Students are right to fight teacher cuts
Alise Franz, left, and Nicole Lefferts, both teachers in the Central Islip school district, were among hundreds of parents, students and teachers who rallied against proposed cuts in education. Credit: John Paraskevas
I am very proud of the Central Islip students who walked out of the Ralph G. Reed Middle School to protest teacher layoffs ["Students walk to protest cuts," News, April 2]. In some ways, their protests remind me of the protests in the Middle East. These people are desperate to see an end to regimes that are self-serving.
To know who stands in the way of the students' demands, you only need to look as far as the comments of a few key people: Superintendent Craig Carr, who called the student protest "inappropriate," and Robert Molinaro, president of the district teachers association, who expressed his concern for students getting "hurt."
The bottom line is, too much money is being paid to administrators, superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, assistant principals, union personnel, etc. -- all of whom are paid by the taxpayers, you and me.
Meanwhile, highly qualified, enthusiastic, motivated new teachers are being laid off this year.
The yearning for regime change is sweeping the world and has come to the Ralph G. Reed Middle School.
Paul van Steen
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