Our View - Friday

ELECTED OFFICIAL JOINS D-11 TEAM
Board member will negotiate contract

Congratulations to the Colorado Springs District 11 School Board, which voted in closed session Wednesday to appoint an elected board member to participate directly in closed-door negotiations between school administrators and the Colorado Springs Education Association.

In what was described as a somewhat contentious meeting, a majority of board members voted to appoint Bob Null as their negotiator. Past negotiations, surprisingly, have not included an elected representative of the public. As a result, teachers' contracts have been stacked in favor of union interests more so than the interests of students, teachers, the school board and the public that elected it.

Null, a retired Air Force colonel, brings to the table years of experience negotiating multimillion dollar union contracts for the military. He began studying past contracts Thursday, the morning after his appointment, and said there's room for improvement.

From the time Null first announced his interest in participating in the negotiations, he expressed concern about a clause that makes all teachers members of the union, with dues extracted from their paychecks, unless they fill out complicated forms to opt out during one short window of opportunity each fall when they're busy preparing for class. Null is dedicated to changing that, and let's hope he succeeds. The teachers union will improve if it has to earn the loyalty of teachers and convince them to actively join. If the union needs to win hearts and minds, it will be forced to put the interests of teachers first, just as a successful merchant puts the interests of customers above all else.

Teachers' contracts involve the interests of three parties: teachers, the union and the school board. Ostensibly, the interests of the school board represent the interests of taxpayers and students. Until now, the school board has been absent from negotiations. School board members did the right thing. Now it's Null's turn to perform, boldly and bravely defending interests of the students, teachers and taxpayers of Colorado Springs.

American Idol' snubs Jesus

Some consider him God, or the son of God. Others see him as a great prophet and philosopher with a message of justice and love. Songwriter Hugh Blumenfeld called Jesus the "Longhaired Radical Socialist Jew," who was "just pioneering that free health care."

Today, people debate whether Jesus was white or black or some other race. For 2,000-plus years, Jesus has been a figure central to humanity, held in great reverence by Christians and respected by throngs of non-Christians.

And then there's "American Idol," the beloved family-friendly TV singing contest. How does Idol treat Jesus? It deletes him from the first line of a popular song, showing full devotion to the secularist mantra of the politically correct.

In Wednesday night's finale of "American Idol Gives Back," the show's philanthropy program, eight finalists performed Darlene Zschech's mega-hit Christian-pop crossover song "Shout to the Lord." The piece was written to start with the well-known lyrics, "My Jesus, My Savior, Lord there is none like You...." Jesus, regardless of one's faith, is known as a philanthropist.

But not on "American Idol," which has apparently decided that "Jesus" can't be mentioned on national TV - even when the theme is giving. Instead of singing the song as millions know it, the "Idol" stars sang, "My Shepherd, My Savior..."

As Judge Randy Jackson might say: Yo, so listen up, American Idol. A big part of this show involves smart song selection. Everyone knows the lyrics to "Shout to the Lord." It's a song about Jesus. If that's no good for you, pick another song.

Removing Jesus from a song about Jesus? That's not cool, Idol. Pick another song, or have the guts to say "Jesus."

TEACHERS WILL DEFEND KIDS

Teachers are the first line of defense when schoolchildren are threatened by emergencies of all kinds. That's the premise behind a wonderful new bill passed by the Colorado House and Senate, which the governor plans to sign. The bill, part of the Republican minority's 2008 legislative agenda, managed to garner broad bipartisan support in a legislative body that's best known for party-line division. The bill requires that teachers and some other key school personnel take online courses that will prepare them for a variety of possible events, including natural disasters and violent predator attacks, in order to reduce or eliminate loss of innocent life.

"The more I talked to educators around the state, I realized if there is an incident at the school, it's the teacher who is really the first responder," said Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, as quoted in the Colorado Senate News. "There is a real desire by (teachers) to be educated so they know how to best react to incidents - incidents other than just a fire."

Wiens is all too familiar with school tragedies. A gunman entered Bailey's Platte Canyon High School, in Wiens' district, in 2006. The gunman took four students hostage and killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes as police stormed the classroom. The bill formalizes and standardizes training promoted by the National Incident Management System, created by a Homeland Security directive.

Traditionally, schools have been well prepared for the highly unlikely possibility of fire. Yet in modern society, a fire may be among the least of a school's concerns. Far more frequently than fires strike, psychotics show up with guns. In almost every attack, teachers have reacted with no formal training or preparation. Fires are easy to prepare for, because they're not controversial.

Ultimately, state and school leadership will require intense firearm training for a few key professionals in each school, creating plain-clothed guards so that psychotic killers die before students do. The Wiens bill, which requires some minimal tactical preparation by all teachers, serves as a big step in the right direction.