SBOE member Cargill suspected of trying to sabotage teacher work groups
May 3, 2008
Austin, Tx
Last week SBOE member Barbara Cargill sent out an Action Alert e-mail addressed to "my supporters." It was full of inaccuracies, half-truths, and misconstrued facts. In the e-mail she asks people to come to Austin where she will "welcome them warmly." She claims that English teachers in the state do not want to teach the basics in English but fails to provide proof.
ETN has learned that two members of the Teacher Workgroup who met in Austin for the revision of the standards were from Cargill's District 8. While legislative observers, lawyers, and watchdog groups were present in the room, these two members were compliant and docile. Later in the afternoon after the observers had left because things were "going smoothly," as reported by numerous workgroup members, the Cargill appointees became belligerent and full of complaints.
One member of the teacher workgroup said, "It was like the sun went down and they turned into vampires." Another member interviewed said, "It was like it was staged."
Given that SBOE member Cargill is so adamantly hostile toward English Language Arts professionals in the state, it has been suspected that some instruction must have been given to her appointees to disrupt the meeting when legislators and legal counsels were not present.