MONTPELIER – Vermont-NEA and its 13,000 members are urging Vermont officials to resist President Trump’s attempt to wipe out the state’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in our local public schools. The following statement can be attributed to Don Tinney, a high school English teacher who is the union’s elected president:
On behalf of thousands of educators in Vermont’s local public schools, I am urging Phil Scott, Zoie Saunders, and Charity Clark to resist the president’s extortion threat by simply saying “no” to his demand to erase truthful teaching in our classrooms.
Vermont’s local public schools have worked hard to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion because it is the right thing to do. We cannot let the progress we’ve made be erased by a president who wants to take us backward and who threatens to withhold vital education funding unless schools and state officials bow to his edicts.
Our friends in New York, Maine and Massachusetts have already done the right thing. I urge the governor, the secretary, and the attorney general to join them and simply say “no” to Trump. Our educators, our communities, and our students are watching – and hoping that Vermont sends a clear message to Trump: “Hands Off Our Schools.”
