This is a letter to the editor at the Telegram & Gazette that was published on Monday, April 23, 2012.
I was shocked and saddened by the actions of School Superintendent Melinda Boone at Claremont Academy. Once again, the teachers are the bad guys when in fact it is a combination of many factors. Teachers everywhere have become the scapegoats for society’s ills.
I am a retired teacher, and I know if I were a new teacher I would have sought the door out quickly. Statistics prove this to be true. Teaching to a test (MCAS) is the nuttiest thing that has come down the pike. Can you imagine being a student and having to hear this everyday?
I know the collaborative group is well meaning but they are not educators. Why is it that everyone who went to school considers themselves experts in the classroom? I suggest a day in the classroom for each person of the collaborative.
A few months ago when four so-called underperforming schools were announced in Worcester, Ms. Boone created four new administrative coordinators. A better solution would have been eight new teaching positions and/or classroom aides who are so needed in classrooms (administrator positions are probably twice the salary if not more of two teachers). This administration is top heavy with personnel. Perhaps that should be addressed as well as teaching to the MCAS.
VIRGINIA RYAN
Worcester
