Teachers Sound Off

According to one retired Coast teacher.
Test scores rule

As a recently retired Coast teacher, I can tell you that the only motivation for superintendents and their districts is test score results. Teaching children to think and be creative is not an issue. Teaching for the spring test begins the first day of the school year, and that is the yearlong learning theme of all classrooms. The joys of teaching, and the joys of learning, have been taken away.

Another teacher critizes the budget cuts
Cuts will cost

I am a local public school teacher and worry that parents don’t realize the effect the budget cuts will have on our children. Possible cuts could include the loss of lead teachers, assistant principals, resource officers, teaching assistants, special education programs, extracurricular activities, and school days. There are between 27 and 30 children per room in most schools and these numbers are expected to increase. These cuts are coming. I don’t need to have technology, chalk boards, books, paper, pencils or desks, but is that how you want your child to learn? Is your child going to be safe when there are no security personnel on campus? This kind of school was OK when you were a child, but in today’s society I would wonder. What do you want for your child? You no longer have a choice, because this is what your school is being forced to become.

Another retired teacher offers a solution
Cut administration

I was a teacher for 25 years and the “cuts will cost” Sound Off hit home with me. Perhaps for the wrong reasons. When began school there was a teacher in every classroom and each school had a principal and a secretary. That’s all. I don’t remember the number of people in the superintendent’s office but I don’t think it was more than five. There were about 30 children in each classroom and by all indications, our teachers did a fine job of educating students. Now there are lead teachers, assistant principals, resource officers, special education program directors and heaven knows the multitudes in the superintendent’s office! The schools today are over-administered. Perhaps a budget cut will cut some administrative positions.