Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Teacher walkouts are intolerable

I didn’t see the note sent home with my child yesterday but my child said, “Our teachers are walking out because they want more money.

What an unnecessary and sad thing to teach our children - that their teachers are no different than the rest of society. If you want something, use whatever you can to force the issue, no matter who is affected.

You have chosen the school yard as your battleground. Is this the example you want to set?

Look around. Whose wage is keeping up with inflation? Mine isn’t and I would not force you to withstand the consequences of my battle. You may or may not deserve a raise; this is not the issue. You’re making the school your battleground.

My child doesn’t know how much I make and shouldn’t be burdened with money worries. Our children have so much to learn and precious little time to do it.

Despite a gnawing feeling the education system as a whole is failing our children, I have shown nothing but respect for our community educators and staff. I instill that respect in my child.

Until today, I trusted and respected you. Now, I must explain your actions to my child. You are crossing the unwritten line, invading the safe haven of our schools with your money battle. You may deserve more money for the job you’re doing. It is a job, however, and you have the right to change jobs.

All teachers who walk out on our children deserve to be replaced with educators who know how to conduct themselves. Susan Bishop Opportunity

Better pay only for better work

I went to the library recently and saw a poster of Gov. Gary Locke asking for volunteers for the Washington Reading Corps for Washington Literacy. At a time when teachers across the state are demanding a pay increase, I thought this poster a bit ironic.

I called the 800 number for further information. The receptionist stated they’re seeking volunteers to “teach children to read.” I asked if this was not the task of a teacher. Yes, but some children don’t get attention, some just slip by and there’s overcrowding. Teachers can’t do it all.

Forty-five years ago, teachers did it all without computers and aides. It was normal to have 30-40 students in every classroom and graduate high school with all needed skills.

Twenty-five years ago, children were taught by a teacher and an aide .

Today, teachers are making good money, working only nine months and still are unable to do their job adequately. So inadequately, the governor must ask for volunteers to do it for them.

What exactly is the purpose of the school system? The three R’s should be the basis of the educational system and all requirements met.

One teacher making $27,000 annually claims he can’t live on it. Most teachers are married, with a working spouse. A 12 percent raise is approximately $3,240 per year. At $30,000, can we expect: 1, fewer children to slip by; or 2, teachers to actually do what they were hired to do.

In any profession, a marked improvement must be shown before monetary rewards are made. Linda Becker Veradale

IN THE REGION

Mayor Hite target of hatchet job

I would like to comment about the article in your paper about Dan Hite, mayor of Springdale.

I have known Dan since I moved here in 1980. I have always found him to be a very caring and honest man who is always willing to give someone a helping hand. He is always doing physical work for the town, using his own equipment at no charge.

There is a conspiracy in this town against the mayor. First, they tried to win the election with illegal votes but were challenged at the polls. Then they challenged their votes being thrown out by the election board. Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker ruled with the mayor. They didn’t like the judge’s decision so they appealed.

I am sure that the process isn’t going fast enough for them, so they came up with these new trumped-up charges.

I have seen the state auditor’s report, which gave Hite a clean bill of health. It states many of the problems were due to turnover and lack of training clerks on the accounting software.

I am not writing to put down the piranha club conspiracy but to let people know what’s really going on. Wayne L. Peterson Springdale

OTHER TOPICS

`Other factors’ bear consideration

Re: “Dam arguments don’t hold water” (Letters, April 10).

Vern P. Stevens discounts the importance of “other factors” that contribute to the demise of salmon runs in the Columbia River system. Unfortunately, Stevens ignores important information.

In his 1968 Ph.D. dissertation (Oregon State University), Dr. Jack M. Van Hyning, a fisheries biologist, disclosed that total catches of Chinook salmon in the Columbia River peaked in 1882, at approximately 20 million kilograms. Furthermore, Van Hyning’s statistics reveal that by 1940, total landings had declined to approximately 10 million kilograms. By 1968, the catch totaled 1 million kilograms.

Van Hyning concluded that “The increase in ocean fishing was the main contributor to the decline of the Columbia River fall Chinook run as shown by correlation, by analogy, and by the process of elimination.” Con H. Schallau Moscow, Idaho

Homework load not the problem

Re: “School kids bring more work home” (April 19).

Some parents are really upset that their darlings have as much as two hours of homework a week. Where did they go to school? When I was in high school (graduating class of 1962), I thought two hours of homework a week was a cinch. I went to the same school district in California.

Maybe if the TV and the computer games were banned until after the homework is done it would be done quicker. Could it be that mom and dad don’t want to spend the time to help? Why is a child not able to do homework? Is the material not explained during class?

In other countries where children go to school year-around and are expected to learn how to read before they leave the beginning grades, no one complains about homework. The only job children have in their younger years is to go to school and learn. Maybe, must maybe, some of the extra electronic toys should be put on a shelf until Johnny or Mary learns to read and add simple numbers. Erika Slama Spokane

Massacre what one could expect

Well, another day, another shooting , more people dead and wounded, more lives wrecked. Moses Lake; Springfield, Ore.; Edinboro, Pa; Jonesboro, Ark.; West Paducah, Ky.; Pearl, Miss; and now, Littleton, Col.

In our state, the news media are heralding the passing of yet another bill that supposedly will curb youth violence by forcing psychiatric exams on youths arrested for possession of a weapon on school property - another quick fix thrown at a problem that Washington state’s and other legislatures don’t want to address. They don’t want to address that because doing so requires that they address what’s going on in schools under education reform - a sacred cow to be protected at all costs, irrespective of loss of life.

In Washington state, in the summer of 1998, a Youth Safety Summit was held, orchestrated and controlled by the governor and office of superintendent of public instruction to ensure the outcome. Although heralded as “public forums” with “public input,” parents and public were never heard from, with so-called representatives from these sectors chosen (appointed) by the governor and OSPI.

As always with issues of this nature, the sacred cows, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, but with detrimental or little to no effect, will be carefully guarded against scrutiny. Yet those doing the protecting are quick to tell us they really care about children.

The killings will continue while state officials wring their hands, legislators pass more costly bills, sacred cows are protected and the obvious is carefully ignored. What a sick joke! Lynn M. Stuter Nine Mile Falls