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Letter to the editor

Teacher discipline out of proportion to incidents

Re: Did board react properly to "monkey" remark? Diane Steinle column, June 5.

No wonder it's so difficult to attract people to teaching. God forbid you say the wrong word in class. You can expect to be hauled into the principal's office, reprimanded and, maybe, suspended. Teaching is not for the fainthearted.

The "wrong" words in the two recent incidents were the F-word and "monkey." The teacher didn't use the F-word first. She repeated it after one of her students said it. The other teacher used "monkey" to describe a student who was resisting being taken to the principal's office. These were regrettable, "I wish I hadn't said that" remarks and, I believe, not reflections of a foul mouth or a racist attitude, for heaven's sake.

So, what would I have done? Private talk with each teacher. Short note in their file. Apology by one to her class and the other to the black child. No suspensions. Good grief. Both teachers are sorry.

The acrimonious challenges to apparent inequities in the suspensions of the two teachers seem worse than what caused all of this. At least the teachers really didn't mean what they said. A couple of School Board members apparently do.

But my question is, what kind of punishment was given to those students who caused all of this? It seems to me that the student is supported and defended more than the teacher. Think about it. One child angrily used the F-word out loud in class, and the other was so disruptive in class he had to be carried - carried! - to the principal's office. Their behavior was deliberate and disgraceful. And the teachers get suspended. Ridiculous.

The best question, though, is "Who's in charge here?"

Lack of education is real issue in schools

Re: Did board react properly to "monkey" remark?Diane Steinle column, June 6.

I'll tell you what I would have done when the one teacher said the F-word and the other one called a student "monkey." I would have immediately taken my kids out of the school and put them in a private school until, and if, this politically correct nonsense ever comes to an end. Most children are little monkeys regardless of whether they're black or white.

In the other case, if the student already had said the F-word , then what the heck is the difference if the teacher says the word to attempt to reaffirm what the teacher thought he or she heard?

Why is this crap even an issue? Why don't people worry about the fact that their children aren't getting educated properly for the amount of property taxes they are having to pay for the state to "educate" them? Wake up!

Sometimes a term isn't meant to be bigoted

Re: Did board react properly to "monkey" remark? Diane Steinle column, June 6.

I have on occasion referred to my granddaughter as "a little monkey." Not being educated in the ways of bigotry, I would define "a monkey" as a precocious child. Apparently, to some people, my definition is wrong.

Teacher Geoffrey Nelson thought the comment could be misinterpreted and apologized. I wonder what definition the board is promoting by Mr. Nelson's suspension? The board should be much more concerned with a teacher who doesn't react better to the use of the F-word in a classroom situation.

Everyone is responding appropriately to remark

Re: Did board react properly to "monkey" remark? Diane Steinle column, June 6.

No, no one has!

Neither the School Board, the press nor the black public is reacting sensibly. Ask any parent or grandparent who has carried or held a squirming child and note the percentage that has said at one time or another, "You little monkey." I will wager it will be greater than 80 percent.

I was a member of a six-child family, have raised six children and am now enjoying the development of six grandchildren, and have used or experienced the phrase, "Hold still, you little monkey," hundreds of times. When a child is squirming to escape or climb up your legs or chest, there is no better or more descriptive address than, "You monkey."

So, let's get on with the serious matters in our society rather then spend time and news space on immaterial issues.

School Board member, not teacher, has problem

I agree 100 percent with the School Board. Teacher Geoffrey Nelson is completely innocent of all charges.

On the other hand, it's School Board member Mary Brown who is the bigoted troublemaker. She evidently has a special agenda.

Back page shows us there is hope for future

Re: The best of the best, listing of top high school scholars, May 24.

After you've read about the car chases, arrests and some of the mindless and impertinent effluvia that precedes it in your local news section, take 10 minutes or so and read the Top of the Class material on the back page. (The Top of the Class page is printed on Tuesdays.)

How refreshed, hopeful and proud you will feel about the teens on this page! You feel that things will be okay someday with these teens showing the way. They'll be out there with us and carrying on beyond us. There is hope, folks - it's just not what sells papers.

You know, I carp about a lot of things I see, hear and read. My only beef here is that this should have been on the front page of the section.

By the way, just guessing, but I'll bet there isn't a tattoo to be found on the bunch, and pierced ears are exclusive to the ladies. Carp, carp, carp.

Story didn't require specifics on EMS drugs

Re : Veteran medic accused of stealing drug, story, May 21.

The Times had no business revealing the drugs carried by our paramedics. The reporter could have written the entire story and been just as effective without mentioning this powerful drug.

Now are we going to read about EMS units being held up for the contents of their drug box? I feel there have been many articles written in the past that perhaps contain information the public doesn't need to know in such detail.

[Last modified June 7, 2005, 02:15:48]