Memorandum: Cabinet Level Responses to Schools in Crisis

MEMORANDUM

TO:  PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA; EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN

CC: TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY RAY LAHOOD

FROM:  AMERICA’S TEACHERS

DATE: 4/20/11

RE:  CABINET LEVEL RESPONSES TO SCHOOLS IN CRISIS

On the PBS News Hour earlier tonight (4/20/11), Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spoke about recent problems encountered among air traffic controllers.  News Hour correspondent Gwen Ifill asked LaHood about some specific incidents, and then asked about the general safety of air travel.  Probing a bit further, she asked about one potential cause to explain why some air traffic controllers have been falling asleep on the job.

GWEN IFILL: How widespread a problem is fatigue? That seems to have been a factor in so many of these cases.

RAY LAHOOD: Well, we have extended rest time. We’ve listened to what controllers have told us. And we have expanded rest time from eight hours to nine hours.

Our administrator is out around the country talking to controllers, talking about workplace, talking about rest times. If we need to do more, if we need to extend it, we will do it. We’re not going to just sit by and continue to do things the way they have been done in the past. If changes need to be made, we’ll make them.

Considering how recently these events have transpired, we applaud Secretary LaHood for prompt and concrete steps to begin improving work conditions for air traffic controllers.  As essential professional members of the nation’s workforce, with responsibility for the safety, care and education of tens of millions of children, America’s public school teachers deserve the same type of rapid and productive response to the urgent problems in our workplace.  We hereby request the following:

1.  Dispatch ten staff members from the Department of Education to meet with school personnel around the country.  At least 90% of that meeting time should be spent with teachers, instructional aides, librarians, custodians, and school site administrators; district level administrators may be consulted in the remaining 10% of the allotted time, or deferred until some future date.  DOE staff members should visit one school site per day for two weeks.

2.  Assign ten staff members to conduct the same type of information gathering by phone and email for the same time period.

3.  At the end of two weeks, take three days to compile and analyze the results.  On the fourth day, Secretary Duncan will announce immediate actions the Department can take to provide regulatory relief and policy improvements addressing the needs found at school sites.  On the fifth day, the President should identify other specific relief measures that he will address by proposing legislation to the Congress within the next ten days.

Because the administration has consistently emphasized the urgency of improving America’s public schools, we expect you will react with the same appropriate haste, resolve, and responsiveness that Secretary LaHood demonstrated in recent weeks, culminating in today’s announcements.