"He was never, ever considered a teacher.”
That's a church leader from upstate New York talking to The New York Times about her memories of Mark Kirk's stint as a work study student.
“He was just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person,” Sally Grubb, a member of the administrative council at Forest Home Chapel said.
Kirk claimed to have taught nursery school there. Last week The Times investigative unit looked into Kirk's claims -- delivered in a speech to the Illinois Education Association -- that he was once a teacher. The recent quote comes from a follow-up story.
At the time The Times couldn't verify the information -- the nursery school didn't have records, and Milestone College, the other institution where he supposedly taught closed in 1993.
In speaking on the floor of the United States House of Representatives on Sept. 19, 2006, Kirk called himself a teacher and spoke of conferring with "fellow teachers" in the wake of a school shooting.
But the new comments seem to torpedo his claim.
Kirk declined to talk about his teaching history today as he left an endorsement session with the Illinois Education Association.
Politics
When asked about his history he said “not doing anything today.”
