Profile: Dr. Steve Perry...and his war of words against teachers and teachers unions

From time to time, I will profile individuals that is of interest to me, whether they are proponents or opponents of teachers. These individuals may be politicians, researchers, educators, philanthropists, celebrities, business persons, community leaders, volunteers, and ordinary people; the commonality here is their views and contributions to education and/or its reform movement. (UPDATE: organizations will also be profiled as well)

First at bat is Dr. Steve Perry:

• CNN Education Contributor
• Author of Man Up! Nobody Is Coming To Save You (best-selling) and Raggedy Schools
• Founder and Principal, Capital Prep Magnet School, Hartford, CT
• Profile nationally on CNN's Black In America 2
• Motivational Speaker

What this man has done is exceptional and commendable. Considered as one of the best high schools in the country, his school has a 100% graduation and college-acceptance rates with a near zero dropout rate; also it is geared to serve African American and Hispanic students from low-income communities. His innovative vision and approach, as well as his dosages of tough love and high expectations, are extraordinary and worthy of praises. Perhaps, the one thing I admired and respect most about him is he walks the talk.

He makes himself visible and accessible to his students and staff; plus he leads and commands by example. If you want others to raise the bar, then you have to step your game up as well. He has done that and will continue to do it.

In addition, I agree with his assessment on what he calls "Civil Rights-style Black leaders":

Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West, for example. They talk about the problems then they go and teach at Georgetown, Princeton and Harvard where there aren’t many poor Black students.

While I agree, I still respect the insights of Dr. Dyson and Dr. West. Nevertheless, as an Ivy League graduate himself (University of Pennsylvania), it is refreshing to see one, like Dr. Perry, who is actually getting his hands dirty as he is demanding for change instead of keeping his hands clean.

HOWEVER

Despite his accomplishments and credentials, my issue with Dr. Perry is his tough views on public school teachers and teachers unions.  The following excerpts are some of his comments and views:

• "The teacher’s unions are the death of public schools. They create an environment that is contentious. It’s the administration against the teachers. The teachers against the administrators. Everybody has a union. When was the last time you’ve heard the teachers union fighting on behalf of the students? When will they be fighting for longer days and what the students really need? I don’t get paid overtime. You don’t get paid overtime. People say teachers are underpaid, but relatively to the general public -- to basketball players, etc...What did our kids do wrong but be born? What did they do to deserve to be educated (or not educated) in the schools they’re in? The longer they stay in these schools, the more their scores go down. It’s criminal. Our kids will go through fire for somebody if they believed that person cared about them. "
• "I think if you love children and you love education, you can’t join a teachers union because they are working literally against our children and our families and our communities. Specifically, they fight every single form of school reform that there is...What teacher unions do is guarantee people jobs regardless of what their actual contributions to the profession are. Young educators in training are going to lose their jobs to those teachers with tenure, or because their schools are failing and closes down."
• Parents must have school choice and vouchers. A good teacher at the front of every classroom should be the number-one priority in public education. But the outdated employment practice called “teacher tenure” lets union leaders keep incompetent, troubled, and burnt-out teachers in the system, while keeping out people who are actually committed to educating children.
• On yesterday on CNN's Rick's List, anchor Rick Sanchez and Dr. Perry dialogued about "Who's responsible for failing schools?" Of course, Dr. Perry insists it was the teachers' fault.

In addition, look at what he says about parent accountability:

Parents are blame-able, but they are not accountable. Parents could definitely help but they don’t often. But let’s say they did. Even as a person who runs a school, I ain’t teaching my son Chemistry. That’s like the Piano teacher saying to me, well Dr. Perry we’ll teach your son the piano if you know how to play the piano. Then why am I paying the teacher? What I do hold parents responsible for is allowing this crisis in our education system to continue.

Are you serious? So just because parents are not included in the school accountability circle, it doesn't excuse them for bad parenting and lack of parental involvement in schools.

With all due respect, Dr. Perry, you don't have the fathomest idea of what public teachers go through. While I agree teacher unions have their problems, we need teachers unions for two important reasons:

1. Protection from bad and incompetent school administrators
2. Provider of a professional voice

In addition, in my opinion, a huge part of the problem is the lack of freedom to lead and innovate in public schools due to extensive levels of bureaucracy and federal intrusion; plus, those who calls the shots in how we conduct "business" in the schools are non-educators or educators who forgot where they came from. Dr. Perry, you call the shots in your school. While you presumably haven't forgotten your humble roots, your school is mostly exempt from school accountability mandates. Yes! Something must be done to save our public schools. Yet, schools ALONE cannot carry this burden. It require a village, who are on the same page and share a common goal.

It is a shame that a visionary man with outstanding accolades and an impeccable reputation could overlook this.