From: Antonacci, Sarah
Date: Feb 22, 2018 2:11 PM
Subject: Chris Kennedy's comments about Cairo's graduates
To: "doshea@cairoschooldistrict1.com"

Hi De De,

My name is Sarah Antonacci and I am the Director of Communications for IEA. First of all, I want to congratulate your local on a couple of things:

1. You have a wonderful website. So often, we have locals who start websites but don’t do anything with them. I can really tell you have someone who keeps yours up to date and has stocked it with really interesting information. Thank you for your efforts on that front.

2. You all have done a wonderful job educating the youth in your district. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the comments from them defending their education against Chris Kennedy’s comments and promising to refute them by living bright futures.

I also want to give you a heads up that IEA President Kathi Griffin is releasing a statement today asking Candidate Kennedy to apologize to the students and to the teachers of your district. Here’s what the statement says:

“Chris Kennedy needs a fact checker. During a meeting with the editorial board of The Southern Illinoisan this month, he claimed “zero percent of kids in Cairo are college-ready.” It’s not only false, it’s insulting! It’s insulting to the students and it’s insulting to the hard-working teachers and support staff of Cairo schools. The students there said it better than I could say it myself when they took to the media to defend themselves, pointing out that many of them will graduate high school with a year of college already under their belts, that many of the 24 members of the graduating class have received scholarships and been admitted to colleges and universities across the country. “Our entire class is smart. We’re going places. We will just have to show them, not tell them. We have a small town, a small school, but there is a lot of love here,” Mack Hicks said. Candidate Kennedy owes Mack Hicks, his classmates and his teachers an apology.”

Thanks so much for all your hard work! We really appreciate it.

Sarah

Sarah Antonacci

Director of Communications and

IEA Connect

Illinois Education Association-NEA

3440 Liberty Drive