Teachers made sacrifice

Glenn McCoy’s Sept. 15 cartoon on the Chicago teacher’s strike was offensive. The teachers gave up a week’s pay to make a point. They felt strongly that kids were not factory parts and teacher effectiveness in a classroom for an hour couldn’t be measured against the reality of what happened the other 23 hours of the day.

We are in court questioning the insanity of an even-greater disproportionate measure in Florida which evaluates physical-ed teachers, counselors, media specialists and any non-FCAT teachers on the reading scores of the entire school, not even the kids they teach.

Administrators are evaluated the same way. No students were hurt by a week out of school. This representation of the strike misses the point and plays into the political agenda to destroy public schools and vilify unions.

Artie Leichner, first vice president, United Teachers of Dade, Redland

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The readers’ forum

‘First 48’ exploits victims of crime

Thank you for your recent coverage of the city of Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa’s decision not to renew a contract with the reality show The First 48. For years the show’s film crew has roamed the streets of Miami’s urban communities searching for victims of homicide to feature on their show. 1369259411
Spiritual or religious?

Martin Slater’s May 17 letter, Changing beliefs, responding to Myriam Marquez’s May 12 column makes the common mistake of equating religion and spirituality. While religions encourage the development of our spiritual sense, religious dogmas are unnecessary to cultivate one’s own sense of spirituality. Many nonreligious individuals are highly spiritual, keenly in tune with their inner-self and the concept of a creative universal force. 1369259411
DCF is disgraceful

Re the May 21 article DCF deemed boy safe before he was left in vehicle: It’s unbelievable that the Department of Children & Families would do absolutely nothing about a woman who reportedly was drunk and driving, hitting walls and passing out while her young son was in the car untethered. 1369259411

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