I'm meeting with Pat Toomey today- updated with fuckery

[meganew]

I'm part of our local Tuesdays with Toomey group and he's in our area doing one of his closed door, small group meetings to pretend he gives a shit about what we say and try to get out of holding a townhall. I'm going in with 7 other people, they all have topics that are close to them they'd like to discuss, so I'm going to be talking about school choice. This meeting was just thrown on me this morning and I'm out all day with the kids at swim class, so I don't have a lot of time to really script what I want to say. I have a list of shit I know I'll bring up- but does anyone have any articles handy that I can print out quick and throw at him? I'm nervous but excited.

Also, I'm bringing the kids to the meeting, and if they have a problem with that I'll point out that if I was a paid protestor I'd be able to hire a babysitter! : )

[froggy76]

Good luck! That's a good topic for him. I know he is very happy with DeVos and her idea of school choice. I just did a quick Google search and it looks like this Atlantic article has some good points:
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/is-school-choice-really-a-form-of-freedom/523089/

[poundcake]

www.commonwealthfoundation.org/issues/detail/school-choice-questions-answers

There's some questions in here.

Good Luck!

[W.T.Faulkner]

Thank you so much for meeting with him!!

[shauni27]

I cannot wait to hear how it goes! I hope he hears your message.

[t]

I'm glad you're going. Thanks for representing me!

[wesleycrusher]

I'm raising kids in the city at the other end of our state (I've read your posts about moving back to the city) so school choice is an important issue to me.   Good luck!!

[meganew]

I am FURIOUS.

So I met with Toomey, and he's just as big of an asshole in real life as he is in his form letters and bullshit tele-town halls. I was the last to speak and I brought up school choice basically as he was trying to walk out the door, so I just started talking and didn't stop until I said what I wanted to say- I talked about a district I worked in where we had charter schools pop up without any oversight or regulation, they made big promises that were inticing to parents in our district (almost all low income families, so things like a slightly longer school day and free uniforms were huge pluses, not to mention they were promised just a better school in general). It was a mess- the schools underperformed the district schools, they had huge class sizes, teachers were under paid and given fewer resources- meanwhile the district lost our music and art program, we doubled class sizes, lost half our staff, each school was left with one special education teacher, whole schools closed down. Then when the charter schools failed and parents wanted to move back to the district they weren't left with much of a district to return to. I brought up school vouchers and the fact that they favor religious (mostly Christian) schools and how they were still cost prohibitive to the poorest students.

He listened (while trying to talk over me to leave) and when I finished he said that we just disagree, and that he thinks parents love their kids (?) and the fact that I don't think they can make an informed decision about what school is best for their kid is condescending. And he's read lots of studies about how great charter schools are, and ok bye- as he walked out the door. I shouted after him that I would love to see those studies, and his staffer took my email and said that he'd send them.

The consescending comment is making my blood boil- and the fact that he said it while leaving, so I wasn't able to respond, and now I'm having all these "what I should have said" moments and it's driving me nuts.

We spoke a lot about climate change as we had a few scientists with us, and he said that he didn't think "green jobs" were an effective cost benefit to the economy (or however he worded it), and I totally used my children as talking points and pointed to them and told him my kids having clean air and water and an earth worth inheriting was the long term benefit, which clearly flustered him- then the scientists jumped back in immediately with stats about what could happen in the future if things keep going the way they are. I'm taking a small victory in that conversation.

So, now that he's sufficiently pissed me off even more, I will now be calling his office every day until he agrees to a meeting with teachers from across the districts here in the valley to go over our concerns with the department of educations plan to roll out voucher programs.

Fuck that guy.

[bex]

Wow, what an asshat. I'm glad you were at least able to say something though.

[fuckyourcouch]

Megachoo, you did great. You were never going to convince him of anything in one conversation, and you got him flustered and thinking about the other part of your convo anyway. Small victories.

[pantsparty]

God, what a dick. You did a great job with the limited time you had and the fact that he seemed to be in a rush to get out of there.

[bowies]

What a dick. So fossil fuels and charter schools clearly fund his lifestyle. Thanks a fucking lot.

ETA: That was directed at him, not you!

[Deleted]

You did great! Fuck that guy.

[froggy76]

You did great.

[jene]

You did great! Thank you for speaking up

[eddy]

SHouting that you would love to see those studies is good work. I know we all played the I should have said this game, but you did great thinking on your feet.

What a dick.

[2doxies]

He's an asshole, thanks for doing the heavy lifting and meeting with him! I agree that he's never going to change his positions on certain things. Reminding him that there are lots of passionate voters out there who are paying attention is super important, and that's exactly what you did.

[mrsukyankee]

Good work. You pushed him and it's needed. Shout it loudly to everyone you know.

[candreco]

You did awesome! Figure out what you would have wanted to say in response to his ridiculous condescending statement, and send a follow up email. Sure, it'll most likely be a staffer that reads it, but it'll be on the record and you'll feel better.

[phunluvin82]

I'm the queen of coming up with perfect things to say after the fact, while being totally frazzled in the moment. And that is the type of thing that I will stew over for ages.

You totally rock for doing that. Fuck that guy.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I'm stuck on the fact that he called you and your "in-the-trenches" opinion condescending from his high holy (note the lower case there) seat in the clouds. That's rich.

[vicky]

You were awesome. Thank you!

[poundcake]

I think you did great! Thank you for speaking up for us in PA.
We can't get him to do a town hall here.

F that guy.

[walterismydog]

I don't mean this as condescending or some kind of asshole statement:

I am really, really proud of you. Thank you for using your voice.

And he is a pile of donkey shit.

[Tacocat]

What an asshole. Good for you to say what you did.

[meganew]

Apr 18, 2017 13:57:17 GMT -5 candreco said:

You did awesome! Figure out what you would have wanted to say in response to his ridiculous condescending statement, and send a follow up email. Sure, it'll most likely be a staffer that reads it, but it'll be on the record and you'll feel better.

Oh I laid into his staffer after I composed myself, lol. I was like "If Toomey were still here I'd be saying this to him, but he's not so I hope you'll pass on this message..." I was pissed.

[meganew]

And thank you guys. It was infuriating, but I'm really glad I got to be there.

Also, my kids were ANGELS in that room. At 5 and 2 they sat there and colored quietly and ate snacks and chilled for over an hour while we talked. I'm so glad they were there, too. Even if they're too young to remember this specific meeting, I feel like if we keep at it they'll grow up knowing how important it is to use their voice. Small victories.

[aurora]

Thanks for going and for reporting back!

[morecoffeeplease]

Good job!

Good luck getting those studies though. ;-)

I have called him about once a week asking for one specific qualification he likes about Devos and he has never responded.

[jeaniebueller]

Megachoo, I would make a public Facebook post outlining what happened and spread it everywhere you can.