Letter to Maggie Gyllenhaal RE "Won't Back Down"

Just posted this on Maggie Gyllenhaal's Fan Page: I regret to say that you have lost the respect of many people who admired you by not only taking a role in "Won't Back Down" but then defending the movie's message. It pains me a great deal to say this, because I knew your mother when we were both in college and because you spoke at an art auction of the school where my wife Liz is principal, but taking in a role in a film financed by Philip Anchutz and supporting legislation supported by the American Legislative Exchange Council is something that no progressive person I know can understand. Worse yet, your movie has made teachers around the country feel more embattled, more attacked, at a time when teacher morale is the lowest in recorded history. This is a time when people of conscience should be standing with teachers against powerful interests who are trying to privatize our public education. Unfortunately, you have stood with the billionaires against the teachers, while seeming to speak in behalf of parents. The only hope for public education is for parents and teachers to unite as they did in the Chicago Teachers Strike. Supporting parent trigger legislation which pits parents against teachers is exactly the wrong move at this historic moment. Please tell your mother, Naomi, what I just said. And tell her to contact me if she wants to talk