#OccupyOakland Teachers Gone Wild

It’s sad that teachers – who have such an influence over the future of America – where right in the mix when the riots and vandalism broke out Wednesday in Oakland, California. Obviously that’s where their hearts are at.

Trouble was brewing when the Oakland Education Association – an affiliate of the National Education Association – endorsed the #Occupy mob’s call for a national strike on Nov. 2. One declaration from the union stated, “We must shut down the schools to save the schools.”

Huh? Perhaps a more accurate statement would be, “We must shut down the schools to protect our pensions and power.”

According to sources within the union, its leaders – including OEA President Betty Olson-Jones – were a part of the plotting to confront Bank of America, Whole Foods, and the sea port.

Do the taxpayers or the media even care? Or is this just how they roll in Oakland?

Education Action Group reported in a recent “Focus on Reform” story:

“Evening all,” read an email from Steve Neat, communications chairman of the Oakland Education Association. “I’ve been talking to Caitlin Esch from KQED radio and she’s enquiring [sic] which schools are honoring the one-day general strike Nov. 2 as an entire staff. At this point I am aware of Bridges Academy and Maxwell Park. I know Oakland High is working on it. Any others that we know of?”

We hope the teachers of Oakland spell better than Mr. Neat. We’re sure he meant to spell ‘inquiring’ rather than ‘enquiring’.

This statement came from a flier distributed to the parents of students who attend Oakland’s Bridges Academy: “We, the teachers at Bridges, are joining the Occupy Oakland protest on Wednesday, Nov. 2. We will not be in our classrooms that day, all day. We are the 99%!!”

Do Oakland schools amount to anything more than indoctrination factories for hardcore leftists? Perhaps not. After all, why would 38 teachers sign a pledge to teach about #OccupyWallStreet in their classrooms?

It’s no wonder America is going down the tubes academically. When teachers are more concerned with instructing students about their pet political causes than the basics, we shouldn’t surprised by the results.