On Facebook tonight, former Delaware State Education Association President Mike Matthews talked about his resignation from DSEA in light of the “uncovering” of blog posts he made a decade ago. Matthews talks about who was behind it.
As I get ready for bed on this very productive Sunday evening, I continue to be heartened by the support I’ve received from so many of of you. In the last few weeks, I’ve received many messages from friends who continue to repeat the same things about what happened to me, some with very interesting and seemingly irrefutable inside information, including who some of the key players who were involved in this happen to be. Some of them are the usual suspects. Others, however, are a complete shock to me. Of course, the trained journalist in me will never reveal what I’ve heard because there’s no hard evidence or records of just what went down and I’m not about to fight libel charges!
It’s clear that this was a coordinated hit. And from what I’ve heard from more than a dozen individuals in recent weeks, the parties who lobbed this attack against me didn’t actually care about the trash that I blogged about a decade ago.
Based on my conversations with those in the know, this happened 1) Because I have an audience and 2) Because I and others disrupted an ideology and power structure funded by wealthy elites whose own attempts to “turn education around in Delaware” were being stymied due to their own ineffectiveness to sell their agenda.
According to one source of mine very involved in education policy in Delaware, I “had to be taken out because DSEA was the only organization fighting against the insanity that is the education reform agenda and [I] being the head of the organization made for a natural and very easy target,” considering my past writings.
Is this the end of the line for me in the education business? I hope not. I have another fight forthcoming to clear my name and keep my teaching license from being suspended. Barring that hurdle, I hope to return to the classroom someday.
Until that point, I’m hopeful more educators will continue to stand up loudly and fearlessly and demand accountability from the education players throughout the state so students can get what they need to succeed. In other words, build your own audiences within your schools, communities, and right here on social media. And then disrupt that power structure set up by elites who want only to see the destruction of public education. As one leader at NEA always proclaims, it’s time to raise some “good trouble!”
The more who speak up and raise some hell, the harder it will be to silence you! Do it for yourselves and our profession. But, more importantly, do it for the students who need you fighting for them!
I like fighting Mike. Give ’em hell Matthews! While Mike may not want to name names, I’ll name a few: Paul Herdman. Atnre Alleyne. Susan Bunting.
The Season Of Myths 
So, for the record, you’re naming Paul Herdman, Atnre Alleyne and Susan Bunting as the players who engaged in a conspiracy to unseat Mike Matthews?
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What is all this “on the record” crap? Can I prove it 100%? No. This is Delaware. You can’t fart without someone knowing about it. The wind carries things in The First State. If any of those three want to come on here and categorically deny they had anything to do with this, I fully welcome it.
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. Why didn’t DSEA leaders give Mike some time to respond before jumping the gun to a resignation? A basic principle of crisis management is:… Never make a hasty decision in the heat of battle…Always allow a cooling off period. But Mike’s resignation came within 24 hours of the breaking news. Did all of DSEA’s leaders forget this basic strategy ? Did they all panic in this crisis? Or didn’t they offer Mike a reasoned strategy to keep his job?
If Mike was given this offer of due process and decided to throw in the towel without a fight…then fine. But if no one even suggested this option it certainly raises a question of motive
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We now know, following the election, that Delawareans are very forgiving of past indiscretions. Delaware teachers are no exception. It seems reasonable to believe that Mike would still be President if DSEA leaders would have given him a fair chance to make his case to the rank and file.
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