Board of Education Election
I know absolutely nothing about this race. Seriously couldn’t name a candidate or member of the Board of Education off the top of my head. Sad, I know.
Candidates: (choosing four)
Ellen Toni Childs ~ retired teacher
Keith J. Jones
Otis Mathis ~ substitute teacher
Reverend David Murray *
Ida C. Short ~English instructor (college level)
Marie Thornton
John Chalmers Williams ~ substitute teacher
Jimmy Womack
Just going off related work experience (in other words, who is a teacher), I can quickly narrow my own choices. I am the child of two teachers and know the frustrations that occur when ill-qualified people are telling teachers what to do and how to do it. Heck, I put in a couple years of substitute teaching and let’s just say I have even more respect for teachers. Our children are our future – they will be the most telling reflection of our legacy, of our accomplishments and of our failures. This race should be garnering more attention.
Update: it turns out John Chalmers Williams also has experience with substitute teaching.
I agree with voting for teachers (retired or active). There’s too many inexperienced paper-pushers sitting in those top-spots, getting their through the “I’m your Pal System” when teachers are the ones who know what’s best for the kids and the school system.
I took a day off from work yesterday to help my wife set up her two new kindergarten classrooms and at first blush the work seemed a snap — but as the day progressed and I re-realized how much work is involved, how much begging and borrowing of materials had to be done – because the school budget is so trimmed down, and how much of our own family money (99% of which will never be returned to us) is donated for school materials… you really have to re-think what these teachers do throughout their careers in order to keep children educated and happy.
Yea, both my parents have furnished their classrooms with our hand me downs. Heck, my mom and I once went through my own book collection and pulled out books we thought would be good for her fifth graders. Now my father is an administrator and every day he struggles with finding the funding needed to provide the appropriate services to students. It is sad, sad, sad.
Yea, teachers!
And to think that parents are going to buy videogames for their kids in the coming holiday (at $60 or MORE per game) while at their kid’s schools, they’re sitting at desks and chairs from the 1960’s — it’s bizarre.
I’m bringing in my old computers (after clearing off the hard-drives) and loading them up with educational software. I think parents aren’t involved enough with their children’s schools AND possibly the schools should be a bit more aggressive in asking parents for help.
It just seems like parents send their child off to school and forget they are part of their child’s learning experience. How many parents still read to their child every night? How many sit down with them at the dinner table and watch/help them do homework?
I don’t care how damn busy you are, your child’s education should come first. They should know their alphabet, number and basic reading long before they know how to work a video game.