Teachers’ union shuns Obama aides at convention
By Sam Dillon/New York Times
For two years as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama addressed educators gathered for the summer conventions of the two national teachers’ unions, and last year both groups rolled out the welcome mat for Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The National Education Association's convention began Saturday. No one from the Obama administration is set to speak. But in a sign of the Obama administration’s strained relations with two of its most powerful political allies, no federal official was scheduled to speak at either convention this month, partly because union officials feared that administration speakers would face heckling. (more...)