Sensationalism sells, or at least garners clicks.
No more has that been the case then with recent stories circulating the web involving Senator Tommy Tuberville and a recent stop he made on Donald Trump Jr.’s radio show, Triggered.
The Senator is being accused by various news outlets of discrimination against inner city teachers by officials such as Birmingham City Mayor Randall Woodfin after comments that Tuberville (R-Auburn) made on the broadcast were, according to many, taken out of context.
During the show, Tuberville and Trump Jr. touched on the state of education in the Baltimore City School System which has the lowest math test scores in all of Maryland. Just 7 percent of third through eighth graders in the system tested proficient in math, meaning 93 percent could not do math at grade level. Exactly 2,000 students took the state math test in the school system. None could do math at grade level.
For many, this raises the question why are thousands of scores so low?
Tuberville believes it is due to both COVID and unqualified teachers in Baltimore that were not properly vetted before being hired.
“The COVID really brought it out how bad our schools are and how bad our teachers are in the inner city. Most of them in the inner city, I don’t know how they got degrees,” said Tuberville.
“I don’t know whether they can read and write. And they want a raise. They want less time to work, less time in school. It’s just, we’ve ruined work ethic in this country. We don’t work at it anymore. We push an easy life.”
Tuberville said in the long term the issue will make those in the school system more dependent on the federal government.
“If you can’t read and if you can’t write, you can’t live in a country like this and not have somebody help you make it through life, which is what a lot of this government wants.”
A spokesperson for Tuberville spoke to Yellowhammer News to clarify his comments.
“In the interview, Coach Tuberville spoke specifically about Baltimore. 23 schools in Baltimore were recently found to have ZERO students who were proficient in math.”
“As for “inner city” versus suburban schools or rural schools, again there are countless examples of this problem nationwide. Chicago, for example, also had 55 schools without a single student proficient in math and 33 schools without a single student proficient in reading. Four out of five DC students are not proficient in math and two-thirds are not proficient in reading and writing. The list goes on. The senator is far from the first person to criticize inner city schools, and the critics know that,” the rep said.
“Coach said in the interview, one of the reasons he ran for office was because of his compassion for kids trapped in failing schools. As a Coach and a mentor unlocking opportunity for young people for 40 years, he watched a marked decline in our education system and found it deeply alarming. That’s why Coach is a strong supporter of school choice. As he says in the interview, Coach has worked with young people from all across this nation and from every background.”
However, Tuberville’s camp didn’t mince words when addressing the news outlets they say misconstrued his words.
“It’s obvious this is another effort by AL.com to start another media feeding frenzy by misconstruing something Coach said. (Good to know they follow Ron Filipowski’s Twitter page.) And this one is just as fake and baseless as the last one.”
“Frankly, instead of more phony outrage, we need more compassion for kids trapped in these schools. Those who are in a position to improve our schools should improve our schools.”
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
