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José Angel Alvarado, the head of a 30,000-member union of educators in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, speaking through an interpreter, said that: “We have seen in the Toledo Plan some ideas we can implement in the state of Nuevo León … what we have seen will be an enrichment.”
The notion to import the Toledo Plan came about after Mexican educators heard Dal Lawrence, assistant to the president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers and the person responsible for drawing up the plan more than two decades ago, speak at a conference. He was invited to visit Monterrey and expound on the plan which places incoming teachers under the guidance of more experienced ones.
Here in Toledo, critics have attacked the plan recently because of the evaluation powers the teacher/mentors have.
“We are proud of the Toledo Plan,” Lawrence said at a press conference this Monday with the Mexican delegation. “There are 150 versions of the Toledo Plan, some exactly the same.” When asked about the opposition in his home town, Lawrence said “There’s a lot of opposition from a very small group of people, but not from anyone who knows what they are talking about.”
According to Lawrence, he has assisted 15 districts around the country n implementing the program.
Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner welcomed the visitors to Toledo. “Education, education, education … we will not make the world safer, healthier, better unless our children are knowledgeable about what lies ahead of them and we can provide them with the tools to help,” said the mayor in his opening remarks.
“You and the teachers of this country hold the future in your hands,” added Finkbeiner. “Thank you for being teachers. We don’t pay you enough, we don’t give you enough respect.”
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