Sunday’s New York Times featured an 1,800-word profile by Erica L. Green of National Education Association President Becky Pringle under the headline, “New Leader Pushes Teachers’ Union to Take On Social Justice Role.”
The overall tone of the piece is complimentary, and Pringle faced no very challenging questions about her union’s operations or stances over the 21-month COVID pandemic.
That’s the Times‘ prerogative, and there’s no use complaining about its deference to union officers. It has been going on for decades.
Still, I wouldn’t be fulfilling my role as the source of teacher union information that doesn’t come off their press releases and bios if I didn’t mention a few items in the Timesarticle that caught my eye:
* Referencing the American Federation of Teachers, Green wrote, “At the same time, its lack of term limits has made its high-profile leaders more like monarchs — its current president, Randi Weingarten, has served for 13 years.”