Job Losses in Maine

It should also be stated that I do not think that those in education should have job security when thousands in the state of Maine have lost their jobs in the same economic downturn that threatens education funding. The unemployment in Maine in the last 18 months has affected too many people, upended lives and families and continues to do so today.

There are those that will say educators should not have anymore tenure than the average worker and that the teaches unions are too powerful. I must count myself among the group that has often spoken those words. What I have discovered however is that while of course some subpar teachers are protected by the union structure the accountability standards proposed would not be a fair way to measure the success of each and every teacher. Already my own children spent an inordinate amount of time this fall taking standardized tests. Test scores are a way to measure success. However, what students are placed with what teachers can ultimately be as much a measure of the success of a teacher if test scores are all we look at.

I feel for anybody who is out of work, our own family has been affected by this recession as well. I think the best thing we can do is hope for a spirit of moderation from our leaders and for both sides to work together for the greater good. Of course in the Middle East they" hope" for that Israel-PLO thing to work out too.