Education reform starts at home with parent(s) who give a damn about their chidlren's education and desire to learn; without that it is an uphill battle that no teacher is paid enough for, yet they willingly try every day.

School boards and administrators do need to be held accountable. Just recently our school board threw out a 30 year old, mediated professional agreement which teachers had to fight tooth and nail to get back then.

The SB was led by a conservative attorney who was out to break the union's back. He led the charge in an underhanded, legal-loophole way. As a consequence we are losing the best teachers this district has ever had and will never be able to attract good ones in the future. The SB has chosen to dictate with no input from teachers or parents; in fact they refused to go back to the bargaining table when a mediator was brought in.

All I can say is thank goodness I do not have kids in school anymore, and I hope the hell it gets straightened out for those who do. As far as I am concerned the whole school board should be dumped out of office.

I am the product of a liberally-funded public education, as are my siblings and I am most grateful for it. Teachers need better pay. With morale low and more non-educational duties expected of them, it's no wonder some may seem incompetent. If you were getting low pay for a thankless job and had to listen to every tom, dick, and harry go on about highly-paid teachers, maybe you wouldn't do such a great job, either.

kat