Democrats are now using Wake County school board vice chairman John Tedesco as a campaign issue to help boost Kevin Hill's re-election bid over Heather Losurdo.
In an e-mail message today to Democrats, Wake County Democratic Party Chairman Mack Paul writes that "if Heather Losurdo wins, it means John Tedesco ascends to the chairmanship of the Wake County School Board."
In writing about what Tedesco's elevation to chair would mean, Paul rips into Tedesco for his Tea Party remarks about "bringing conservative values to education.” Paul also brings up Stephen Colbert's satirical attack on Tedesco on Comedy Central.
"Stephen Colbert best captured Mr. Tedesco’s vision for Wake County: 'take a successful school system, concentrate the poorest children into a handful of schools, and then allocate extra resources to address the problem created by this approach.'" Paul writes. "In other words, he believes that only by breaking the school system can we fix it.
Countless community leaders across the political spectrum disagree. They worked tirelessly for decades to make Wake County schools among the best in the country. The system is not perfect. There is always room for improvement, but no one expected the 2009 school board election to be a mandate to dismantle the entire system."
Colbert's blast at Tedesco was based on his comments in this often-cited January Washington Post article. Tedesco has argued since the story ran that his statements were taken out of context by the Post.
If Losurdo wins, Tedesco would be the most likely of the five Republicans to take over the chairmanship from the ousted Ron Margiotta.
Comments
Yes, Mr. Tedesco talks too much, but
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 06:46 — Athey01but when you review his actual accomplishments on the board. No one comes close to what he has done...he is fully committed and engaged in trying to help ED students. I can't think of anyone else I would rather have, even if he does talk too much.
I suspect that is very reason why some want him to be shut up
Thu, 10/27/2011 - 09:15 — nmoskalI suspect that is the very reason why some people want him to be shut up and try to take him down. Not only does he talk, but he talks about things like institutionalized privilege and biases that people want kept under the rug and don't want to face. He actually tries to do things that will actually help ED kids.
I like people that talk too much
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:47 — FSandYOUWake County and our kids will be better off having John in charge.
VD and The Fish will be absolutely unstable over it, but they'll work it out I'm sure.
idiotic...
Tue, 10/25/2011 - 20:54 — Bob_SconceHas anybody even asked Losurdo who she would vote for?
It is
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 02:30 — Dove314It is a rather idiotic argument to try to fearmonger by conjecturing "what the other guy will do", isn't it?
Too bad both sides are engaging in this kind of idiocy. Ms. Losurdo is engaging in so much of the same foolishness, trying to tell us all what bad things KH will do. Interestingly, you're not only fine but jump on the bandwagon in support when she does it.
Uh...
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 12:16 — Bob_SconceSo, there are two paths. Showing why one path is bad is perfectly appropriate. I was just pointing out that this is a pretty easy question to answer.
I WANT JOHN TEDESCO CHAIRMAN...
Tue, 10/25/2011 - 18:13 — ClearThinker...of the Charlotte - Mecklenburg Public School System. He'd feel right at home in the Neighborhood Schools Capital of North Carolina. Ya want choice, John? CMS "chose" to go your way on student assignments and academic achievement some time ago, and the best they could do is to have a Wake Superior Court judge accuse them of "academic genocide," and have their most recent superintendent escape a sinking ship to run into the loving arms of Fox News after he failed miserably!
Please John, you travel across the state as is making folks yawn at Tea Party rallies. Grab your sweetheart, move to the Queen City, and run for their school board.
We promise we won't tell the NAACP there that you're comin' (Tee-hee)!
Clear Thinker? Or Kool Aid
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 00:13 — jeffrey1Clear Thinker? Or Kool Aid Drinker?
I'll only note that Charlotte has surpassed Wake in many achievement measures. For example, CMS's black and low-income high-school students each had pass rates of 55 percent on 2008 exams, compared with 53 percent for Wake black students and 52 percent for low-income ones.
I'll also note that CMS's has far more low income students than Wake.
Rage on TK, rage on ....
Tue, 10/25/2011 - 18:07 — AgentPierceTote their bale TK. Carry their water. Get their message out for them, TK.
This post will carry more weight
Wed, 10/26/2011 - 12:04 — WhalerCanewhen you make it when he is getting Civitas/Pope/Tedesco/Losudo message out.
:-) Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)