The United Teachers of Dade, which represents more than 30,000 Miami-Dade County teachers and education professionals, will launch a series of daily “one-on-one conversations” with each of the county mayoral candidates beginning Friday afternoon (that’s today).
“The effort seeks to increase civic engagement among all education professionals and secure more pro public education 
leadership for Miami-Dade County,” reads a UTD press release.
They want their members to learn about each candidate’s positions on issues that are most important to educators today, which include not only public education and labor, but plans to address affordable housing, income inequality and the future of public schools in a post COVID-19 world.
“Public schools are an integral part of the community, our infrastructure, and local government,” UTD President Karla Hernandez-Mats said in a statement.
Read related: Daniella Levine-Cava resigns to run for mayor on heels of happy internal poll
“Recently our local government and citizens voted to support additional school funding to make-up for the failures of Tallahassee funding, among other issues. The pandemic has only highlighted these inequities,” Hernandez-Mats said, referring to the 2018 referendum bond passed by voters to pay teachers more and hire police officers for every school. A $1.2 billion bond in 2012 is to strengthen school infrastructure and technology.
“As we look towards recovery, strong local leadership will be more critical than ever, and so it is paramount that our workforce has every opportunity possible to become highly informed and engaged in the electoral process, from the August primary to the November general election.”
The 30-minute chats, called [read: branded] “Real Talk in the Teachers’ Lounge,” will be hosted on Zoom and streamed via Facebook Live through UTD’s Facebook page. The schedule is as follows:
- 5 p.m. Friday, May 29: Ludmilla Domond
- 1 p.m. Saturday, May 30: Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava
- 5 p.m. Monday, June 1: Commissioner Xavier Suarez
- 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 2: Former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas
- 5 p.m. Friday, June 5: Commissioner Esteban Bovo
There doesn’t seem to be any invitations for Robert Ingram Burke or Monique Nicole Barley, even though both did better than Bovo in Xavier Suarez’s internal poll.
It’s not a coincidence that Penelas’ live interview doesn’t fall at happy hour on a Friday or mid Saturday afternoon. Balsera Communications, the same PR firm that represents UTD, is also working for Penelas. So are the questions scripted by them to favor Penelas? That’s a legitimate concern.
And will there be any “Real Talk” sessions with commission and school board candidates? Seems like there should be if UTD is truly concerned about the way our taxpayer money is spent in the next four years — and not just how Penelas does.
Miami-Dade teachers union plans series of virtual mayoral candidate interviews added by Ladra on
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