Members of Seattle’s teachers’ union re-elected Jonathan Knapp as their president today. Knapp won by a rather narrow margin—45 of the approximately 2,600 ballots cast to be exact.
Knapp’s opponent was Jesse Hagopian. According to the Seattle Times, Hagopian “gained a national reputation after leading a testing boycott last year of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests in Seattle.” He is “one of the founding members of Social Equality Educators, a group within the union that supports progressive values and backed his candidacy.” To top off Hagopian’s ringing credentials, he had the distinction of being endorsed by Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Yes, 46 more votes and Seattle’s teachers would have had Hagopian—endorsed by Sawant—as their leader…
Another notable fact of the election? Only 54% of Seattle’s teachers actually bothered to vote. Apparently, that’s actually double the turn-out rate of the year before.
Which bring us to the questions:
Do Seattle teachers really think so little of their union leadership that they can’t be bothered to vote?
Or, is there too little difference among far-left “leadership” in Seattle to make voting matter?
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