Just say ‘no’

To the editor:

Imagine for a moment that you are a first-grade teacher. How many kids do you think you could manage? How many kids could you keep in their seats, regulate their trips to the bathroom, make sure they get their snacks, get them lined up and to the lunchroom, keep them from hitting or tormenting their fellow classmates, keep their pencils sharpened, keep them quiet, etc.? Oh, and while you are doing this, you need to teach them how to read, write, spell, math, science, basic skills, etc.  I think I could handle eight or 10 kids, maybe.

Under Florida’s current constitutional amendment, a first-grade teacher may have up to 18 children in their class. Wow! I give all of you first-grade teachers a pat on the back for handling that many 6-year-olds (this goes for pre-K through third grade, too). If you vote Yes on Amendment 8 this November, you will allow school administrators (the people at school who don’t have to put up with and teach the kids all day long, five days a week) to make 18 an average, rather than a maximum, and they can increase the class size for pre-K to third grade to 21 kids.

Sure, that will save money and give them more “flexibility.” But what will that do to our children’s education? It certainly won’t make it any better and I argue that it will make it worse. If we want a strong America, we need better-educated kids so they can be better-educated adults, and that won’t happen by giving the teachers more kids to take care of and teach. Let’s make it a priority to find the funding to give our children the best education possible.

Also, think about how many kids out of a class of 18 have ADD, behavioral problems, diabetes, or some other physical or mental disability that may require special attention from the teacher. This takes away from their time to devote to the education of the other children. The answer isn’t to separate those kids into different classes. It is to allow the teachers to have small enough classes that they can deal with them and provide a quality education for all of them.

For those of you with older children, the current law states that no more than 22 kids can be in grade 4-8 classes and no more than 25 students can be in grade 9-12 classes. Voting Yes on Amendment 8 this November will increase those class maximums to 27 and 30 students, respectively. I chose to use first grade as an example because I have a child in a public school first-grade class and I know what goes on in the class, not because I am a teacher, but because I have an amazing wife who actively participates in our child’s education and because my mom, sister and friends are teachers. Please be active in your child’s education and vote No on Amendment 8 so we don’t worsen our education system.  

Lee Taylor
St. Cloud

Missing the point

Editor’s note: This re-sponse was originally submitted to the News-Gazette on Aug. 12. Due to editorial policies regarding election timing and the timing of multiple submissions by the same author, the publication of this response was delayed until now.

To the editor:

This is a response to Cindy Hartig’s letter of Aug. 12.

My letter of Aug. 5 (“Osceola School Board — Right and Wrong”) was not really about Cindy Hartig. It certainly wasn’t about good or evil. My letter was about the judgment of the people we elect to represent us.

To my understanding, Cindy is either not up for election this year or she is running unopposed. So my letter was really about Nancy Gemskie running against Jay Wheeler for the Osceola County School Board seat 1. That is why I only communicated with Nancy rather than Cindy prior to submitting my letter to the editor.

I think that Nancy demonstrated poor judgment by associating herself with “Osceola School District — Children, Inc.,” however well-intentioned. In my opinion, either Nancy should have persuaded Cindy to change the name of the company before it was formed (since it is not at all affiliated with the Osceola School District) or she should have declined Cindy’s offer to sit on the board with the name as is.

Contrary to what Cindy wrote, as of today (Aug. 12, 2010) and according to the official State of Florida corporate records website (Sunbiz.org), “Osceola School District — Children, Inc.” is still an active corporation.

Perhaps Cindy filed the paperwork to dissolve this company, but that’s not what the public record shows.

George Shiro
Harmony