Great letter! Shows the value of a real education: it keeps on giving!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 6:11 AM, Tom Hansen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">thansen@moscow.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Courtesy of today's (May 20, 2011) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks t<br>
Sue Hovey.<br>
<br>
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<br>
Putting teachers last in Idaho<br>
<br>
Let's say you are in eighth grade and I am your teacher. You ask, "Is it<br>
true 700 teachers will lose their jobs so I get a computer next year?" And<br>
I reply, "Yes, according to the law." Then you, an inquisitive kid,<br>
continue, "Will you be one of those 700?" And I reply, truthfully, "I<br>
don't know, possibly." "Well," responds the student, "sounds like a dumb<br>
idea to me!" I reply, "To me, too."<br>
<br>
Tom Luna's latest press release says I have just politicized the class,<br>
proselytized students and violated the Teachers' Code of Ethics. I could<br>
be fired for this, he threatens.<br>
<br>
Ethics was irrelevant when Luna, with the help of the governor, software<br>
contractors and legislative leaders, drafted those dreadful bills.<br>
<br>
A case in point: Ethical leaders should hesitate to write into education<br>
law a new section providing insurance salespeople access to teachers when<br>
school starts, mandating teachers' signatures regarding the insurance,<br>
requiring the district to maintain a file of those signatures and<br>
potentially profitingthe two Idaho legislative leaders whose support was<br>
critical. Rep. Bob Nonini and Sen. John Goedde, chairs of the House and<br>
Senate Education Committees, both insurance salesmen.<br>
<br>
Superintendent Luna never taught a class, got an online bachelor's degree<br>
to run for the office and sought no public input as he crafted those<br>
bills.<br>
<br>
When we as Idaho voters repeal his laws and recall him, will he have<br>
learned the lesson: You can't put Idaho students first when you put their<br>
teachers last?<br>
<br>
Sue Hovey, Moscow<br>
<br>
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<br>
Later, Moscow.<br>
<br>
Tom Hansen<br>
Astoria, Oregon<br>
<br>
<br>
"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to<br>
changeand the Realist adjusts his sails."<br>
<br>
- Unknown<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>