Louisiana residents join movement to fire education secretary
Staff
More than 1,000 Louisiana residents have signed a nationwide online petition calling for U.S. Education Secretary Roderick Paige’s resignation.
Paige stirred up a hornet’s nest in February when he referred to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, as a terrorist organization. Paige has since apologized for the comment.
Louisiana is ranked 39th in terms of highest number of signatures on the online petition at www.firepaige.org, said Toby Chaudhuri, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for America’s Future, which organized the online petition drive.
As of March 24, the largest number of Louisiana petition signers came from the following cities: New Orleans, 431; Baton Rouge, 120; Metairie, 58; Lafayette, 43; Shreveport, 35; Slidell, 22; and Lake Charles, 21. Signature totals from some other Louisiana communities include Kenner, 13; Mandeville, 12; Covington, 11; and Gretna, 5.
Chaudhuri said 35.4 percent of the 1,025 Louisiana petition signers identified themselves as parents, 30.8 percent as teachers, 6.5 percent as students and 19.9 percent as educational support professionals, while 24.9 percent did not specify.
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