Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Walkouts are not the way

After reading the April 24 article about Cenral Valley schoolteachers’ walkout, a few questions arose in my outrage.

First, when Bridget Hocutt committed herself to a college-degree-required profession, where did she ever get the notion that she would be granted a first year salary to simultaneously have a baby, put her husband through college and save money to buy a house? Given the cold,hard reality that we are entering a highly competitive global economy, this is unreasonable to expect in both the private sector and certainly in finite state budgets.

My second concern is twofold: Double standard attendance policies and a twisted conflict resolution lesson. Is it not true that these same teachers enforce attendance? Perhaps it’s to the effect that either we get our way or we just won’ t show up to class. That’s akin to a teacher version of “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off.” I pity the unfortunate student who is supposed to be getting ready for the real world by this example.

Like it or not, Spokane-area teachers already have a salary schedule that is highly competitive for this region’s economy. To resort to such faulty thinking and tactics for a pay raise is an insult to a profession that is noble and should be a class act. Jeff R. Brown Spokane

Do not resort to blackmail

I am totally amazed at the manner in which the teachers of our state are going about requesting a 15 percent raise, at the expense of the children. I see so many interviews where the teachers state how they love their jobs and are so happy to be able to teach all the wonderful children. That opinion seems to vanish when the circumstances change to greed instead of purpose.

I’m sure many teachers are dedicated and deserve more money, just as I am sure there are also many teachers who graduated from college because they became too big for the seats. There was a time when diplomas were given out in college, as in high schools, to hide the fact that students were not learning and to hide that fact from the Department of Education. It took many years but that system has finally been recognized and is now slowly being corrected.

I only wish that all teachers were given a competency test to sort out the educated from the rest, and then give raises to the really deserving ones. It isn’t a situation where the teachers are living in poverty at the present time. They still receive a liveable wage, get paid for the entire year and have many more fringe benefits than the majority receive.

Teachers also knew what the average salary was when they elected to pursue teaching as a career. All they are doing at present is pursue a course of blackmail. They are asking for too much. Paul G. Henderson Spokane

We need beltway instead of freeway

The proposed north-south freeway is a big waste of taxpayer money and when finished would funnel traffic onto a two-lane highway on the north side of town.

A much better choice would be to build a beltway around the city to divert traffic from congested areas to their destinations. The beltway would hook up with major north-south highways, east-west highways and Interstate 90.

For traffic into downtown and congested areas, more thought should be put into a possible light-rail system and building more bicycle corridors leading into town from all areas of the city.

Then let’s put all our resources into where they are most needed: widening Highway 395 to four lanes north of Spokane. Joe A. Machala Spokane

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Times, teachers’ duties have changed

Linda Becker (Letters, April 23) questioned the need for volunteers to help teach children to read. She stated that “45 years ago, teachers did it all without computers and aides.”

I’m thinking the reason teachers could teach without aides 45 years ago is because special-needs children, who need more attention, weren’t mainstreamed. Also, could it be that teachers are using time trying to keep the classroom calmed down?

Forty-five years ago, if a teacher had problems with students, the students would be sent to the principal’s office and that would be that.

Becker also said it was normal to have 30-40 students in each classroom and “graduate high school with all needed skills.” Is that why more and more middle-aged adults are turning to adult basic education to learn to read?

Yes, 25 years ago there were teacher’s aides. That’s when teachers lost their rights to control and discipline, and children were given their rights. Today’s teachers deserve a raise just for being brave enough to walk into their classrooms. And no, I’m in no way connected to the teaching profession. Mary Enders Spokane

Address student safety issues here

The recent wave of school violence makes many students my age wonder if school is a place where they can be safe.

Another major concern is the safety measures our schools implement. District 81 officials release statements to the public that Spokane students have nothing to fear but I can argue otherwise. Schools do not require a person to identify him- or herself as a student or faculty member. We lack the technology to detect harmful objects such as guns, knives or even worse, explosives.

With each story of school violence, students become more and more unnerved.

I suggest that certain resolutions exist that District 81 can take in order to ensure the safety of a school’s student body.

First and foremost, we need to have law enforcement officers in the schools. Authority figures are often intimidating and help keep order in any environment.

Second, we must equip our schools with metal detectors to stop weapons from even being brought into the building. Detectors have proven effective in districts that have mandated their use.

Finally, I propose that public schools require the use of uniforms. This step would make it impossible to conceal a weapon and impossible to enter a school building unidentified.

Adults claim that our schools provide a safe environment conducive to learning, but until the students feel the same way, changes ought to be made. Ashley R. Smithson, age 16 Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Broadcasters reap what they sowed

Re: “Radio broadcasters targeted in lawsuits,” (April 21).

This was the inevitable outcome in radio business dealings as soon as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which permitted corporations to own as many as eight radio stations in one market, came into law. Radio is a business, a very greedy, cutthroat business where station owners beating others out of millions is their way of saying hi.

Look no further than the Republican-controlled House and the easily bought off Federal Communications Commission as to why these corporations can own so many stations and and move so much money around. The former owners of KCDA and KEZE have nobody else to blame but themselves. Karey Lawrence Cheney

Bad time, place for guns ad

If it were not such an insensitive and inappropriate act, it might be seen as ironic that the April 23 edition of The Spokesman-Review had inserted a large advertisement for a firearms business on a page with a headline of “School massacre,” full of stories related to the recent tragedy in Littleton, Colo. The ad features great sales on all firearms, its entire stock of ammunition and accessories.

Please have more sensitivity to your readers as we try to somehow process the overwhelming horror of this event. Those of us who are sickened at the level of gun violence in this country don’t appreciate such ads boldly placed within such a context. Angela D. Petro Spokane