Teachers

P arents in Detroit are fuming over the abysmal scores of city students on a national achievement test - and demanding that the officials responsible for their kids' failure go to jail. Of the 18 big cities that participated in the federally sponsored National Assessment of Educational Progress, Detroit came in dead last, with 69 percent of fourth-graders and 77 percent of eighth-graders scoring below the basic level in math. (Charlotte, N.C., topped the list, while Baltimore City ranked near the middle.

Regarding your article about Harford County teachers, our teachers were promised a significant raise and weren't given it ("High school teachers stage protest in Harford County," May 30). We wouldn't be where we are today without teachers, and they're underappreciated. They don't make a lot of money, so they deserved this raise. Instead, all of our money is going toward athletes and singers, who aren't doing anything to shape our world. I hope these protests work out, because these teachers undoubtedly have earned the money.

If a killer with an assault rifle would be deterred from attacking a school by a teacher with a pistol, he or she would simply attack a hospital, a church, a sports rally, a political meeting, a bus, etc. ("Gun advocates detail plan to arm teachers," April 3). Unarmed teachers are not the problem. William L. Akers, Windsor Mill Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Kudos to Steven Klees for his op-ed on the school administrators' manifesto. ("The superintendents' wrong solution," Oct. 22). As a Baltimore City teacher, I was heartened to read so sensible an analysis. The current "blame the teachers" trend in our country's educational debate is particularly ironic: Since when have teachers made the decisions about how our public schools are run? Since when have teachers been consulted about curriculum development or about whether the educational practice du jour makes any sense?

As the school nurse at a Baltimore County elementary school, I read Dan Rodricks recent column on sick days with some agreement and much outrage ("This looks a lot like playing hooky," Nov. 13). Mr. Rodricks seems have forgotten that many educators are women and that at least some of the 35 percent of teachers who took 10 or more sick days during the 2009-2010 school year may have been on maternity leave. There are also many instances of faculty having to have surgery that cannot be delayed, taking sick days to care for elderly relatives or children, and being sick themselves.

As a retired Anne Arundel County teacher and a 40-year resident of Crofton, I listened with great interest to Gov.Martin O'Malley's State of the State message. His proposal to shift pension payments to the counties is of great concern to the teachers he proposes to "thank" for making Maryland schools first in the nation for four years running. The teacher pension contract was and is with the state, not our respective counties. In 1979, we were presented with a choice - to continue in the state retirement system or to opt out. Those of us who remained in the system paid 7 percent of our salaries annually into it with the commitment of a defined benefit and annual cost-of-living adjustments.

I read with interest of Gov.Martin O'Malley's efforts to ditch the state's obligation to pay its fair share of teachers' pensions ("Budget to shift pension burden," Jan. 18). The state has failed to make it's contractual contributions to the teachers' pension fund for years. I pay over $300 every two weeks into the fund and have been contributing to it for years. In all of the discussions, arguments and news accounts of this issue, those facts are hardly ever reported by anyone.

Speaking as a retired independent middle school principal with 32 years of service, it was most disturbing to read The Sun's editorial that appeared to search for satisfactory criteria that would "tie a teacher's pay to performance rather than seniority" ("Baltimore schools' uncharted waters," Dec. 21). In my opinion, there is no such method existing which would truly judge a student's inherent scholastic achievements since a tremendous difference definitely exists between the more able, stable students living in a corresponding environment than the weaker ones living in a less caring and non-attentive surroundings.

I got a laugh out of the glowing description of the Mega Millions winners ("Maryland's richest educators," April 11). I would love to know how you could be a full-time teacher and have another full-time job and be a diligent teacher. It was also interesting to read that they intend to keep working. Let's see what happens when this school year ends because there are only two months left in this year. Anonymous

Carroll County school officials told a grandmother to stop coming to her grandchild's class after she spent two weeks studying the teacher. A Baltimore County teacher recalls being threatened physically by a parent who happened to be a boxer. And in Howard County, overbearing parents are becoming such a concern that more than half the teachers surveyed say they have experienced "harassing behavior." For the past two years, 60 percent of the teachers responding to a job satisfaction survey conducted by the Howard County Education Association reported that they have been subjected to harassment.