First of three parts
Re “Teachers Will Back Silbiger, Vizcarra and Taylor in Board Race”
[img]1789|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]The Teachers Union and the classified employees’ union lit up a firestorm of diffused criticism 13 days ago when they jointly announced their endorsements for the three open seats on the School Board.
For reasons slightly muddied, objectives have sprung up over the selections of Claudia Vizcarra, Vernon Taylor and incumbent Karlo Silbiger.
“Are you kidding me?” asked a disbelieving David Mielke, president of the Teachers Union.
“People should pay attention to the candidates,” he scolded. “To criticize this group’s endorsement process vs. the way another group endorsed…
“I mean, we are a democratic organization. We interview people, then we vote.”
Why the blowup over these choices?
[img]2124|left|Claudia Vizcarra||no_popup[/img]“The criticism was pretty direct,” Mr. Mielke said. “No. 1, I think people know our endorsement carries a lot of weight. Our record (of getting endorsees elected) is pretty darned good. Voters want to know, what do teachers think? What does the support staff think? These are the people on the ground who see our kids every day. What is their suggestion?
“So think our endorsements are very important for those reasons. The people who attack our process really are trying to take some of the juice away from our endorsements.
“All is fair in love, war and politics. Still, I felt it was unnecessary.”
Mr. Mielke wanted to stress that the Teachers Union and the Assn. of Classified Employees followed standard rules – they did not go off on a creative tangent.
[img]2100|right|Vernon Taylor||no_popup[/img]“It is important to point out we did not make any endorsements until we had interviewed all of the candidates.
“I don’t believe that is true of every organization,” Mr. Mielke said.
A seven-candidate field may be the largest ever, and “that is a good thing because it means people want to step forward and be involved in our schools.”
(To be continued)
