How did the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act become Obama Care?  What is it about this issue and its associated differences of opinion that is so vitriolic?  Why hold the budget hostage? Is negotiation a lost art? Is compromise a sellout of principle? Apparently both sides, or, perhaps there are three sides, are focused on defend or destroy rather than repair and move on.  We think hostage holding, in this case, is lack of concern for the public welfare.  The time spent on rhetoric is not service, it is self-aggrandizement. And, none of them are accountable.

These elected officials should take a lesson from us.  These are the very same people who passed laws and created the mandates to change our schools. They are not educators, or if they were, it has been a long, long time since they actually worked in a school.  They require us to raise our standards, shift our curricula, test students often, label children by the results, and use those results to measure teacher and principal effectiveness. We work to implement these changes the best way we can, and struggle with maintaining our integrity.  As we look into the faces of our students, teachers, colleagues, supervisors, and parents, we remain truthful about our belief that we cannot do this well, this fast, and without enough training.  We hold nothing hostage.  We do our work, as the laws require.  Our jobs are on the line. Are theirs?

Click here to continue reading.