Phillip Browning was puzzled when his 8-year-old grandson came home
from school wearing a “Vote No on 38” T-shirt.
Proposition 38 is California’s voucher initiative being opposed
vehemently by teachers’ unions. After calling the
Kwachiiyoa charter
school in San Diego, he learned the shirt had been given to his grandson as part of an anti-voucher press conference held on campus during school hours.
Union representatives, local politicians and teachers attended the event, which took place during recess at the school on Sept. 6 and was videotaped by local media. Both the
California Teachers
Association and the
San Diego Educators
Association, which sponsored the press conference, say their actions were legal, although the school’s Teacher Director Pat Rousseau — the charter school equivalent of principal — admitted that she “made a mistake” by letting the children keep the shirts.
“That was a mistake on my part. I admit that,” she said. “I am more than willing to acknowledge it.”
However, she noted Browning’s grandson was given the shirt by another child at the school, not by the adult volunteers who were handing out the adult-sized garments. Nevertheless, Rousseau said the volunteers did give shirts to curious children who saw the press conference, which took place between the school building and playground. According to Rousseau, the conference was open to the public and attracted about 25 people. The event was 15 to 20 minutes long, and children were out on the playground for up to 10 of those minutes.
California Education Code Section 7054 prohibits the use of school-district funds or property from being “used for the purpose of urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate, including, but not limited to, any candidate for election to the governing board of the district.” But lawyers for the CTA reasoned that the event would be acceptable at a charter school, a taxpayer-funded school that is exempt from virtually all regulations of public schools.
Charter schools are K-12 public educational institutions and are generally founded by a group of teachers, parents and community leaders or businesses. The schools are usually sponsored by an existing local public school board or county board of education. Specific goals and operating procedures for each school are detailed in a “charter” between the sponsoring board and charter organizers.
California charter schools are required to participate in the statewide assessment test program and must be nonsectarian in their programs, admission policies, employment practices and all other operations. The schools may not charge tuition, and private schools are prohibited from becoming charter schools.
Kwachiiyoa charter school was founded by a group of teachers with the support of the CTA and SDEA, which provided staffing and materials for the anti-voucher press conference. Proposition 38 would provide vouchers of $4,000 per student to attend the school of their choice — a proposal opponents say would ruin the public school system if passed in November.
Browning is furious that school children were “used” as props in a political campaign.
“To have propaganda going to your kids, trying to use your kids to get to you — which is exactly what this is — to me is as low as you can get. I can’t think of anything worse than violating children’s trust,” Browning said. “When you start using them to promote your political beliefs, then you’ve violated their trust,” he explained. “What’s next? Religious views?”
Browning argued that, regardless of the letter of the law, a school funded by taxpayers should not be used to advocate for or against any political issue.
“Since I’m serving as their guardian or parent, [teaching kids specific political views] is something that can only be my decision,” said Browning. “Politics is right up there next to religion.”
“It’s not the school’s duty to raise them,” he added. “It’s their duty to teach them academics, not to try to teach their way of life. They forgot the academics, and they’re trying to use the students for something else.”
Rousseau said Browning yelled at her over the phone when he called to complain.
“I did not intend to offend him,” she said. “I did not intend for it to get out of control. I asked him what he needed from me to make it OK, and he didn’t know. I can’t do anything if he doesn’t tell me what he wants.”
Browning told WorldNetDaily: “I want an apology, and I want it just as public as the whole incident was. And two, I want them (school officials who participated in the event) removed. If that means that they have to be fired, fine — fire them.”
“I would be willing to make that apology to him, and did apologize to him. We did not use his child,” said Rousseau, who noted there were two students wearing the “Vote no on 38” T-shirts that acted as hosts at the press conference. But the two children did not appear on camera, she said.
“This is not the first time Mr. Browning has complained about something,” Rousseau continued. “He’s not always rational about what he goes off about. He takes reactions real quickly, real rapidly. He just jumps in, and he’s done that a couple times with us.”
Saying the on-campus press conference was “not that big a deal,” the teacher director indicated she has not received complaints from other parents.
“I really would like to be able to talk to the parents to … be able to resolve the issue,” she remarked. “What’s to be taken care of is to find a way for him (Browning) not to be so angry. … It’s not good for the kids that he’s angry.”
SDEA President Mark Knapp called Browning’s complaint “bogus,” and indicated that the union’s political use of Kwachiiyoa charter school is “a non-story.”
“We didn’t use any kids at our press conference. It’s a charter school, so we’re allowed to hold a press conference within charter law,” Knapp commented, adding that charter schools can advocate a position. “If we had it to do over again, would they have been given the shirts? Probably not. The fact that they had recess during that time and the kids were running around with the shirts on would be questionable, if anything.”
Attorney Jose Gonzales, who represents the
San Diego City School
District, expressed his belief that the school was in error by allowing children to receive the campaign T-shirts. The school board held a closed meeting last week to discuss the press conference, though results of that meeting are still being kept confidential.
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