West student paper spoofs teacher union

By Scott Russell

of The Capital Times, Madison WI

In a spoof worthy of The Onion, a West High School newspaper has lampooned the leadership of the Madison teachers union.

According to the Nov. 11 issue of The Liberator, an alternative school paper, Madison Teachers Inc. has hired a new negotiator: Borflax, arch-demon from the seventh pit of hell and "Plague to all Good."

Editor James Norton, a senior, said the inspiration for Borflax came from his recent reading of Dante's Inferno.

The article announced a number of new "phases" to the teachers job action. In Phase V, school administrators would be plagued with unsightly bolls. Under Phase VI, locusts would swam the school cafeteria. The list continues on to Phase X, when the teachers would flnally go on strike.

The article was not meant as an editorial on the teachers union as much as a humor piece, Norton said.

"We wanted to generate some laughs," he said.

Norton credits West Students Brennan Connors with the idea for the article and Alex McMahon for writing it.

Since the teachers began to cut back on their non-contractual work, the biggest change at West has been the attitude and the tension between teachers and administrators, Norton said.

"We wish this thing were over," he said. "But if the paper were going to take sides, it would side with the teachers."

West High School has three student newspapers: The Regent Review, the official school paper, The Liberator and The Westword, another alternative paper. The Liberator began running about a year ago and has a circulation of 500, Norton said.