Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9003310507
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If this slap at teachers were not so cruel and unfair, it would be laughable.
As president of District Three of the VEA, I represent 1,700 education professionals in eight area school divisions, including Floyd County. More than 80 percent of the classroom teachers who work in the public schools of Southwest Virginia are association members. But Mr. Dickerson would have you believe we are outsiders and our organization is a "monster" that has invaded local communities to pursue some selfish and insidious agenda.
I would like to point out that the average VEA member is the same person parents know as their child's teacher. Many of us were born and raised in the communities where we teach. Most of us chose teaching over other, more lucrative, professions because we wanted to work with young people. We all work two shifts every school day: a shift at school and a shift at home preparing for the next school day.
We are the people who devote extra hours and energy to give millions of students the individual attention they need. We also work within our local education associations as well as with VEA and the National Education Association because we know from experience that through these organizations we do promote education in ways that Mr. Dickerson fails to understand.
Mr. Dickerson has singled out and distorted several VEA positions to fit his argument. For example, he characterizes our support of every tenured teacher's right to an objective hearing before being terminated as "working to remove disciplinary authority" from school boards. And when we persuade legislators to provide incentives for localities to raise teacher salaries or provide elementary guidance counselors, he says we are working to "remove local control of schools."
Mr. Dickerson accuses VEA of using its "position of dominance" to force a change in the state's local school budget format. In fact, in this matter - as in many other decisions related to education - the VEA was never involved or even consulted. If we had been, we probably would have agreed with Mr. Dickerson that a reduction in the number of categories was ill-advised.
I fear that when anything happens in education with which he does not agree, Mr. Dickerson will always find a "monster" to blame.
Education is now a common topic of debate in our country. We are glad that civic-minded people at all levels of government, Mr. Dickerson included, are engaged in the debate. The problems education and educators face are of monstrous proportions and cannot - should not - be addressed by educators alone. The VEA is proud that it has done its part to initiate that debate, and its members will continue to be vigorous participants.
While Mr. Dickerson and others like him waste time looking for monsters and insisting that there are simple answers to complex problems, the list of challenges that face our schools continues to grow. Students who are at risk due to substance abuse, poverty, broken homes, learning disabilities and a host of other adaptation problems now make up the majority of our students. Disparity in school funding between poor and rich localities has led to disparity in the quality of education.
In Southwest Virginia, most school divisions have trouble finding the resources to provide even the minimum programs outlined by Virginia's accreditation standards. Few are able to attempt curriculum enhancements or purchase the sophisticated teaching tools that will help students overcome learning problems and achieve a level of cultural literacy sufficient to function in a world that has already shifted from the age of technology into the age of information.
And while this list of challenges continues to grow at a geometric pace, our country faces an impending shortage of qualified teachers. The energy and commitment of every citizen, parent, educator, legislator and local official will be needed to face these challenges. None of us can afford to waste time seeing monsters and looking for scapegoats.\ G. Wade Meredith\ Hillsville
by CNB