Gov’s attention misdirected

Dear Editor:

I am deeply concerned about the poor choices that some of our state education policymakers and legislators are offering the citizens of Louisiana.

It is the desire of the majority of professional educators to fulfill the mandate of our state constitution to provide through a public educational system “…learning environments and experiences . . . designed to promote excellence in order that every individual may be afforded an equal opportunity to develop to his full potential.”

Gov. Jindal should be identifying, praising, and expanding the application of innovative and creative practices of many of our most highly qualified teachers and excellent schools. Instead Jindal vilifies the state’s traditional certification programs that produce highly qualified professionals under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. He continues to promulgate and advertise a “culture of failure” that is not only destroying our system of public education but also the opportunity for our state to attract businesses that will grow our economy.

Although Gov. Jindal touts the lack of quality teachers as being responsible for low student achievement, he insists that experience and certifications don’t matter as evidenced by the recent appointments of State Superintendent John White and the Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard. The governor has drastically reduced the opportunity for every child to have a qualified teacher in the classroom every day by diverting millions of dollars to Teach for America and supporting legislation that prohibits, to a large extent, the return of certified, highly qualified retired teachers to the classroom even as part time substitutes.

As a director of human resources in the St. Martin Parish School System, I see firsthand diminished employee morale as a result of the direct attacks from the Governor’s office.

Gov. Jindal should be supporting expanded and improved professional development and our own state’s higher education teacher certification programs rather than legislation like his deeply flawed, cumbersome teacher evaluation system that will only further diminish our potential to provide excellent qualified teachers for our students.

Lottie P. Beebe,

BESE Member District 3