Letters

Losing Out on Social Security
I was delighted with the extensive coverage you gave to the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision ("Quite Simply, an Issue of Fairness," September 2002).

When I found out about these provisions nine years ago, I started researching and working to bring about their repeal. This grassroots effort has been tedious but essential. Our two senators and eight congress members signed on as co-sponsors to S.1523 and H.R. 2638, legislation to repeal the GPO and WEP.

The GPO and WEP clearly discriminate against public employees by reducing or erasing their rightful Social Security benefits while nonpublic employees with private pensions receive their entire pensions and their full Social Security benefits.

As we all know, this is an election year, and that gives us some leverage. Public employees who have spent their lives working in public service should not have to worry about a reasonably secure retirement. The 107th Congress should take action now to address and resolve the hardships produced by these two provisions.

Edris B. Kelley
Marshfield Hills, Massachusetts

My wife and I worked in several states in education and other jobs before we moved to California, from which we retired as teachers in 1996. Before our retirement, we faithfully checked with Social Security for estimates about the benefits we would receive. Social Security indicated that my wife's monthly check would be almost $500.

You can imagine our shock when we completed our Social Security retirement applications and learned that my wife would receive only a little more than $100 each month because she was caught by the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.

As a young worker, she worked part time in a food market. As a teacher, her salary was very low. As a mother, she stayed home with each child and worked as a teacher when she could. It appears the GPO and WEP are gender-hostile and affect many women who made low salaries and then interrupted their work to raise children.

I hope Congress will repeal the GPO and WEP so that everyone affected by the provisions will receive what they should have received from Social Security. I personally am asking all teachers to write to their senators and representatives to urge Congress for a repeal.

Ronald Giberson
Lexington, Kentucky

I've been retired 16 years, and it is gratifying to see the NEA has noticed that teachers are being put down by Social Security. I still have a copy of my first Social Security check, which came to just one dollar because I was a teacher and my husband was a teacher.

I started working when I was 15 years old to get through school, but the government considered the Social Security benefit amount others received a "windfall" for me! And my pension is quite small because I stayed home and raised my children.

By the way, we are taxed with regular taxes, just like everyone. One would think that NEA, with all of its power, could succeed in rectifying the dishonor the offset provision inflicts on the teaching force, especially to those of us who had to moonlight to support our families until teaching salaries got fairly decent. To the members of Congress I say, down with the extra taxation!

Mrs. Pete Vallosio
Peoria, Illinois

Surviving the First Year
I felt like I flashed back to 1980 when I read Missy Conner Stricklin's heartfelt diary of her first year of teaching (Cover story, September 2002).

When I was a student teacher, my mentor teacher made it very clear she thought I did not have the skills to become a good teacher. I could feel Missy's pain as I read about the way her principal and a consultant tried to blame her for a problem student. Shame on them and shame on my mentor teacher for not being supportive.

It is 22 years later and I am glad I ignored my mentor's advice to find another career. I still love teaching and try to always be a credit to our profession. Hang in there, Missy. I can tell you have what it takes to make a difference.

Barbara Brezel
South Windsor, Connecticut

I was extremely moved by the story about the first-year teacher who was switched from teaching math to special education. Missy Conner Stricklin has quite a bit of courage to work with students who originally would have been left behind. Instead of giving up, Ms. Stricklin decided to hang in there and deal with some of the challenges she faced as a special education teacher.

I was particularly fond of her ability to reach the autistic student whom she related to Rain Man. I am a special education teacher who works with autistic students. I also was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and was enrolled in special education for most of my elementary education and some of my time in middle school.

I chose to become a teacher to thank those people who had the courage and dignity to work with a child with a hidden disability such as mine. It took me about seven years to obtain my teaching credential, and I had to overcome many obstacles to land a teaching position. I chose to teach special education because I feel that many of these children are not going to function properly in society without the proper guidance.

I love my teaching position and didn't realize that I could work so well with students with autism. I understand what difficulties and challenges my students face daily, because I have a higher functioning form of their condition.

I wish that more teachers would spend part of their teacher training either visiting or working in a special education classroom. As teachers, we need to realize that all children are gifted, it just takes us longer to reach some students than others. Ms. Stricklin, keep up the good work.

Troy Sorrell
Downey, California

True Learning
"Life in a Jar" (My Turn, September 2002) exemplifies what teaching is all about. Norman Conard challenged four students to live out the motto, "He who changes one person, changes the world entire."

By uncovering the story of heroine Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto, these students became heroines themselves. By performing a play based on Ms. Sendler's life, the students reached thousands of other people. They even were able to visit Ms. Sendler in Warsaw. What a life-changing experience for the group!

Every one of us should copy this article and mail it to those in our state capitals who insist that learning can be measured by objective tests. Not so. This article shows true learning, and we must never forget it! My congratulations to Mr. Conard, his students, and, above all, to Ms. Sendler. I am humbled by your actions!

Janet Haisman
Oak Park, Illinois

Hate Crime Resolution
The only problem with making a resolution such as I-43 on hate-motivated violence ("Highlights from New and Revised NEA Resolutions," September 2002) is that it inadvertently trivializes violent crimes with different motives. When separate laws are enacted for hate crimes it seems that we are saying, "beating or killing someone strictly because of his or her race or color or religion is really bad, but beating or killing someone because you want to rob him or her, well, that's not quite such a big deal."

Hate violence should be punished, but so should violence committed for other motives. We already have laws that deal with hate (and other) violence. They are the laws against murder, assault, battery, arson, vandalism, and other crimes. Read them. You will find that these laws don't allow these acts to be committed for any reason, including hate.

Paul Milligan
Modesto, California

Health Care Costs
I can really relate to Jeff Horner's letter regarding health care costs in Wisconsin (Letters, September 2002). As a retiree, I am facing a 15 percent premium increase this year.

In his column, President Weaver notes that the NEA is "2.7 million members strong" (President's Viewpoint, September). In the same issue, I also noticed a full-page ad for the NEA Members Auto and Home Insurance Program. How hard could it be for the NEA leadership to negotiate with a national health care provider to provide health care for all its active and retired members and their families?

School districts could return the money allocated for benefits packages to teachers' salaries and get out of the health care business. Maybe the NEA could even design a self-funded plan as many districts have done.

As Mr. Horner points out, NEA members generate more than a quarter billion dollars in revenue. I agree with his point that we need to organize a block of customers that any health care system would gladly accommodate, or in the case of self-funding, administrate. Maybe we could even make the drug companies stand and deliver!

As President Weaver points out in his column, "When our NEA family is focused and united, there is nothing we cannot accomplish."

Janet L. Love
Surprise, Arizona

National Board Certification
After reading letters about "No Child Left Behind," bonuses that won't work, and the optimum size for high schools (Letters, September 2002), and after reflecting upon my experiences as a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT), I felt compelled to speak out in favor of the National Board Certification process.

There are more than 16,000 National Board Certified Teachers in the country in 24 different certificate areas. Another 19,000 teachers are waiting for their scores from the 2001-2002 application cycle. These teachers are virtually unanimous in testifying that the National Board Certification process is the most rigorous professional development experience of their entire careers.

The "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" requires states to put a "highly qualified" teacher in every public school classroom by 2005. Expanding the pool of National Board Certified Teachers will go a long way toward making that goal a reality.

NEA early on recognized the value of National Board Certification and was an early leader in the foundation of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the establishment of National Board Standards in the various certification fields.

NEA offers A Candidate's Guide to National Board Certification online at www.nea.org/nationalboard/ images/02NBCguide.pdf to guide members through the National Board Certification process. You can find additional information at the official Website of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards located at www.nbpts.org.

Edwin C. Epps
Spartanburg, South Carolina

Inspiring Teacher
I was so thankful to read the article about Celia Folkman Amster in your last issue before the summer (People, May 2002).

I am 38-years old and embarking on a teaching career. I want to teach children who have difficulty reading.

I currently am a student at Ohio Valley College in Vienna, West Virginia. Although I am a little anxious about teaching, I know I will be a qualified teacher after attending this college. I know I'll teach from my heart because this is something I was meant to do. Thank you for the story, it has given me more support than you will ever know.

Chandra Lynch
Vienna, West Virginia

Relief for Special Education Teachers
I just finished reading "The Future of IDEA," (Inside Scoop, April 2002). I hope the changes the NEA is working for make it into the next Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). If they don't, the shortage of special education teachers, which already is serious, will get much worse very quickly. Special education teachers need relief from the impossible demands placed on them, and they need them quickly.

I am an elementary special education teacher drowning in paperwork. I must try to make impossible schedules work while I individualize instruction for 17 students in three grades and six separate classrooms.

Thanks for what you are doing to help, and also thanks to the NEA. I plan to make the Illinois senators and congress members hear my voice and what it is like for me and thousands of other special education teachers just like me.

Laureen Allison
East Peoria, Illinois

Keeping Kids in Class
This is in response to your article "If I wrote the law" (May 2002). If I wrote an education law, I would have a provision that requires all students to attend all classes. This may sound obvious. But, it is my experience that even though students are in school, too often they are pulled out of the classroom for various reasons, such as sporting events, band and choir practices, field trips, reward and incentive parties, "Take Your Child to Work" day, plays, and other extracurricular activities. In short, I cannot teach students who are not in my classroom.

Marie-Anne Eickholt
Junction City, Kansas

Pledge Ruling
I am a retired Michigan teacher now living in New Jersey. I was shocked and saddened to read Cynthia M. Chmielewski's Rights Watch article (September 2002). She writes: "At the 2002 Representative Assembly, the NEA Board of Directors voted to support the current version of the Pledge of Allegiance."

How can teachers stand in front of the classroom and lead their students in an act that is without question a violation of the First Amendment of our Constitution? How can they teach about the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Middle East, and September 11 and not talk about the atrocities that have been committed throughout human history, all in the name of (someone's) God?

If those who teach children cannot see that religion serves to divide and not to unite, then what hope is there that our children will? If teachers cannot see that they are violating our Constitution, what hope is there that our children will ever know freedom? To truly have freedom of religion one must first have freedom from religion.

Michela Colosimo
Mount Laurel, New Jersey

More Laws Won't Help
I am a retired teacher and have seen many laws implemented that were guaranteed to improve education. None of them worked. When will state and national governments learn that a quality education cannot be legislated? The way to improve the quality of public education is to pay teachers enough to guarantee that the brightest and best remain in the classroom instead of taking more lucrative jobs in other fields.

Parents also must accept responsibility for teaching their children to value an education and enforce rules at home so that rules in school don't seem unusual.

We need to take politics out of the school systems and return to good common sense. I retired early because I became so frustrated with not being able to hold students accountable for their homework and their progress. I have seen too many high school graduates enroll in remedial studies classes in college. Yet our lawmakers insist that more and more laws and more and more mandated tests are the answer. How long does it take for them to get the message?

Carmelita Parrish
Macon, Georgia