Is this how you'd want your legislator communicating with your teenager? In an email response to a sophomore high school student Arizona State Senator Linda Gray wrote:
Ana, I have grave concerns on your ability to pass the AIMS language
test. Why didn't you take to time to write an email with the proper
punctuation? By your poorly written email, your example tells me that
all the money we have spent on your education shows a lack of learning
on your part. My son and daughter went through the Glendale UHSD and
had a public school education. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher and
she would be embarrassed if a student in her classroom sent such an
email. You should be ashamed of displaying such ignorance in writing
to a public servant. Perhaps you watch too much TV or don't know how
to speak proper English.
The last line I sure is a reference to the student's hispanic last name. The student, encouraged by her teachers, had merely asked the senator in an email about the budget process for education and why cuts were being made.
I can't believe how angry this email made me. I felt this needed to be passed on to a broader audience to hopefully have a "teachable moment" for Senator Linda Gray. The senator's campaign webpage
Budget cuts in Arizona are imploding all public schools. Every district is slashing budgets, cutting teachers (some as deep as 15 years of experience), and imposing mind-boggling fiscal measures (pay-to-play
arts/athletics/activities, eliminating buses and services, shutting off power before and after school, etc.) To teach students about social justice and responsible citizenship, students were encouraged to compose letters to their representative legislators to inquire about the budget for next year and the decision-making process
lawmakers use when making these decisions. Read what one student received as a persona response. Below is the entire text of Linda Gray's e-mail to a sophomore high school student.
Dear Ana,
1.why cut our budgets? All budgets were cut. K-12 education was cut
the least 3.2% and only 1.9% of all monies that come to the school
district. Education is 42% of the general fund budget, so we cut very
little from education and a lot more from the other 58% of the budget.
2.how come you don't cut any money from your budget? I have not had a
pay raise in 10 years so you could say I have had my budget cut every
year. Three years ago the legislature gave education a 6% increase
and 2% increase for the last 10 years. We keep trying to help. You
could ask the Glendale Union High School District why they only spend
59.5% of the money they receive into the classroom and 40.5 to
administrative costs. The national average is 61.2 into the
classroom.
Ana, I have grave concerns on your ability to pass the AIMS language
test. Why didn't you take to time to write an email with the proper
punctuation? By your poorly written email, your example tells me that
all the money we have spent on your education shows a lack of learning
on your part. My son and daughter went through the Glendale UHSD and
had a public school education. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher and
she would be embarrassed if a student in her classroom sent such an
email. You should be ashamed of displaying such ignorance in writing
to a public servant. Perhaps you watch too much TV or don't know how
to speak proper English.
Senator Linda Gray
1700 W Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-926-3376
This is a person who considers herself a crusader for education and one of the legislature's experts in education policy. Maybe this how those "GOP Values" listed on her webpage help make the senator so sensitive to a 10th graders simple attempt to learn how the budget process works. If you live and vote in Rep. Gray's district, I urge you to contact her office and inform her of how to speak to citizens - especially young adolescents - in an appropriate manner.