work almost 12 months for this. Public school teachers also enjoy extraordinary job security, as it has become very difficult to fire them, even in cases of gross incompetence and even abuse. This is because teachers unions are the true power behind the people who run many public school districts in America.
Parents and taxpayers should stop the pretense too. Teachers unions used their political clout to get schools closed during the Covid lockdowns. Teachers unions push mask and vaccine mandates. Teachers unions push BLM, CRT, Diversity & Equity (DEI), Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into schools. Teachers unions are also a significant part owner of the Democratic Party and donate more money to leftist causes and candidates than even the most generous and wealthy US corporation. Teachers unions are made up of by unionized public school teachers, like Katie Nash, who teaches biology at Chandler High.