Oh No She Didn't!?!?!

Now THIS takes the cake (from Joe Williams's blog at www.nycsa.org/blog/).  Unbelievable!

But the final and crowning tribute to King was delivered by United
Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, who came within a hair of
saying smaller class sizes could have saved Nixzmary Brown, the abused Brooklyn
girl who was beaten to death last week by her step-father.

"So my urgency is, you know, I know my members, reported, reported,
reported what happened to that child this week," Weingarten told the
churchgoers. "But what happens if we could, what happens if we have 20 kids in
our classes. You know what would happen. You know what would happen."

-------------------------

Oh No She Didn't!?!?!

http://www.nycsa.org/blog/

The Chalkboard has long admired the discipline and determination the message people at the UFT display when it comes to sticking to their talking points. It's a thing of beauty, and one reason unions like the UFT are so effective at reaching their legislative and policy goals. A running joke (cloaking pure admiration) among NYC reporters is how the union is so effective at inserting the phrase "smaller class size" into press releases on issues that have nothing to do with class size. (Picture the headline: Chancellor Klein cancels school due to snow: UFT says smaller classes would have prevented cold front.)

Like headlines and stories in The Onion, this kind of thing generates chuckles because it is completely outrageous - yet it is still grounded in enough of a sliver of truth that it makes you spit out your coffee (or other beverage of choice) when you hear it.

Turns out we may have to stop joking, though, because the reality itself is starting to one-up the jokes. And if you believe this report in the alternative New York Press, it's getting rather sick. Columnist Azi Paybarah, providing a report on some of the interesting stuff that didn't get much coverage out of this week's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration because it was drowned out by Hillary Clinton's plantation comments, writes:

But the final and crowning tribute to King was delivered by United
Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, who came within a hair of
saying smaller class sizes could have saved Nixzmary Brown, the abused Brooklyn
girl who was beaten to death last week by her step-father.

"So my urgency is, you know, I know my members, reported, reported,
reported what happened to that child this week," Weingarten told the
churchgoers. "But what happens if we could, what happens if we have 20 kids in
our classes. You know what would happen. You know what would happen."

Seeming unable to get any kind of response from the crowd, which had been applauding,
yessing and standing up for other speakers, Weingarten added, "You know how much
we could connect and touch with kids. Not saying in a bad way. But touch
with kids and connect with kids if we had that input."

For those of you upstate who may have missed it, the story of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown is one that has kept all of us in NYC up at night for the last week, as we wondered how so many adults (school employees who allowed her to miss more than 40 days of school and who allowed bureaucrats to dither over the case, cops and Administration for Children's Services employees who seemed to be more interested in attending their department's holiday parties last month than in saving the girl's life, clueless and uncaring relatives, etc.) allowed this long-tortured little girl to slip through the cracks. (Reports indicate Nixzmary's step-father tied her to a chair and made her eat human feces and cat food.)

The Chalkboard happens to personally prefer small classes that are under control to large out-of-control classes for his kids, but isn't this "smaller classes might have saved her" stuff a bit over the top? If the adults involved at all these levels (DOE, ACS, NYPD) are as clueless as they seem to be, would it matter if there were 5 kids in every class?