Representative Erickson’s Comments Have No Place in State Policy Debate

In response to State Representative Sondra Erickson’s comment to Minnesota Public Radio, calling Education Minnesota’s 90 day supervision period for new teachers a “teaching Gestapo,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson issued the following statement:

“For Representative Erickson to compare the responsible supervision of beginning teachers to tactics in Nazi Germany is inflammatory and has no place in our state’s public policy debate.

Minnesota’s elected leaders have a lot of important work ahead of them and comments like this only hinder that work.

Representative Erickson should apologize to the 70,000 public educators who work hard every day to give our kids opportunities to succeed.”