Open Discussion Forum

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example. 

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------

Dear @WILLIS BOYER,

My name is Lark Sontag. I am the Community Engagement Manager at NAEYC. I moderate HELLO along with my colleague Michael Coventry, Director of Digital Strategy and the Interest Forum Program. I am sorry if previously it felt that this was an anonymous conversation. We send our emails from the hello@naeyc.org email or from one of our personal NAEYC emails to which we welcome replies. We have had many individual follow up email and phone conversations with folks in cases where posts were edited or removed. We will also be reaching out to you privately to talk through more specific aspects of your experience.

Complete information on the guidelines for when posts are edited or removed can be found in the Code of Conduct.

Thank you for expressing your concerns. We hope this clarifies things for you and are glad you have decided to again participate on Hello.  

Best,

​

------------------------------
Lark Sontag
Community Engagement Manager
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Washington DC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2019 01:32 PM
From: WILLIS BOYER
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example.

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------

"NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness"

NAEYC is a political machine with a socio-economic disposition that supports early education and child development for the people by the people. They do the bidding for the industry, as testament to their recent congressional meetings thanks to the membership,  in an effort to address the challenges and opportunities for its constituency and the industry as a whole. 
Should you have been admonished and your commentary deleted? No. Not based on the subject you articulated. Teacher pay is a hot button topic. Along with the playschool to prison pipeline, childcare expulsion, kindergarten failure rates, parents reeking of booze and or cannabis picking up children, aggressive children, mental health issues, emotional distress, etc, etc, etc...

This is not an industry absent any controversial subjects and they all need to be on the table to effectively address and be mitigated with practical advice, best practices and sound solutions. 

Remember - childcare and early childhood development is the frontline for societies next generation. All hands need to be on deck to support their growth and stability moving forward. We lose far to many children through our neglect trying to be politically correct. 

It's better to be socially accurate, in our socio-economic realities, then politically correct by deleting or ignoring the truth.

------------------------------
Gary Beulah
CEO
SoftBlue
Riverdale GA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2019 01:32 PM
From: WILLIS BOYER
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example.

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------

Dear @Gary Beulah, 

Thanks so much for your post.

I would like to reiterate that we welcome resources, conversations, and respectful debate. The only posts that we remove or ask to be edited are those that fall outside of our Code of Conduct.

Our members are the engine of NAEYC and we want to hear and learn from all our members. They are family child care providers, preschool teachers, elementary school and infant and toddler teachers, directors of centers, school superintendents, academics who teach future teachers, and more. We want to hear and learn from all of them. Many thanks to you and the many other members who share their thoughts and perspective on hello.naeyc.org.

Best, ​

------------------------------
Lark Sontag
Community Engagement Manager
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Washington DC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-13-2019 11:04 AM
From: Gary Beulah
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

"NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness"

NAEYC is a political machine with a socio-economic disposition that supports early education and child development for the people by the people. They do the bidding for the industry, as testament to their recent congressional meetings thanks to the membership,  in an effort to address the challenges and opportunities for its constituency and the industry as a whole.
Should you have been admonished and your commentary deleted? No. Not based on the subject you articulated. Teacher pay is a hot button topic. Along with the playschool to prison pipeline, childcare expulsion, kindergarten failure rates, parents reeking of booze and or cannabis picking up children, aggressive children, mental health issues, emotional distress, etc, etc, etc...

This is not an industry absent any controversial subjects and they all need to be on the table to effectively address and be mitigated with practical advice, best practices and sound solutions.

Remember - childcare and early childhood development is the frontline for societies next generation. All hands need to be on deck to support their growth and stability moving forward. We lose far to many children through our neglect trying to be politically correct.

It's better to be socially accurate, in our socio-economic realities, then politically correct by deleting or ignoring the truth.

------------------------------
Gary Beulah
CEO
SoftBlue
Riverdale GA

Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2019 01:32 PM
From: WILLIS BOYER
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example.

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------

Thank you Lark. I completely understand the need for NAEYC's Code of Conduct policy.  I just want to make sure NAEYC does not get soft on some of our most pressing issues. Gang violence, school shootings and suicide are still matters of grave concern that deal with mental health, basic access to early learning opportunities and stabilizing our family units. Most of your constituency will not have to personally deal with these issues but some will. I had a six week pilot program cut short because of a shooting in the childcare parking lot.
I can sympathize with the need for appropriate communication on this platform. That said, as a national organization and leader - please don't let your position in the industry become diluted by simply focusing on the soft issues of early learning and childhood development. Power to the Profession requires powerful resolve.

------------------------------
Gary Beulah
CEO
SoftBlue
Riverdale GA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-13-2019 01:06 PM
From: Lark Sontag
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Dear @Gary Beulah, 

Thanks so much for your post.

I would like to reiterate that we welcome resources, conversations, and respectful debate. The only posts that we remove or ask to be edited are those that fall outside of our Code of Conduct.

Our members are the engine of NAEYC and we want to hear and learn from all our members. They are family child care providers, preschool teachers, elementary school and infant and toddler teachers, directors of centers, school superintendents, academics who teach future teachers, and more. We want to hear and learn from all of them. Many thanks to you and the many other members who share their thoughts and perspective on hello.naeyc.org.

Best, ​

------------------------------
Lark Sontag
Community Engagement Manager
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Washington DC

Original Message:
Sent: 03-13-2019 11:04 AM
From: Gary Beulah
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

"NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness"

NAEYC is a political machine with a socio-economic disposition that supports early education and child development for the people by the people. They do the bidding for the industry, as testament to their recent congressional meetings thanks to the membership,  in an effort to address the challenges and opportunities for its constituency and the industry as a whole.
Should you have been admonished and your commentary deleted? No. Not based on the subject you articulated. Teacher pay is a hot button topic. Along with the playschool to prison pipeline, childcare expulsion, kindergarten failure rates, parents reeking of booze and or cannabis picking up children, aggressive children, mental health issues, emotional distress, etc, etc, etc...

This is not an industry absent any controversial subjects and they all need to be on the table to effectively address and be mitigated with practical advice, best practices and sound solutions.

Remember - childcare and early childhood development is the frontline for societies next generation. All hands need to be on deck to support their growth and stability moving forward. We lose far to many children through our neglect trying to be politically correct.

It's better to be socially accurate, in our socio-economic realities, then politically correct by deleting or ignoring the truth.

------------------------------
Gary Beulah
CEO
SoftBlue
Riverdale GA

Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2019 01:32 PM
From: WILLIS BOYER
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example.

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------

This isn't to comment on the issue of teacher pay but to comment on the term 'political correctness'.  I feel very strongly that it's a made up term used by people on one side of an argument to put down people on the other side of the argument.  It's meaningless but is easily thrown around to say that the opposing side's views have no merit.  I would love for the term to disappear and be replaced by more meaningful dialogue.  

I'm sorry that you felt dismissed.  I have seen many passionate opinions expressed in this forum without censure, as long as they were expressed respectfully.  I hope that there can continue to be a respectful dialogue about the issue of teacher pay.

------------------------------
Aren Stone
Child Development Specialist
The Early Years Project
Cambridge, MA
she/her
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2019 01:32 PM
From: WILLIS BOYER
Subject: Political Correctness at NAEYC

Last year, in my initial foray into NAEYC forums, one of my posts apparently caused a person, an academic with no history of field experience, to complain and my post was deleted and I was reprimanded by some anonymous official at NAEYC.

I have 2 Ivy League degrees, including English at Yale, and certainly know how to communicate effectively. Yet, there was no recourse to this action regarding my opinions on teacher pay. As I recall now, the person recommended mandating higher teacher pay and I said that real world experience, not academic theories, showed that salary mandates do not and could not work in practice.

However, a couple of readers did contact me to say that they agreed with my post and believed it was wrong for NAEYC to stifle me.

I would be glad to contribute to the"Hello" blog site, but fear that NAEYC is so engulfed in political correctness that it cannot stand strong opinions. Can anyone assure me otherwise?

If not, then, is NAEYC just Milk Toast and Safe Spaces? We all have difficult issues to address, teacher pay and recruitment in a full economy, for example.

Will anyone dare to respond?

------------------------------
WILLIS BOYER
President
KidsFirst Learning Centers LLC
Olmsted Falls OH
------------------------------