Re: Teachers spend to create better learning spaces (Great Teachers, Gazette, May 22)
The experienced kindergarten teacher who has educated four of my grandchildren once showed me what would remain in her vibrant classroom if she had never paid from her own pocket. As one of the teachers in your well-balanced article tells us, some classrooms would be bare if not for teachers paying out of pocket.
The teacher I spoke with recycles books from her own children, pointing out something the article missed: that young, lower-paid teachers can’t afford to do as much. When we scanned the room together, it was apparent the school had provided almost nothing in the room.
Far from being overpaid, our teachers struggle, at cost to their own families, to maintain basic educational supplies for our kids.
Kudos to the school Parent Advisory Councils who also do all they can to fundraise for what is erroneously described as a publicly-funded educational system … even at the primary grades.
Marie Langley
Langford
