Letters to the Editor for the week of 9/2/2010

Dear Editor:
Your opinion of the teacher tenure system is spot on. Tenure was a 19th century invention designed by university trustees to retain what they defined as effective professors. How this translates into an elementary school teacher attaining a level of “presumptive permanence” is beyond me, and defies reason. As you accurately pointed out, no other profession in any other industry enjoys such a presumption.
What we have in public education is inherently flawed. Where these state and local government employees should exist at the pleasure of the taxpayer (versus a board of trustees or generous donors), these career positions have become another entitlement that exists within the system compliments of 50 years of teachers’ union intervention and their political partners in crime. The outcome of this can only be, and always is, mediocrity.
While there is certainly merit in our new class of board members’ agenda to “go after under-performing educators”, it is important that they use a measurable way of judging performance that does not rely solely on student performance. In a private sector situation, a worker is judged by his or her production, or the production and efficiency of those under him. The difference is most of these people strongly desire to maintain or improve profitability thus ensuring retention. How many 15-16-year-old kids really want to be in school? There is a built-in percentage that fights the education process all the way through. Teachers cannot be held solely responsible for student performance: everyone has an equal role here, not the least of which is the parents.
Let us not forget the large number of administrators who appear to enjoy the hands-off nature of their six-figure-a-year gigs. People are very quick to blame teachers for missed student performance milestones, but our administrator roles are fat, often left out of the discussion, yet are a disproportionately large part of the problem. And not to mention your example of sports coaches who get fired for a team’s poor season: I saw the color photo on page 1A last week of the HS football team. I counted 10 coaches. 10! That’s not only 10 stipends we are funding for a mediocre (sorry guys) team, but six-figures for the head coach, thanks to tenure, in spite of an abysmal performance record.
Yes, editor, tenure needs to go. Replace it with a practical and fair performance evaluation process and apply the responsibility to administrators and parents as well. This problem does not lie solely at the feet of our educators.

Brian K. Robertson

Dear Editor:
Mr. G. David is at it again and his foolishness never ceases to amaze me. According to him, if not for govt., corps. would do nothing but kill, maim and abuse its employees, the environment and citizens. Ohhhh, thank God for govt. is his mantra, what a FOOL he is! As far as Obama trying to do away with the Bill of Rights, well I will explain it to you G. David in a way that you and other Liberals can understand, if that is possible. PRESBO, being from the corrupt Chicago machine is street smart. Even he is not bold enough to have a frontal assault on our freedoms as you imply. That is what Obamanomics, Obamacare, Financial Deform and Cap and Trade is all about. Grow govt. which limits freedom. The ironic thing is, he is going to fail miserably at his attempt to do away with our freedoms and turn us into looking like Europe, which I am confident is disturbing to G. David and othe leftists.
Another disturbing fact to the left is even now Democrats in Congress are beginning to say extending the Bush tax cuts is a good idea. So now we have this fact, the bloated govts. in Europe failing because of excessive debt and the fact that Keynisan economics does not work. When will the Left admit govt. does nothing well when it comes to economics, especially when there is so many facts, which by the way the Left absolutely hates (facts that is)? If big govt. is the answer then how did America in just over 200 yrs. become the envy of the world and not a European country? Please answer that question Mr. G. David! I ask again, G. David were you not able to make it in the free market based on your ability and talents without the help of government?

Bill Cagle


Dear Editor:
It has been a week since our beloved dog, Popcorn, was fatally wounded from an unknown source around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, August 22, in our residential neighborhood off Big Creek Road. Despite an investigation by the sheriff’s department, we have no suspects, few clues and can’t be sure if our devastating shock and grief were caused by the shooter’s reckless, careless or malicious behavior.
Poppy was momentarily let off the leash to explore the quiet, uninhabited woods across from our cabin, no differently than on other occasions. This time, she emerged following a muffled shot, a yelp and small but deadly wounds on both sides of her lean belly.
We clung to the hope that emergency surgery could pull her through, but the internal damage was too severe — her sweet life of just over seven years ending on the operating room table. She is survived by Peanut, her littermate, who must wonder when her constant companion will return home.
It feels like our pup was a casualty of war — the battle against those who insist on deploying deadly weapons without taking the proper precautions — or worse, who are too ignorant or immoral to care that they have frivolously murdered a vital member of someone’s family. We have since become aware that such occurrences are not that rare throughout Gilmer and surrounding counties.
Poppy will not have died completely in vain if just one person reads this and takes the opportunity to observe and stress to others the importance of careful, legal and appropriate use of even the smallest-caliber firearm. Maybe someone will even have the courage and conscience to come forward and take responsibility for the irreparable damage inflicted upon our family and neighborhood.

Paul and Dana Joffe

Dear Editor:
As a former high school teacher in Missouri, I fully agree that some “bad teachers” can be found even in good schools. However, it troubles me that you complain about the need to “prepare evidence and documentation to prove” that one is a bad employee, [because] “that gets to be time consuming and burdensome with hearings and appeals”. Your proposed solution of “simply looking at the year-end scores with some degree of subjective interpretation offered by the principal” is truly naive....

See the print edition for the rest of this and other Letters to the Editor.