ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280044
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
STUDENT truancy is of growing concern to public-school officials in the Roanoke area and elsewhere, and for good reason. It's known to indicate increased likelihood of dropping out of school and engaging in delinquent behavior, for one thing. For another, kids who regularly skip school aren't getting the education they need.
Just as clearly, their education also is hampered if their teachers play hooky. In Richmond, school officials are having to deal now with chronic absenteeism among teachers as well as among students. That city's teachers, it seems, are missing class at about triple the statewide average.
Now get this:
Recently, Richmond schools Superintendent Patricia Conn denied teachers' request that she declare a special school holiday so the teachers could attend the upcoming Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament in Winston-Salem.
In response, some teachers reportedly bragged openly to students that they intended to go to the tournament no matter what Conn said.
That's some - not all teachers, of course. Most teachers are dedicated to their profession and their responsibilities. Nevertheless, it's disappointing that teachers would even request a holiday to attend a basketball game. (That's right: We continue to believe school is more important than basketball.)
And it's a heck of a lesson for even a few paragons of classroom virtue to be teaching kids: Don't feel obliged to get to school if doing so interferes with having a good time. Forget the rules, and never mind what authorities say. Just don't show up if it doesn't suit you. Hoops-de-do.
It's bad enough that lots of parents foster this attitude among children, helping them cook up phony excuses if they don't want to go to school.
It is outrageous that some professional educators would devalue the importance both of schooling and of showing up for the job you're paid to do. They not only wink at truancy - they set an example that encourages it.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB