Emphasizing Phonics, Even if the Teacher Isn't

Dear Extra Credit:

So, in your Feb. 28 column, you say it's a danger signal if a principal doesn't have time to submit to "at least" a 30-minute interview by a parent who should be trying to decide whether the principal is worth "hiring."

Averaging the five Fairfax County elementary schools I know, we get a school I will call Average Elementary, with a student population of 814. Assuming a ridiculously low nine transfer students, in addition to the 116 new kindergartners, plus 15 families that visit but decide not to enroll, that gives us a 140 interviews per year.

Of course, the real numbers would be higher.

But sticking with our 140 interviews, we have a principal who is required to spend 70 hours on interviews alone, not counting any time wasted because the parents didn't show up on time, and not counting any interviews that run more than 30 minutes.

So you're asking (demanding, really) that, minimally, nearly two weeks of the principal's time, plus incidental time wasted, be spent this way. If the principal doesn't have time, you say, well, hey, that's a danger signal: Steer clear of that school.

I've read and listened to the blathering of enough pandering politicians and two-bit tax demagogues to know that teachers (and even worse, school administrators) are the Enemy, nothing but leeches sucking up our tax money while doing nothing to earn it.

At least, I would know it if panderers and demagogues were even a little bit persuasive. But there are already enough parents who think the whole educational system ought to revolve around themselves and their kids without newspaper columnists encouraging them to demand, "at least," something that would be a major burden if carried to its logical conclusions.

Timothy Kendall