LETTERS: Teacher's missive is required reading - Opinion

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Dec. 11, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LETTERS: Teacher's missive is required reading

To the editor:

Hip-hip hooray to Eldorado High School teacher Joan Parks for writing -- and the Review-Journal for publishing -- a common-sense but hard-hitting critique of the Clark County School District ("Baby-sitting, bureaucracy carry the day," Sunday Viewpoints section).

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My only suggestion would be that her missive be placed on the front page of the Review-Journal and that her observations and thoughts be featured on local radio talk shows and TV news segments. How much can the public take before the populace revolts from the utter mismanagement and the resulting failure of our local education system?

Please, do not lay the blame for this abject failure on already-overburdened teachers. The blame for wasted money (by the bushel basket) and lost talent of too many precious youngsters rests in the hands of a school district bureaucracy that has grown so bloated it can no longer see the bigger picture.

Excess bureaucracy is exposed, starting in the third paragraph of Ms. Parks' op-ed. Imagine, if you will, the number of non-teaching administrators and staff that it takes to fill the offices of the school district's "Taj Mahal" on West Sahara Avenue. Add to that the administrators and staff for the six regions. By Ms. Parks' count, each high school has from 11 to 19 non-teaching administrators plus a plethora of support staff. With all of that non-teaching manpower, the teachers are required to act as hall monitors and keep an eye on their incoming classes.

There is so much more to comment on, but my last criticism rests in the policy of moving underperforming children to the next grade level. This is criminal. This is a policy that turns potential into dependency. It morphs a future productive contributor to society into a future parasite.

Ron Ecklund

HENDERSON

Art museum

To the editor:

In response to your Dec. 4 article, "Director removes herself from art museum's financial woes":

As a resident and artist in Las Vegas for 16 years, I've closely observed the growth of the Las Vegas Art Museum. It grew despite its continuous failure to attract sufficient members of our population. The bottom line is that it grew only because Las Vegas grew.

The artists in Las Vegas are hungry for places to hang and display their works for the public to see. However, they want their work seen by the general public and not just other artists who bring their families and friends.

The Las Vegas Art Museum is in need of a new, dynamic and comprehensive approach to reach its potential in order to survive and grow the arts in Las Vegas. It needs a change of attitude much more than it needs money. It needs to understand the artist and also the public.

Sam Chinkes

LAS VEGAS

No quick bailout

To the editor:

I don't think the public at large understands how or when any federal public works improvements are going to help solve the current crisis. This isn't 1930.

Assuming Congress could even agree to allocate some billions of dollars this year, the question that remains is how does that money flow into the public works sector? The congressional budget cycle will take until next year before those funds could be released. This is not a bailout.

Each jurisdiction will have to submit its justifications, scope of work, cost and schedules to the funding source. Each bureaucracy will have its own time line to respond. When and if money is then allocated, there will be bids for engineering services, and when those items are complete, then construction services will go to bid.

So, possibly sometime in 2011, construction may start on some of the bigger projects. Because the Democrats are in charge, mostly union contractors will benefit from the new job creation.

I don't see how this is going to help some laid-off auto worker. Wrong union.

Edward Meigs

LAS VEGAS

Scenic run

To the editor:

In response to Sunday's Las Vegas Marathon, I write to complain about the routing of this momentous event.

If the "half marathon" is up the Strip and back again, wouldn't a full marathon be up and back two times?

But no, it has to be run off the Strip, out through scenic Las Vegas. North on Martin Luther King Boulevard (inspiring), then west on Carey Avenue (awesome), then south on Torrey Pines Drive (wow, what scenery), then east on Twain Avenue (breathtaking), and finally crossing under Interstate 15 to the finish line. Wow.

Now, to the road closures. Not to worry, our officials only inconvenience the locals in my area (Torrey Pines and Desert Inn Road) for 71/2 hours. That's right, race fans, from 5 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the road is closed.

Really, isn't there a better place to run the marathon?

Bill Wilderman

LAS VEGAS

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Sad Summerlin wrote on December 11, 2008 08:14 PM: Oh "teacher"... again you don't fail to be right on target for your blather... Let me spell it out for you... Bill W said " our officials only inconvenience the locals in my area" ... If I could emphasize the MY I would have... MY AREA. ONLY AFFECTED ME AND MY AREA!!! Run it somewhere else... don't affect me... If that is not the definition of self-centered thinking, I don't know what is... please educate me then to something different... unfortunately, I don't think you are competent enough to do so. Now as to your first paragraph... if you want to bring up yesterday... I was the one assaulting UNIONS for not providing you empowerment to make changes to better your jobs... I FIRMLY believe teachers need to be involved and empowered... which is exactly what I am supporting below... but you attack me and the RJ for attacking teachers... Obviously... if you believe you need more say in your classroom I would support you 100%. I also am against you losing expenses for supplies... but you are so wrapped up in a woe-is-me attitude that you attack the RJ editors and I first and then say I speak out of both sides of my mouth when I have been consistent... I have told you in the past that you have excellent ideas that need to be heard, but they are hidden amongst your whines and gripes... HERE's a deal... I will not use the word whine in a post directed at you, if you can remember that not everyone that has an opinion on the school issues is anti-teacher... I am far from it... teacher wrote on December 11, 2008 05:31 PM: Again, SS, tell me where I've said something that isn't supported by the evidence I see daily in my classroom. Tell me how empowering teachers to help change the system, as I mentioned in the last post you attacked, isn't a suggestion for improvement, while you say right here that teachers need to be involved in decision-making, too. But if I say that, it's "whining," is it? Others who complain about various school issues are somehow helping, not "whining." How about we focus on issues instead of personal vendettas, since you're so big on working together? I'm still waiting to hear where I'm wrong. Incidentally, a marathon can be held in this city without closing down its major thoroughfare. And revenue and publicity also come from tourists who are terribly inconvenienced by this. But Bill Wilderman is self-centered, according to you. It must be wonderful to be you - so sure of yourself that you feel absolutely content about passing judgment on any differing opinion - or even opinions that are in agreement with yours - and indulging in personal insults. Your genius (at talking out of both sides of your mouth) and "let's work together" (at insulting those we don't like) style really impress and inspire me. Sad Summerlin wrote on December 11, 2008 04:02 PM: Bill Wilderman - A 7 hour road closure is nothing compared to the revenue and publicity the Marathon brings to our city. Any city that deals with public parades, marathons, Grand Prix etc, has to deal with some road closures in order to get the revenue from the event... Basically what you are saying is... please run the marathon so I can get the benefit, but don't do it in my backyard... A nice continuing trend of the self-centered folk in Southern Nevada... Chuck De Vore wrote on December 11, 2008 04:01 PM: Teachers must be allowed to teach. Administrators are to do the public relations, disipline, check the outcome of the education, and keep the school on an even plain. Many can not do that successfully however and should be judged by the teachers they over see and dismissed. Teachers who do not teach should be dismissed also. Parents of students should send a student to school that can learn, well behaved, awake, well feed, emotionally stable and a welling to learn applicant. All can help the program and should sit down an discuss the whole process from the ground up. "Readin, ritten, and rathmatic" where and still are the first essentials in education picture, so start there in first grade and teach the essentials how to read, how to spell, how to add, subract, how to write, in English readable compositions and then at a higher level get into broader subject areas, but get the essentials first reading, writting and math, by hand, no computers, no calculators, just paper, pencil and reading books. Require tests to be passed and levels of progress met before advancment. Students progress on their ability. Not everyone needs to be a college graduate to succed but all need education to survive in life. So educate. Sad Summerlin wrote on December 11, 2008 03:34 PM: Thank you to so many of you educators who post on this board regularly with positive solutions towards improving our education system in Clark County and to the parents as well (Brian, Travis etc.. not sure if Virgil is a teacher, but he makes tons of sense too)... This is very refreshing than the typical whining of other "teacher" posts that appear anytime there is any talk of education issues... There is only 1 way to solve the education issues in Clark County... and that is to stop pointing figures, get everyone together (teacher, admin, parent, etc.) and come up with a solution... As the unions, the politicians and whiners debate us in the stagnation we must find a way to get beyond those blocks and come up with a unified solution... CJ wrote on December 11, 2008 12:50 PM: So, Ken, how are you any different than the teachers you claim "blame someone else for their actions.". It sounds like you are blaming teachers for your children's sense of entitlement. Seems to me they spend a lot more hours of their lives under your influence than that of any teacher. Or, are you one of those parents who doesn't give a pile of horse manure about your children and their upbringing? Ken wrote on December 11, 2008 12:39 PM: The teachers are equally responsible for the failure of our school system. The fact that they want to sue for pay raises in this economy shows their utter lack of understanding of reality. They teach our children to develop an entitlement mentality and to always blame someone else for the actions. Yes, the administrators and the government share blame, but the teachers are trying to get off the hook by continuing to cry about work conditions. If they weren't so self-centered they could get a real job in a company where they would be held accountable for their actions. But, as teachers, they know they are accountable to no one and almost impossible to fire. So, the arrogance and whining continues. Education wrote on December 11, 2008 12:05 PM: TimeRanger; Please advise the US Supreme Court to revisit their 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe. Actually, I'm surprised, what with a now conservative bench, that a right wing group hasn't brought a case to trial to address the Court's decsion that illegal children are entitled to a free education. Until that happens, illegal children are entitled to go to public school in America. TimeRanger wrote on December 11, 2008 10:44 AM: HELENWEILS has it correct - If students were REQUIRED to prove that they were LEGAL residents, the overcrowding and financial woes of the CCSD would be gone. Amy wrote on December 11, 2008 10:32 AM: The problem does lay with way too many administrators. I have witnessed many times, a Principal and Assistant Principal harass teachers and make life difficult for them if they simply do not like them personally. Read All Comments