Poor effort

I’m not sure what Karen Craven was trying to say in her effort at an editorial column. However, I can clarify from a parent’s point of view why I was angry at the DeKalb teacher’s strike.

Contrary to opinion, most young children look forward to going to school. You can imagine what a letdown it is for a child to be ready to go to school and have a strike happen. How do you relay to your child that the teachers really do want to be at school, they are just not coming to work? No matter what, the child feels let down by the teachers.

Also, this strike basically boiled down to money issues, according to the information in the Northern Star. As a parent, I am angry at both the teacher’s union and the school board for letting our children suffer while they continue to play the negotiating game with taxpayer money.

Speaking of money, what about child care issues? Who picks up the bill for three weeks of full-time child care for working parents? We are not the sort of people who work for the fun of it. Our family relies on both paychecks every month, and paying full-time child care unexpectedly for three full weeks was a drain on our savings. Two years ago we lived through a long strike in the Elgin school district. That set our family back greatly. This time we were at least able to make our child care payment without robbing Peter to pay Paul. But what about all of the single parents who don’t have a partner to fall back on, or families trying to make it on two low incomes?

Finally, Ms. Craven, ,when you grow up and have children of your own, you might be qualified to write a piece on parents’ anger over a school strike. Until then, you have no basis for an opinion. This was one of the sloppiest, most disorganized efforts I have ever seen in The Northern Star. I look forward to better in the future.

Christine Coleman Skewers

Secretary

Communicative Disorders

Research & Training Center