Supt. Spirito’s Plan Deserves Support

* I want to add my voice to that of the majority of other teachers and parents who support Supt. Joseph Spirito’s “Return to Basics” in education (“Parents, Teachers Question Back to Basics,” May 30).

When teachers must spend the first several weeks at the beginning of each new school year trying to establish discipline in the classroom before the teaching/learning process can begin, something is wrong. When parents visit their child’s classroom only to complain about homework, poor grades or reprimands, something is wrong. When children arrive late to school without proper nutrition and rest, something is wrong. When the learning atmosphere is disrupted by fear of crime and violence, something is dreadfully wrong.

Why then have Supt. Spirito’s thoughtful and professional efforts to remedy these ills, improve the manner in which we educate our children, and help to produce better human beings, been met with opposition?

Supt. Spirito and our elected representatives on the school board have shown courage and leadership in trying to effect positive change. They propose to begin modestly to see if “back to basics” will work. As a teacher for 10 years, I believe it will. In any event, it deserves a chance and our support. In this way, we are all “taking steps to do something.”

HEIDI G. BRADBURY

Ojai