Last month, KUNR published a one-on-one interview with Rep. Mark Amodei (R–Nev.), who represents Nevada’s District 2.
He addressed criticism he’s received over his stance against holding general town hall meetings, arguing they’re expensive and often devolve into political attacks. Amodei said he prefers to meet with constituents to discuss specific issues.
As an example, he pointed to a recent episode where he encountered a group of Washoe County School District teachers outside his Reno office:
“What I've told people outside of my office, that were getting ready to picket, I go, ‘What's your issue?’
“‘It's education.’”
“‘Well, wait a minute, my education guy's in the office right now, let me call him. Called him in front of a group of teachers and said, ‘Hey, there's some folks out here who want to talk about education issues. Can you take them into the conference room and see what their issues are, or whatever?’”
“‘Yeah.’”
“So I said, ‘Go on in. He's expecting you.’”
McQueen High School teacher Mario Fitzpatrick was one of the teachers there that day, and reached out to KUNR after he heard Amodei’s interview to offer additional context to their encounter.
What follows is a transcript of Fitzpatrick’s conversation with KUNR’s Bert Johnson, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Mario Fitzpatrick: So this was March 19, so it was during our spring break from Washoe County Schools. And given the conversation around education at the federal level, at that time, we felt that it was appropriate that we reach out, and at the very least, set up a meeting for a group of educators to talk about some of the things that were being discussed in Washington. Although we didn't have plans to necessarily picket, we were just going to walk in and hope for an audience with the congressman. We spent about 20 minutes inside discussing with his aide. Unfortunately, he just didn't have a lot of answers for us, but he assured us at that point that he could set up a meeting for us to, at some point later on, meet with the Congressman himself and really discuss these issues.
Bert Johnson: At this point we’re, what, almost two months down the road. Have you been able to meet with Congressman Amodei?
Fitzpatrick: Unfortunately, no. When Congress was in recess in April, we headed down, back to his office after school, to voice our concerns — and frankly, our frustration that nobody was even returning our calls or our emails. And then last Thursday, I called. And as of [May 6] we are yet to hear anything set up from Congressman Amodei’s office.
Johnson: What are you hoping to discuss?
Fitzpatrick: Really, our concern on the national level is that a lot of our most vulnerable students get the financial support that comes from the federal government — for students who have [Individualized Education Programs], students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, in supportive Title I funding. And we were concerned. A: was that money just going to go away, like we've seen in other departments? Or B: If it's going to be shifted to another department, is there going to be a disruption in the flow of that money to states, and then ultimately on to the school districts and the schools themselves?
Johnson: Looking ahead, when you hopefully get to speak with Congressman Amadei about some of these issues, what are some concrete steps he could take to help protect the interests of teachers and their students?
Fitzpatrick: We realize that Congress right now is debating a big spending bill. You know, if there are dramatic cuts to education funding that are going to impact students with disabilities or students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, we want to know if there's a plan to supplement that money from somewhere else. I think that we deserve to know the answers to these questions, that are going to have real consequences if things change in a dramatic way from the funding perspective. We are the ones who are going to be impacted. It's not the people in Washington.
