Earlier this week, your newspaper reported criticism of Congressman Mark Souder at a recent Whitko School Board meeting. The congressman was criticized by two educators for comments he had made at a March 2 listening session he held regarding the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law.
The listening session was part of a series of forums with local educators organized by Congressman Souder and his office. Educators from every county and most school districts in our congressional district were represented at the meetings, and (irrespective of their views on the actual law) many expressed their appreciation to him for being included in the legislative process.
At the end of the meeting, Dr. Thomas Neat, assistant superintendent of instruction for Elkhart Community Schools, asked Congressman Souder whether he had decided if he would be supporting the reauthorization of the bill.
Congressman Souder stated that, since the Democrats would be drafting the bill this time, he wasn't going to say at this point that he supported it, but he also wasn't a hard "no." Mark Souder wants to be part of the negotiating process and, during committee consideration of the reauthorization bill, he plans to continue to bring up concerns raised at the listening sessions. Indeed, he's already done this.
Additionally, on March 21, Congressman Souder met with U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in his office for over an hour to discuss how to deal with the concerns raised in the meetings.
I attended all of the meetings. And Congressman Souder did not say what was recently "quoted" in the newspaper. We are working hard to improve the testing and accountability concerns raised in the meetings.
I think it's important that we set the record straight.
