To the Editor,

This school system is like a small child.  You go to the store and the child runs off, and finds something they want.  You tell them no.  They ask again, you still say no.  After about the third or tenth time the child asks, you don't care anymore and you just want to stop the screaming, so you give in.  Please Tecumseh, smack the school systems hand away as much as it takes to get the message through.  YOU DONT NEED IT, STOP ASKING!!!!!!

How would one find out about these 17 students with no home?  My wife and I would be interested in helping some way.  Anyone with information can email me. 

I feel it is time our community begins to support one another because our economic and social situations are not going to get better and if/when things really begin to fall apart what are people going to do?  They are going to have to rely on their selves, neighbors and the community as a whole to survive.  Whether these people got themselves into their unfortunate position or not, that is still a horrible situation for any family, especially young kids. 

The school board is looking to spend money for a new athletic complex and possibly cut/limit other programs.  That money could be spent to help families going through a rough time or simply a bad month.  The money could help pay a mortgage for a month, a car payment, buy food, clothes for kids, purchase gas to get to work.  Use the money to help those in need get off of the street and into a place where they can get their life back on track and in a better direction.  Why do people typically only think of these ideas during Thanksgiving or Christmas?  I am sure I am just as fault and anyone else regarding this but maybe we need to re-think ourselves.

A new athletic complex is not going to improve our strength as neighbors or a community, which is why my wife and I moved our family here.  Tecumseh is not "Friday Night Lights" somewhere in small town TX.  While sports can have a large impact on someone’s life, it is not the end all.  I ran track, cross country and was a successful athlete after high school.  I would be all for new athletic facilities if warranted.  How will new facilities improve the students schooling?  It won't.  What will is, taking this money and buying new books, give teachers (more) training, provide teachers with the supplies and resources to even teach properly, hire more teachers for smaller class rooms, change the school system to all year, provide teachers and classes for kids that are talented & gifted and those kids that need additional help, expand music class, provide a tougher curriculum than currently exists.  One has to wonder why kids only had to have a 6th grade level education.  One reason is because schooling back then was more comprehensive that most adults (me including) could not pass those exams now whether you graduated college or not. 

The school system has way too many weather delays/days off, vacation days and or length of vacation.  As example; why does the school system need 2 full weeks off during Christmas?  Students had off Christmas Eve which was a Wed. and no reason they should not be back in school the Monday after.  Why do we need both winter break and Easter break.  Keep Easter and get rid of winter break.  All these delays/days off/vacations help students to forget what they are learning and have no consistency in learning.  Then students have roughly 3 months of the summer off and the teachers have to spend almost 1-2 months re-teaching what kids forgot.  Shall we even discuss the dumming down of students with what is being taught in school and "No Child Left Behind" which is the worst thing to happen to our kids ever and the eventual down fall of the education system?

We have a high school that was not built with any for thought and now the school board is asking for money to fix what they want when they already asked us and we said "No".  Why are they asking for this money to build a new athletic complex?  One reason I read was to bring new students to the school, which translates into people buying homes which is tax money.  Whether someone can throw a football or kick a soccer ball on a pretty brand new field does not improve the quality of the education the school provides or the teachers.  This also does not make me want to move my family.  Last time I checked, people are not buying homes or cannot buy homes in our town now.  People/families are losing homes faster than the city can blink.  You want to draw families to our town, put this money to some of the items I mentioned, help families in need and improve the education of the students.  That is what will get the city noticed.  That is what will draw the families and people to our town that feel and believe they way we do and will work to support our town and each other.

Here is another strange idea, give the teachers a raise...a good raise.  If we want the teachers to work and educate, then we should be prepared to provide what they require.  Parents want teachers to teach and educate, yet people get all upset that teachers make too much.  You must be out of your minds?  Teachers deserve more money than they currently make to do the most important thing that some parents don't care about; teach and educate our kids and in some cases parent our kids.  That is money well spent and something that will have a lasting affect on lives of kids forever. 

Our lives as a whole are changing.  We have met some tremendous people in Tecumseh that would give you the shirt off their back and still give more if you need it.  This is a rare trait that needs to be cherished and nurtured.

Jay Michaelson, Tecumseh