NEW CASTLE, Ind. – Should teachers be allowed to use students as props for their personal political causes?

It happens all the time in school districts around the nation, particularly at the secondary level. Local teacher unions will protest the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement with a school board, and the next thing you know, high school and middle school kids are walking out of class in support of the teachers.

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Who do you suppose gets the students all riled up?

But now some teachers are apparently willing to involve elementary-aged children in their labor wars. Or at least that seems to be the case in one Indiana classroom.

Fifth- and sixth-grade students from a single classroom at Wilbur Wright Elementary in New Castle, Indiana, recently composed letters addressed to several state officials, commenting on several hot-button issues involving education.

Their teacher, Mary Jane Dye, distributed the letters by email, along with the following message:

“I am forwarding essays my students wrote about their educational experience and thoughts regarding reform in Indiana. These were not coached – students did research in the computer lab and at home and wrote the essays in class.”

They were not coached? Really?

On one hand, the class obviously includes some very bright students, so it may not be shocking that they have some interest in political issues, despite their tender ages. Several of the kids also displayed advanced writing skills.

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But their letters consistently addressed the same issues – the impact of student test results on teacher salaries, the fairness of using the state test to measure student learning, and the ongoing disagreements between Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a Democrat.

All of the students who addressed those issues expressed the same basic opinions – that teachers should not be held accountable for test scores, the state test is not a fair or accurate measure of student learning, and Ritz should remain the chair of the State Board of Education.

All of those positions, by the way, are consistent with positions held by the Indiana State Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union. The ISTA has active members in the New Castle school district.

Indiana is a right-to-work state, so teachers are not forced to join the union, like they are in so many other states. There is no way of knowing whether Dye is an ISTA member or not.

But she certainly did not hesitate to share the union-friendly messages that her students composed, supposedly on their own.

Dye and New Castle school Superintendent Steve Fisher failed to respond to several messages from EAGnews, seeking comment about the student letters. District staff members failed to follow up on a promise to provide the names of New Castle school board members, along with contact information.

“It looks very coached,” said Caitlin Gamble, director of policy and research for the non-profit Hoosiers for Quality Education.

“As you read through the letters, you would expect some of the students to come to some different conclusions, but they all kind of came to the same conclusions. The teacher said they were in the computer lab doing their own research, but at the least they were clearly directed on where to get their information.”

Independent research?

Gamble’s assertion that the children were probably directed to biased political analysis seems logical.

If that’s not the case, the kids managed to pick up a lot of union talking points, all on their own, without tripping on any analysis that supports the opposite point of view.

Nine of the 18 student letters addressed the connection between student test scores and teacher salaries, which all the young authors agreed is unfair.

“Teachers pay is based on a student’s score,” wrote student Bethany Johnson. “If a student messes up on a test the teacher should not be blamed.”

“Teachers shouldn’t get paid by their students’ grades on ISTEP (a state test),” wrote student Keisha Brown. “I don’t think it’s fair because teachers work very hard to teach their kids all of the standards.”

“Teacher pay is based on student test scores,” wrote student Emma Walls. “This isn’t fair because students may not have listened and got a bad score.”

The students were only partially correct. Student test scores are one component of the evaluation process for Indiana teachers, but hardly the determining factor.

As a recent report from Fox59.com explained, “Under current state law, test scores are supposed to ‘significantly inform’ a teacher’s evaluation, but that can be interpreted differently by school districts.”

A proposal before the state Board of Education would more directly tie student test scores to teacher raises. Perhaps that’s why the students were prompted to address the issue – if indeed they were prompted.

In any case, it’s amazing how the student’s opinions echoed teacher union sentiments.

“…education ‘reform’ groups need to quit trying to draw a direct line from a student’s single set of test scores to a teacher’s comprehensive evaluation,” said a 2014 blog published by ISTA. “It makes no sense. It is overly simplistic. It is not defensible. It is unfair.”

The teacher compensation topic was particularly troubling to Gamble, especially the idea that teachers may be pressing the issue with students and causing unnecessary anxiety.

As one student, Sara Joy, wrote, “Students feel pressure because their teacher’s jobs and payment are on the line.”

“If that’s the message that teachers are sharing with students – ‘If you don’t do well on this terrible test I may lose my job’ – that concerns me,” Gamble said. “There’s no reason for students to feel that kind of pressure.”

A unanimous vote for Glenda

Eight of the student letters referred to the high profile political struggle between Pence and Ritz.

The governor is backing a bill currently in the state Assembly that would allow the state Board of Education to choose its own chair. Current law makes the elected superintendent the automatic chair.

Ritz and the unions are furious over the bill, calling it a power grab by the governor.

All eight students who addressed the issue agreed. That’s odd, considering Indiana has long been a conservative, Republican-leaning state, and young children tend to mirror the views of their parents, if they have any interest at all.

Do none of the children in Dye’s class have Republican parents who support Pence over Ritz? If so, their letters were not shared with the public.

“Many people would agree that you are stripping Glenda Ritz of her power you will be turning education into a dictatorship,” wrote student Lillian Chimes.

That sounded a lot like a recent headline on a teacher union website that said “GOP Indiana governor, legislators move to strip state superintendent’s authority in power grab.”

It also sounded a lot like a line from the same union website, which said, “Pence is a bully and acts like a dictator.”

Another student, Collin Glover, wrote, “People are taking away Glenda Ritz’s power and we must not let that happen. 1.3 million people voted for Glenda Ritz. That’s more votes than the governor received.”

Interestingly, a website published by the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, offered the following passage:

“Teresa Meredith, an elementary school teacher for more than 20 years and president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said it’s time legislators end their attacks on Ritz and listen to the 1.3 million Democrats and Republicans who voted for her.”

Diane Ravitch, a nationally-known defender of teachers unions, wrote the following in her national blog: “In this solid red state, Ritz got more votes than Pence.”

Several of the fifth- and sixth-graders mentioned a recent statement made by Republican state Sen. David Long, president of the Indiana state Senate.

“David Long said Glenda Ritz was nothing more than a librarian, indicating that she knows nothing about education,” wrote student Angel Damarre. “However she knows more about education than David Long, and Long’s not the one being stripped of power.”

The following passage comes from the National Education Association website:

“Despite (Ritz’) professional accomplishments, the state Senate’s leading Republican isn’t impressed. ‘In all fairness, Superintendent Ritz was a librarian, OK?’ said David Long, Indiana Senate President, managing to pull off being both condescending and wrong. ‘She has never run a school system.’”

Yet another coincidence?

School officials won’t talk about the letters

If the children in the New Castle classroom were coached or directed by Dye or another adult, a lot of questions need to be answered.

Does the school district, like many others around the nation, have a policy regarding teachers promoting their political ideologies to students? Did all the parents know about and approve of the letter-writing project, as well as the content of the letters? Was the school board informed of the letters and their content?

Could a teacher possibly do this sort of thing and keep his or her job?

EAGnews made numerous attempts to contact Dye and New Castle school Superintendent Steve Fisher, seeking comment about the letters, but they did not respond.

We also attempted to interview New Castle school board members, but the district website offers no contact information.

On three occasions personnel working in the superintendent’s office said they would email a list of school board members, along with contact information, but no such email ever arrived.

We did manage to find a work phone number for school board member Jamey Marcus, and left a detailed message, but he also failed to respond. There’s no way of knowing whether he received the message or not.

The New Castle school district does appear to have at least one applicable policy in its employee code of ethics, which is published online.

Professional employees are expected to “refrain from using their position or public property, or permitting another person to use an employee’s position or public property, for partisan political or sectarian religious purposes.”

That sounds like a directive for employees to keep their personal political views out of the classroom and away from students.

Perhaps the New Castle school board should consider what’s happening in the district and start enforcing that policy.