FOXNews.com
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Virginia Republicans are in an uproar after the state teacher's union sent an e-mail to its members encouraging them to wear blue-colored shirts to school to show their support for Barack Obama.
State Republicans are calling it an undisguised attempt to influence students' political views.
The Virginia Education Association sponsored "Obama Blue Day" on Tuesday. In an e-mail sent last week, it urged teachers to participate by dressing in blue.
"There are people out there not yet registered. You teach some of them," the Sept. 25 e-mail reads. "Others, including our members, remain on the fence! Its time for us to come together, voice our unity, because we make a difference!"
"Let's make Obama Blue Day a day of Action!" the e-mail continues. "Barack the vote!"
In a statement released to FOXNews.com Thursday, VEA President Kitty Boitnott defended the e-mail, saying that it called for teachers to wear blue shirts, but not ones that mentioned a candidate.
The invitation was not intended to "encourage teachers to use their classrooms for partisan political purposes," Boitnott said.
"The e-mail did not encourage teachers to talk with students about voting for any specific candidate, although it did suggest that teachers can encourage eligible students to register to vote. There certainly is nothing wrong with encouraging students who are 18 years of age or older to register to vote."
But many state Republicans are miffed by the plan, which they characterize as an obvious attempt by the teachers union to encourage young, impressionable voters to cast their ballots for Obama.
"It's a breach of public trust on many levels," Virginia Republican Party Communications Director Gerry Scimeca told FOXNews.com.
Scimeca, who described the VEA as a "very political organization," said the school environment is "a completely inappropriate place for teachers or education staff to be politicking on behalf of any candidate. Parents send their kids to school to get a bipartisan education."
The controversy surrounding the VEA's "Obama Blue Day" is not the only clash between partisan politics and education this election season.
The teachers union in New York has also come under fire for distributing thousands of Obama campaign buttons to its members, prompting a backlash from education officials and parents.
"Schools are not a place for politics and not a place for staff to wear political buttons," New York Department of Education spokeswoman Ann Forte told FOXNews.com.
"We don't want a school or school staff advocating for any political position or candidate to students and we don't want students feeling intimidated because they might hold a different belief or support a different candidate than their teachers," she said.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/02/virginia-teachers-union-sparks-outrage-obama-blue-day/
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