How will school voting affect teachers?
School board elections are on Tuesday. Credit: Heather Walsh
How will school voting affect teachers?
Some Long Island teachers may agree with the Moms for Liberty and the Long Island Loud Mouths' stance. They may feel as if these groups don't want their kids learning things like "gender identity" even though a teacher knows what is really happening in the classroom. I ask teachers this: When right-wing groups try to dismantle public education, as evidenced in many media reports, where will that leave you? When public schools are shut down to be replaced with charter and private schools, where does this leave you? Your career? Your salary? Your pension and union benefits? This is the end game, and it also applies to those who have children in college or high school who are hoping to become teachers. What will be left for them? This is a long-playing effort to dismantle public education and, in turn, public school teachers. People should consider this when deciding whom they will support and vote for in their school districts.
Elizabeth Skylar, Peconic
Describing school boards as having been "traditionally nonpartisan" is farcical. "It's open season to be as nasty as you can be," one school board member said. As far back as I can remember, Long Island school boards have been dominated by progressive liberals who have filled the innocent minds of our children with their own ideology instead of teaching them the basics to survive in our world.
Bob Slingo, East Northport
I found the comment about “real patriots” by Barbara Abboud, chairwoman of the Nassau County chapter of Moms for Liberty, to be insulting. The definition of a patriot is one who loves his or her country and will stand up for it. I don’t share her ideas of school boards being subservient to one political party, and if she is really concerned about educating their "babies," she needs to be open to ideas that don’t conform to her point of view. A child’s horizons need to be broadened, not constrained by those who are in lockstep with a narrow view of humanity.
Lori Karman, Farmingdale
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN OUR DAILY CONVERSATION. Email your opinion on the issues of the day to letters@newsday.com. Submissions should be no more than 200 words. Please provide your full name, hometown, phone numbers and any relevant expertise or affiliation. Include the headline and date of the article you are responding to. Letters become the property of Newsday and are edited for all media. Due to volume, readers are limited to one letter in print every 45 days. Published letters reflect the ratio received on each topic.
