THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996                TAG: 9601040143
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

IT'S TIME TO HOLD EDUCATORS RESPONSIBLE

I moved to Virginia Beach in June 1995. I am amazed at the lack of education evinced by the ``education'' leaders in this city that I want to and have begun to call home.

Fortunately, I am the product of private school education. Consequently, although the firm for which I worked ``downsized'' and reduced employees and locations, I am able to continue to live debt-free because I understand the requirements for living within my means (savings) while I search for appropriate employment. I know that I must carefully husband my resources, eliminate all extraneous expenses, and maintain all necessities.

These ``uneducated'' educators have accomplished the opposite of these requirements. Teaching staff, curricular materials, and all items relating directly to students are the necessities. Personnel in the central office are the extraneous expenses. These people are unnecessary. If three-fourths of them were eliminated, the students would not recognize the difference. These ``educators'' have made the cuts to do the most damage - in those areas impacting directly on the students.

Why not remove the entire School Board, eliminate every central office staff member above the level of director, reprimand those former board members who prepared and approved the 1994-95 budget, and balance the current budget? The School Board members are not totally ignorant people and, therefore, weren't totally ignorant of the impending disaster. No one is willing to admit recognizing this disaster and remaining quiescent in every sense of that word.

Now, this board wants ``to turn the hen house over to the weasels.'' Dear me, someone must clean out this mess. Every staff member above director and every School Board member must be held responsible.

Those at the top of the feeding chain, named in this paragraph, are responsible for this mess and have escaped penance; those at the bottom of the feeding chain, students and teachers, are not responsible for this mess and have paid penance. What does this teach students about being responsible for behavior and place on the feeding chain?

Margaret Kendall

Virginia Beach by CNB