This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As a retired teacher from another state, I have read with great interest the discussion of Utah's public education problems. It goes without saying that Utah needs to lower class size, pay their teachers a living wage, devise a better way to keep kids in class, and avoid diverting education funding to other "more important" needs. What can possibly be more important than the education of our future?
Now, we are looking to hire a new superintendent of public instruction, the fourth in five years. Our last superintendent resigned after taking a leave for health reasons. Did the stress of his job make him ill?
Board of Education Chair David Crandall states that one of the criteria for the new superintendent is that they stay longer than their predecessor. That fact alone should be a red flag to all of us that something is dreadfully amiss. Not a word about education, or the quality thereof in this statement. Crandall also states that the new superintendent must be able to get along with lawmakers who set the budget. Sounds like a threat to me. If you don't get along we'll take away the funding, because we are in control, not you.
What has happened to an appreciation of the learning process, becoming a life-long learner, solving problems and thinking creatively as valuable goals in education?
In my experience not much good has ever come from having politicians involved in educational decisions. Just because they have been to school does not make them educators.
Diana R. Alford
Salt Lake City