Not a valid excuse

In recent days I continued to read editorials and letters concerning school districts keeping teachers who were flawed in some way because, according to them, the teachers' union fought their dismissal. I'm here to say that such an excuse is hooey. What I saw in my long career, time after time, was that the administrators did not do the necessary paperwork to fire the teacher, or did not do it correctly.

Believe me, teachers do not want the rats and perverts as colleagues any more than parents want them around their children. However, unions exist to help those innocent teachers who are accused, or those who discover someone has it out for them. That is the union's job. What we teachers always wished was that the administrators had done their job just as effectively. That's one of the things they were getting paid for. Time after time, they bumbled. Where was THAT story in the media?

7 a.m. walking to get the paper

Earthworms,
legions,
multitudes,
litter the asphalt
like scratches on old celluloid film.
Bradley's rooster
gripping the fencepost
crows
and the next door neighbor
leans out his door to yell,
"Cockle-doodle-do!"
in response.
I tell the hens roosting
in the apple tree
they are silly girls.
Mist falls from the
one-shade-of-gray sky
Another homespun morning
here on South Prairie Lane,
a most splendid beginning.

--c. 2008 KDK