Susan Nielsen's column "Give teachers a break, or at least a summer" (June 23) was spot-on.
Summer vacation, filled with no shortage of teaching obligations and responsibilities, will fly by for our K-12 teachers. It turns out that teachers' vacation packages come in various forms. Breaks during the holidays for these dedicated professionals usually mean lesson plans to ready, papers to critique and correct and exams to grade. But, that's not the half of it.
The article "Many Oregon kids still face childhood poverty" (June 24) describes the thousands of Oregon children, who teachers see in their classrooms daily, from families with parents who lack secure employment or actually live in poverty.
Ask any teacher about this fact and they'll tell you that interacting and connecting with these kids -- frankly, with all their students -- let alone actual teaching and instruction in their outrageously over-packed classrooms, represents the "social service" part of their jobs. And, they do it gladly, day in and day out. The big news flash is that no child ever brings anything "small" to school, and there's way more than the "three Rs" happening in our K-12 classrooms.
Still not convinced? Then, get your Oregon teaching license and teach in our public schools for a year or two. In 1960, Harper Lee wrote in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird," " Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."
Albertson is a member of the Tigard-Tualatin School Board.