Letters for Sept. 2, 2024

Kids deserve the best

I attended the Cheney School Board meeting Aug. 21. The final speaker spoke with such disrespect for Cheney teachers, it was both inappropriate and unproductive. Pep talks about unity in the context of disrespect have little impact. He focused on short commute times as substitutes for pay and working conditions adequate to retain the best teachers for the kids. Our schools and our teachers are located throughout the county, not just Cheney. The internal commute is irrelevant. This is not about convenience for teachers but success for students.

The district in recent years has chosen to allocate funds, which should have gone to district support of instruction, to a central administration which is both elaborate and quite competitively compensated, and to activities some characterize as fluff. Other districts put those funds into instructional activities, leaving Cheney behind and a less attractive place to work. Class sizes, caseloads and lack of instructional and student support lead to teacher burnout and the inability to give students adequate support. Having replaced one-seventh of the certificated personnel this year is not a point of pride but a warning sign that the kids are losing the help of the best teachers.

Time for significant changes to get back into a competitive position regarding both salaries and working conditions or continue to lose teachers to neighboring districts and to burnout. Does the district want to be a “destination district” or a steppingstone district” where the best leave? The kids deserve the best.

Niel Zimmerman

Cheney