UPDATES: EAA Removes Job Posting, Apologizes--But What Does It Say About the EAA?

For Part 1 (to find out more about the Education Achievement Authority's job posting where they looked for teachers to work in a Christian setting), start here.

Education Achievement Authority logo

Update 2/26/2014:

The job posting has been taken down. In a letter from Chancellor John Covington to ACLU Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg, Covington writes that the EAA is aware of their Constitutional obligation to remain neutral in matters of religion; and that they don't discriminate; and that they have removed the job posting from the website and will replace it with one that does not have any references to religion. He calls the job posting an "error" and says they will make a "concerted effort" so that it doesn't happen again.

Read the entire letter here.

Meanwhile, in other news--an acquaintance sent me the link for the job posting from which the EAA job posting was likely copied. The job posting is from St. Mary Child Development Center in Troy, MI. Read it here. But unlike the publicly-funded EAA, St. Mary Child Development Center is a private parochial school which has as its mission (according to their website)

to provide loving care with a Christian Orthodox based education in a nurturing Christ Centered environment where values are taught and exemplified.

The whole thing smacks of laziness on the part of the EAA staff. As a friend wrote to me on Facebook--

The choices here are a) they are completely and utterly ignorant of the first amendment, civil rights law and education law in this country or b) they are not only copying from elsewhere (let's face it, we've all done it) but not competent enough to proofread before proceeding. I don't think either of these are attractive options. I think b is much more likely, and perhaps more palatable, but not exactly a ringing endorsement. A "turn around" school district doesn't write its own job postings? How are they hoping to attract the great educators needed to help struggling kids if they don't give any thought to what that job description looks like?

[Based on some of the other job postings I saw on the michigan.gov/eaa website, I would say there is a lot of sloppiness in the EAA's editing of those job posts! For instance, some of them had non-discrimination statements at the bottom, others did not.]

And another friend commented:

There will be an EAA Board of Regents meeting at EMU on March 25, 1:00 p.m. at Welch Hall. Please come and share your outrage.

Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!