Overview:
If elected as the Vice-President of the United States, Tim Walz would be the first Mr. Lunch Supervisor in the White House.
In 1939, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was a big hit in theaters. The film is about a naive small-town guy who takes on corruption. The movie instantly became a classic and a part of the American zeitgeist.
We’ve had many Mr. Smiths sent to Washington since then. Most, if not all, have claimed that they would take on corruption, too. What we haven’t had, besides a Mrs. Smith, of course, is someone with twenty years of experience supervising the lunchroom.
Until now.
You’ll hear a lot of things about Tim Walz in the coming days. You’ll hear how, in 1995, he was arrested for DUI. How he offered to resign his teaching post at age 31, but was talked out of it by his principal. You’ll hear about his service in the military, how he taught in China for a year, and how he’s been loved by students, colleagues, and soldiers alike. To many educators I know, Tim Walz’s lunchroom experience will be the most talked about bit of news.
And I feel the same way.
That’s because Tim Walz taught during the late 90s and early 2000s. Like me, that means that Tim Walz was on duty in a classroom, not just the lunchroom, when No Child Left Behind was rolled out in 2001. And, like me, that means that Tim Walz was still on duty when the failure of No Child Left Behind became as obvious as a rowdy cafeteria.
For those of you who may have forgotten, or weren’t present, let me give you a refresher of what Tim Walz and I both know well. In the early 2000s, George Bush’s so-called “Texas Miracle” was supposed to turn every child proficient in reading and math in every class, across every state. The intense pressure narrowed curriculums, and literally left some children without recess, without sports, without theater or art, music or science.
For years.
And because the emphasis was on closing the achievement gap, schools like mine were impacted the most. Stages became dusty. Sports fields went unused. Kids became unmotivated. Parents grew confused.
Long before we worried about what virtual learning during the pandemic would do to our children’s social and emotional well-being, schools like mine were deliberately taking away everything children loved about school.
Tim Walz knows what this radical shift to high stakes testing cost our kids, especially kids in marginalized communities. He knows the inequity caused by bad policy, policy that teachers like me have been speaking about for years. He knows how the scapegoating of teachers for failing to make 100% proficiency led to the rise of the modern charter school movement. As a history teacher myself, I know that when we do not study our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Tim Walz knows it too.
Last year on X, Mr. Walz posted: “In Minnesota, we’re carving out a corner of our country where no child is left hungry, where no community is left behind, and nobody gets they don’t belong.”
In an age of dog whistles from other men hoping to go to Washington, that’s one I finally want to hear more of.
But instead of these other men, Mr. Walz is taking an experience that is essential to understanding where educational policy goes next. He’s also going at a time when the right-wing media is accusing teachers of indoctrination, when fundamentalist politicians are attempting to circumnavigate the separation of church and state. He’s going at a time when the very existence of our public school system is in the crosshairs of groups like Project 2025, when half of all teachers quit before their fifth year. And once more Mr. Walz is going to be on duty in one hell of a rowdy lunchroom.
But Mr. Walz doesn’t have to worry about serving his lunchroom duty alone this time. This time, Mr. Walz has the backing of teachers like me, teachers that have no intention of allowing our students to be left behind by bad educational policy ever again.