Arne’s “Bring Your Kids to Work” Day

March 4, 2010 (GBN News): Two young children of an air traffic controller were not the only ones who caused a stir last week by coming to work with their dad. The children were caught on tape giving instructions over the air to pilots in flight. But now GBN News has learned that Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s 9 year old daughter, spending time in her father’s office during winter break, was actually responsible for determining which states would qualify for “Race to the Top” Federal stimulus funding. The winning states have not yet been publicly disclosed, but Mr. Duncan’s daughter reportedly has informed the Governors of those states by text message.

In addition, sources at the Education Department told GBN News that the Secretary’s son, age 6, may have gotten his own school into hot water. The name of the school is not being disclosed to protect the privacy of the Secretary’s family, but sources said that a call was made to the district Superintendent, purportedly from the Secretary, demanding that the “failing school” be closed immediately and all of the teachers be fired. While caller ID was said to show that the call indeed came from Mr. Duncan’s office, the receptionist became suspicious at the “squeaky” sound of the caller’s voice. Sources in the Secretary’s office then confirmed that it was indeed Mr. Duncan’s son that made the call.

While the air controller has been suspended from his job, no such fate will befall Mr. Duncan. President Obama defended the Secretary’s allowing his children to make such monumental decisions. “It’s just school choice in action,” the President told GBN News. “It shows how empowered our families are to make these decisions about where they go to school.”

While some critics called on Mr. Obama to immediately fire Mr. Duncan for what they termed a “major transgression”, others were more supportive. J. Fredrick Runson, an education professor at Manhattan University, said he doubts that the decisions made by the two youngsters would be very different from what the Secretary himself would have done. “It’s all arbitrary and capricious anyhow," he told GBN News. "There’s no rhyme or reason to any of these school closings or to the whole Race to the Top process. So it may as well be decided by a couple of kids. Maybe they’d even do a better job.”