Gov. Jindal, I hope you were able to pull your attention away from your next scheme to demean state employees and teachers long enough to look at the front page of Monday’s Baton Rouge Advocate.
I hope you saw the photos.
In case you didn’t, let me clue you in.
They were teachers. What’s more, they were heroes—something about which you know precious little.
One, at the top left of Page 1, was a teacher hugging an elementary student after a killer tornado destroyed their school in Moore, Oklahoma. It mattered little that the teacher was white and the student black. What mattered was the child was alive and the relief—and concern—on that teacher’s face is enough to melt anyone’s heart, Governor. Perhaps even yours, though I somehow doubt it.
Even more graphic was the five-column photo below that one which dominated the entire front page. Two teachers, a male and a female, both bloodied, are shown leaving Briarwood Elementary after it was flattened. The man is carrying a little girl in his arms as blood trickles down his face. The woman is trailing behind, her entire face and throat covered in blood as she leads a crying little girl away from the carnage that had been her school only minutes before. Neither teacher was concerned with anything but getting those children out of the wreckage safely.
These are teachers, Governor, the very people you choose to disparage and belittle for the sake of your precious agenda of funneling education dollars to fly-by-night operators who are somehow managing to sign students up for course choice courses without their knowledge or consent.
Apparently your role models are those who can throw a few campaign dollars your way in exchange for a much bigger chunk of course content dollars.
You would never understand the emotions that flowed as Briarwood P.E. teacher Mike Murphy comforted seven-year-old Alden Stuck as he waited for his mother at the school following the tornado.
You couldn’t possibly comprehend how someone like teacher Rhonda Crosswhite could, with no thought given to her own safety, drape her own body across six students inside a Plaza Towers Elementary School bathroom stall. The significance of her heroism in a moment of raw terror is completely lost on people like you.
You prefer to seclude yourself in your fourth-floor office even as scandal envelopes the two largest state agencies—the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Education.
I tried to remind you of the folly of attacking teachers following the Sandy Hook shootings. You do remember, don’t you, Governor? School Principal Dawn Hochsprung and first-grade teacher Vicki Soto died trying to defend their students, remember?
As Crosswhite was reunited with one of the children and his mother following the tornado, the boy’s mother, Brandi Kline embraced the teacher. “Thank you so much. Thank you all the teachers that were out there,” she said.
“Just doing our job,” Crosswhite replied.
There you have it, Governor. Just doing their job. You see, the job of a teacher encompasses so much more than teaching a standardized test in order to bump scores up to please some half-baked political agenda—and to maybe save the teacher’s job from some clueless state superintendent’s ever-changing Value Added Model of teacher evaluation.
And unlike you, Governor, teachers aren’t missing days from work looking for their next gig. They’re far too dedicated to doing the job for which they were hired.
Dedication. That’s something you could never understand.
Louisiana Voice 
Amen, Tom. Thank you.
Thank you!
Bravo Tom. God Bless the teachers.
Damn good post.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Teachers do as most people do – show action and compassion on a daily basis. Jindal and his bunch know only talking points and don’t understand what a heart is. Instead, they care only about their political agenda and nothing for the teachers who are worth their weight in gold. Thank you Tom, for reminding the Governor and his cronies what a real teacher is, because I am sure neither he nor they have any idea.
Thank you once again, Tom! Unfortunately, we are in the clutches of people who don’t get it and never will.
Amen Rose. They are totally clueless!
Tom, you are a treasure. Keep the carpetbaggers’ feet to the fire, even though they have no capacity to understand the truths you state.
Continue to shine the light on the criminal activities of the dark side. Keep the faith, and know that the truth will out and the truth will set us free. And it can’t come a moment too soon.
Tom no truer words have been spoken!
There is no telling how many lives those teachers saved.
Those teachers (HEROES) taught those children the true meaning of compassion. The word is not and has never been in Jindal’s vocabulary!!!
Please keep up your very professional and dedicated work. Some do pay attention to you.
Brilliant!
What a great article about teachers. Glad to know that some people still care about what we do. Most importantly, it is a calling not a political stepchild. Keep that DOE’s feet to the fire!!!!!
Jindal’s heart, assuming he has one, is two sizes too small.
I’m certain Jindal would run away screaming at the first sign of danger and think only of saving his magnificent brain for the sake of mankind. His wife or bodyguards would probably have to save his kids. Great job on this article, by the way.
Jindal knows how to handle a school emergency. Last fall when there was a bomb scare at LSU his children were moved from the school before the word went out to the rest of the LSU community!
Is this really true? Reminds me of someone holding up a child in front of them to protect themselves.
I’m not sure what you’re implying. The photos speak for themselves. The tornadoes were over and gone. This was the aftermath and these teachers were carrying and leading the children away from the wreckage of their school. I don’t know how you could misunderstand that or suggest that they were using the children as shields. Nor do I understand how the act of lying across the children to protect them could be misinterpreted.
Tom, I think flabbergasted was responding to geauxtee’s post that the governor got his children out ahead of the rest of the LSU community during the bomb scare, not the Oklahoma photos you are referencing.
Tom, I apologize for the misunderstanding here. 70806 is correct, I was referring to geauxtee’s comment about Governor Jindal giving his children preferential treatment to the potential detriment of all other students at LSU by delaying the notice of the threat. If this is true, it damages our governor’s honor on a much deeper level for me. For example, I look to people like Admiral Halsey during WWII as true men of honor; even when he could have ordered special operations to search for his missing son, he said “My son is the same as every other son in the combat zone. Look for him just as you’d look for anybody else.” Wow.
As to your article, excellent. And I do know the challenges teachers have as my spouse is one of them. I know the hours of dedication they put forth to a school and the children of our state and country. Blessed are the teachers of our state.
When I first saw your comment, it was not attached to the bottom of geauxtee’s comment so it was easy to take it out of context. When it appeared beneath his comment, it made complete sense. Sorry for the misinterpretation.
Tom
Heroic acts never go unnoticed. Teachers are dedicated, common folk who love their profession, and the students they teach. They guide our children through childhood, and beyond. They are the first responders in our children’s hour of need. Thank you.
Pity the teachers who had to educate BJ the boy wonder. I know that was surely an exercise in patience. Especially since he already knew everything.
Patience indeed. Imagine how he looked down upon those educators with complete contempt. He completely trashed the education process and invented a new order. F for failure Gov Bobby! You wear it well!
Thanks from a retired teacher. When I meet with other retired teachers, we just shake our heads in disgust and worry at the way our profession has been attacked, disrespected and accused of being union thugs. I do not know how current teachers are managing to cope with the blatant abuse from the Jindal/White admin, and at the same time remaining caring, dedicated individuals. I could not do it in this environment. Teachers are not union thugs; they are your neighbors, your family and your friends. They remain heroes, as evidenced once again by teachers putting their lives in danger by protecting their students. Thanks again, Tom
He will never read this and if he did he would say we just don’t understand he is making education better. The money doesn’t matter.
The teachers in Oklahoma are true heroes. Anyone who teaches knows that your students are like your own and you would do anything, even throw your body over them to save them. I’ve been a teacher for 24 years and still love my students and I will not let Bobby Jindal run me off from a career I love. I urge other teachers to dig in your heels and fight for our profession.
WOW!!!!! I applaud you Tom for this article! You have written some outstanding articles but this one tops the list. God Bless you sir, and PLEASE keep up the good work.——-R. Adams