Sarcastic congratulations are in order to liberal education blog Chalkbeat Colorado for being the first to report that Denver voters strongly support the city’s teachers going on strike if union demands aren’t met:
“The telephone survey of 600 randomly selected Denver voters found that 82 percent of respondents side with the teachers over the school board on salary negotiations and that 62 percent would support teachers going on strike if there is no resolution by the end of January, the union said in a press release. Parents of Denver Public Schools students, those most affected by a potential strike, reported even higher levels of support.”
It’s safe to assume that those polled are either not parents, not working, or both. Nobody in their right mind would actually consider teachers striking to be a good outcome for school-aged children, right?
Right (emphasis ours):
“The union did not release the actual questions asked in the poll. Though the results contrasted public support for teachers and the school board, district administrators like Superintendent Susana Cordova and Chief Financial Officer Mark Ferrandino are negotiating with the union, not the board.”
LOL. That the union refused to even release the specific questions asked in their poll makes this less a poll than complete and utter nonsense. And since it’s not a real poll without that data, it’s likewise not a real story and shouldn’t be treated as one.
Unless your outlet is Chalkbeat Colorado. Will Colorado’s official nonofficial poll critic, John Frank from the Denver Post Colorado Sun, weigh in here? Oh, wait, the Post Sun hasn’t covered it. Looks like he already has.
