Will Arne Duncan Take His Own Departmental Statement on Bullying Seriously?

[Hannah Bell]

Back in February, Arne Duncan applauded the decision to fire every teacher at the only high school in the poorest city in Rhode Island. Despite the fact that saner heads have since determined that the firing was unethical and unfair, Duncan said that officials were "showing courage and doing the right thing for kids."

When the corporate reformers hatched a plan to release flawed evaluation data in Los Angeles on thousands of teachers, Arne Duncan applauded, despite warnings from the National Academy of Sciences on the use of such data to make any kind of high stakes decisions. Instead of condemning the immoral and irresponsible action that led to a teacher's suicide, Duncan crowed, "What is there to hide?"

Now read from Duncan's own department part of an official letter issued for use by schools nationwide on the subject of bullying. Will Russalyn Ali call Arne Duncan out as the biggest bully in American schools today?

“Harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal acts and name-calling; graphic and written statements, which may include use of cellphones or the Internet; or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating,” the letter says. “Harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Harassment creates a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities offered by a school.”

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/

[Angry Dragon]

1. duncan grade = FAIL

[Chan790]

2. Of course he won't.

Arne Duncan admit he's a bully? :rofl: never.

[EFerrari]

3. Exactly. n/t

[Joe Fields]

4. Are you ever going to stop with the hyperbole?

:puke:

[Hannah Bell]

6. calling duncan a bully = hyperbole? could have fooled me. he's a bully.

hyperbole: •A bold, deliberate overstatement, eg, "I'd give my right arm for a piece of pizza." Not intended to be taken literally, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement. ...
www.poeticbyway.com/gl-h.html


bully: •Bullying is a form of abuse. It comprises repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful individual or group abusing those who are less powerful. The power imbalance may be social power and/or physical power. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_(bullying)

[Joe Fields]

7. that isn't my argument

but saying that data released to the L.A. Times was flawed certainly IS hyperbole.

Prove it was flawed.

[Hannah Bell]

8. having problems understanding the definition of hyperbole, are we?

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. No. But even more importantly......

... is there any possibility that he might use the midterms as an excuse/rationale to pursue other professional options?

Spend more time w. family, write, travel, that sort of thing?

And, I'm sure there are more lucrative avenues he could explore.

No one's ever gonna get *really* rich by being Sec of Ed.

Arne, "You're not young! I say this to help you."

[maryf]

9. Can unrecs be considered bullying...

just wondering as my rec showed 0 recs still...creating a state of fear (for their job) in a person would certainly be a form of bullying in my eyes... K&R

[Hannah Bell]

10. no, unrecs are secret....a form of covert ops. :

[maryf]

12. psi-ops

cowards!

[CBR]

11. Big bad Arne. nt