KUOW on Why some parents and teachers want the president of Seattle's teachers union to step down

Why some parents and teachers want the president of Seattle's teachers union to step down

KUOW’s Soundside is meticulously even-handed—so even-handed that some critical distinctions disappear.

Again, Idowu is described as “denying the allegations.”  That is incomplete.  She now denies wrongdoing, but the investigation records instances in which she acknowledged conduct at issue while characterizing her actions differently.  The dispute is therefore not simply “she says it never happened.”   SPS nevertheless substantiated serious findings, including that she more likely than not grabbed a disabled third grader hard enough to cause bruising.

The segment also presents the pro-Idowu petition alongside the SEA recall petition as though they carry comparable significance.  They do not.  The SEA recall petition has a specific function under SEA's bylaws: reaching the required membership threshold can trigger an actual vote on removing the president.  KUOW acknowledges that process later in the segment.

Then comes the concern that accountability could “fracture” the union.  Democracy does not fracture a union.  Refusing members their legitimate mechanism for holding elected leadership accountable would.

And largely absent is the harder intersectional question:  What happens when arguments about protecting a Black educator from racism are invoked in a case involving an African-ethnicity disabled child?  Racial justice and disability justice cannot mean minimizing one vulnerable person's dignity to protect another person's power.

The child's mother, Olla,  ultimately cuts through all the politics:

“I don't see how this ever leaves him.”

That is the consequence that deserves our attention.