[NLA] follow-up to a proposal to "save" the NIFL

[Steve Bender]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: hartman 
  To: nla at lists.literacytent.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 12:44 PM
  Subject: [NLA] follow-up to a proposal to "save" the NIFL
   
  Once confirmed, perhaps their greatest influence will be in recommending a new Director for the NIFL.  I think there is a good chance that the next Director of the NIFL will be someone who has a lifelong interest in children's reading, but no experience or expressed interest in adult literacy.  So, at that point (perhaps by December or January) you will have a Board and a Director that have similar professional backgrounds, interests, and policy goals (none of which involve adult literacy).





  Hi,



  This is the first time that I've read on this list of the serious possibility that the new Director of NIFL may be "someone who has a lifelong interest in children's reading, but no experience or expressed interest in adult literacy."



  I'm shocked, but I guess not really surprised at this possibility.  Why else would the proposed Board nominees, most of whom don't have background in adult literacy, have been chosen?  If these nominees are confirmed, of course they'll recommend as the new NIFL director someone who's background is with children's literacy.  That's their expertise.



  If this happens, it will be truly regrettable.  Andy laid out quite clearly his concerns about this possibility, and it makes sense.  NIFL was created so that our government would have an institute whose reason for being was adult literacy and as Andy and Alice have described, there is a long list of important projects that have happened over the last decade that wouldn't have happened without NIFL.  Some in the field may have arguments with some of the details of NIFLs work over the years, but there can't be much argument about the importance of the focus.  For reasons that aren't clear, the Bush administration wants to change this focus.  



  I wonder if, during the Board nominees confirmation hearings at the Senate, they will be asked about this obvious change of focus for NIFL.  This is a major policy change and I'd hope that some on the senate committee will ask some careful questions about this change.  





  Steve Bender

  1199 Training Fund

  Hartford, CT

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/nla-nifl-archive/attachments/20020717/6686a63c/attachment.htm