John Curry: Spreading the word

From John Curry, November 10, 2006
Subject: We at CORE have to keep expanding our information spreading

After reading an article in yesterday's Youngstown Vindicator I feel that it touched upon a notion that many in CORE have -- we have to continue to communicate with educators -- educators we haven't carried on a dialogue with before. The sentence in the Vindicator that caught my eye came (surprisingly) from an internal Republican poll taken before the election and addressed by Bob Bennett (Ohio's head GOP Honcho); it reads:

"Internal Ohio Republican polls showed about 80 percent of people knew Taft was convicted of a crime, but only a small number knew it was for ethics violations related to accepting free rounds of golf, Bennett said."

Now, if after all the daily universal coverage of Bobby Taft getting "popped" for accepting the free rounds of golf by his cronies and his subsequent trial and conviction didn't embed in the minds of the general public then how do we at CORE expect the majority of both active and retired educators to really know what has happened to the "magnificent seven" former STRS officials who were also convicted of criminal ethics violations? Only a few major papers carried anything about the early ethics convictions of Dyer and Sidaway. The most coverage we educators obtained came when the four former STRS Board members recently got their dose of justice all on the same day -- then, more than the usual amount (which was sparse) was given print or lip service in the media.

I have taken the step to have "business cards" printed and carry a supply with me wherever I go. When I meet an active or retired educator I simply give them a few cards and request they share with other fellow educators. If I'm asked what business I am in I simply say, "the reform business!" These cards contain my email address, the CORE website address, and Kathie Bracy's blog address (www.kathiebracy.blogspot.com). We DO HAVE TO CONTINUE TO SPREAD OUR INFORMATION to those many educators who still haven't the slightest idea what is going on except for what they read in a mailed STRS bulletin -- and those bulletins (as we well know) don't necessarily tell the whole story, do they?
John -- a PROUD CORE member