Moments after the state teachers union endorsed her candidacy for president of the American Federation of Teachers, a combative Randi Weingarten yesterday blasted Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as wolves in sheeps' clothing. Even though her union had scored a very public victory against city and school officials this week on the issue of teacher tenure, the UFT president showed she wasn't ready to hang up her gloves.
"No matter what they do to present themselves as children's protectors, the wolf under their sheepskin always shows through," Weingarten said of the two city officials.
"We were fighting for budgets for education so we could do our job and, as we were doing that, they were fighting against us to do tenure in one of the worst, misguided ways possible."
State lawmakers Wednesday approved a provision in the state budget that bars school districts from using student performance data to help determine if teachers should be granted tenure after their third year.
Bloomberg and Klein - who have characterized tenure as the default decision rather than as an earned distinction - had lobbied hard to have the language removed from the budget.
After it wasn't, they railed against state lawmakers.
Despite her angry words, Klein said yesterday of Weingarten, "Randi is a national leader in education and I am delighted that she is seeking to move to the national stage."
A spokesman for Bloomberg declined comment.
