Second school crisis

Contempt for public education and teachers blazes across Arkansas skies like neon signs along Vegas strips. When Asa Hutchinson appointed Johnny Key as education commissioner, I wrote the governor asking if he would ever appoint a non-lawyer or non-medical doctor as attorney general or surgeon general respectively. He responded with silence.

Since then it seems they have colluded to destroy Little Rock School District and privatize education. If successful, this will spread across Arkansas like the social disease it is. Other districts will follow; your children will be commodified, especially if they are poor and/or children of color.

If teachers strike, LRSD will allow just about anyone who can fog a mirror into our classrooms. Do you really want your children turned over to such strangers? Background checks take weeks, after all, not days.

Superintendent Poore astonishingly claimed that students will still receive good education under these conditions. Hear this: Teaching is more than glorified babysitting! People who believe, “Those who can’t, teach,” know nothing about education because—guess what? Those who can’t, also can’t teach. Just look at the state Board of Education. After five years of control, two more “failing” schools were added under its watch. Thanks for proving my point.

I am offended beyond measure that our so-called leaders disparage my profession with gleeful abandon. Imagine substitutes being called to do the work of police or nurses if they went on strike. It makes as much sense as asking a substitute to fix the brakes on your car.

Hear this: Substitutes are not teachers. They lack training and skill. They don’t know our students and their developmental needs. They don’t know our families. If you want to see test scores drop like cannon balls in a swimming pool, just hire substitutes for a quarter of the school year. Good luck with that!

LEEANN BENNETT

Little Rock