Report: Post on LA Teachers Union Facebook Group Tells Members to Not Take Pictures on Vacation
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed many things, not the least of which is that teachers’ unions don’t care a whit about the children or families they’re supposed to be serving.
This became most apparent when the United Teachers Los Angeles teachers’ union issued a warning to its employees ahead of their upcoming spring break — but it’s not what one would expect given the dire circumstances of some students.
Instead of worrying about what harm they’re doing to the portion of students still not receiving in-person instruction a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the union allegedly told members not to post vacation pictures that would disrupt their hysteria-driven narrative, according to screenshots of the union’s social media account KTTV-TV obtained.
“Friendly reminder: If you are planning any trips for Spring Break, please keep that off of Social Media. It is hard to argue that it is unsafe for in-person instruction, if parents and the public see vacation photos and international travel,” the post from the Facebook group “UTLA FB GROUP- Members Only” said.
Bill Melugin, an investigative journalist for the network, shared the screenshot from the 5,700-member group and explained the warning was “because the optics would be bad for them while UTLA is refusing to return to ‘unsafe’ in-person schooling.”
NEW: In a leaked post from a private Facebook group for UTLA union members only, teachers are warned not to post on social media if they go on spring break vacations because the optics would be bad for them while UTLA is refusing to return to “unsafe” in-person schooling @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/KxQc7k450T
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 9, 2021
The union responded to the fact that the statement exists without disputing any of the claims therein.
“We have a diverse membership and they are able to post their views on personal Facebook pages and in this Facebook group — however UTLA does not monitor nor is responsible for the content,” UTLA told the network in its statement.
“We do not want to discourage a robust dialogue for members in the public square of opinion.”
UTLA has been holding out for their demands that include vaccination for all staff and teachers; that their county drops from the highest infection rate of “purple” into the “red” category; and that all safety measures are in place including proper social distancing, daily sanitizing, and PPE provided.
Just last Friday, members voted 91 percent against reopening all of the schools unless those demands were met, despite Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom pumping $2 billion worth of incentives made available to any district that would reopen for particular grades and student situations, KNBC-TV reported.
If the teachers were truly worried about catching the coronavirus from their students at school — which itself is a longshot based on science — then surely they would not take the risk of going on vacation in the first place, right?
The obvious explanation is that the union allegedly had to issue a warning to its employees because they know some would travel.
They issued the warning not because of the risk of COVID-19, but because of the risk that parents will finally see the truth about what the unions have done to their kids and their schools.
Surely there are teachers who have risk factors that preclude them from teaching during the pandemic, but those wouldn’t be the ones sunning themselves in Puerto Rico anyway.
The truth is this message was meant for the union members who will allow students to suffer mental health issues, continued isolation, learning deficits and skill losses along with all of the other ills that come with keeping kids plastered to a computer screen at home for a whole year.
As with everything else, the unions are there to protect the bad seeds, the ones that are incompetent, lazy or just plain cowardly.
Teachers’ unions are a poison to the public school system and to the good people who depend on their members to educate their children.
The lesson to take away from this is the undeniable truth that good teachers don’t need unions, and bad teachers don’t deserve one — and that has never been more clear.
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