In Praise of Sandy Hook Educators Who Gave Their Lives Protectng Children

modernmom.com

Sixteen days ago, a mass murderer shot and killed six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, as they tried to protect the children in their charge.  Dawn Hochsprung, the school principal, and Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist rushed to stop the intruder when they realized he had breached the security system by shooting his way into the school using a weapon intended for battle. They were the first to lose their lives.  Victoria Soto died trying to shield her students, but only six of them escaped execution.  Lauren Rousseau, a sub who was waiting for a permanent position, also perished in an attempt to save her students.  Rachel Davino, a behavioral therapist, used her body to protect students from the barrage of bullets fired, and Anne Marie Murphy, a special ed teacher, died holding a student in her arms.

Ham on Wry shares this post as a reaction to an opinion column written by Bill Maxwell in the Tampa Bay Times December 23.  Why the delay?  I spent part of the holidays with my family in another stated.  An irate reader wrote letter to the local paper in Newtown as a response to a teacher who opposed cutting Sandy Hook's library and music programs.  As a former teacher, the part of his letter that infuriated me the most stated, "You, as a public sector employee don't generate ANY revenue.  Every penny of the budget of your public sector enterprise is TAKEN from producers.  It's other people's money versus money your organization earned."  Wow!  What an enlightened individual this disgruntled man is and how woefully uninformed about how schools receive funding.

Obviously, this person doesn't understand the intrinsic value of educating children, which pays dividends after they graduate, get a job, and make contributions to the society. Perhaps he should take a refresher course in school funding.  States use a variety of means to determine the amount of money allocated to education at all levels, but, at least part of that money usually comes from taxes based on real estate values.  This idiot doesn't seem to realize that educators do contribute to their own salaries because they pay the same direct taxes that any homeowner does ,or they pay it indirectly if they rent. 

I wonder how many times Mr. Big Stuff has been called upon to lay down his life for fellow employees.  This man is the poster child for what is wrong with our culture today.  More value is placed on how much money one earns than what lasting contributions one makes during a lifetime.  This guy needs a lesson in humility and should spend a week each in an elementary school, a middle or junior high school, and a high school before he pontificates from his soap box.  That should give him a dose of reality.  He should honor those who choose to educate children rather than excoriating them.  Maybe his last name is Scrooge.