Maybe a solution to the Chicago teacher strike after all, if Mayor Rahm Emmanuel just calls his Hollywood agent brother and they get creative. Although the State of Pennsylvania usually requires all teachers and substitute teachers to be certified, the Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, allowed former sitcom star Tony Danza (Taxi, Who’s the Boss?) to become a tenth grade English teacher for a year at Northeast High, the most populated high school in the city (3,600 students, average 33 per class), without passing the state test. Mr. Danza’s classroom (students volunteered to be taught by him) was filmed in 2009 for the A&E reality show Teach: Tony Danza, the same year the school’s uniform policy was put into place. Mr. Danza, too, wore the required white oxford shirt, khaki pants and school tie.
Although the A&E show was canceled, Mr. Danza continues to promote his professional accomplishments as a celebrity educator. USA Today recently published his editorial “What I Learned Teaching Your Kids,” e.g., “we have to make it cool to be smart.” His book “I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had,” (Crown) will be out this month.
