‘Let’s Hold Parents Accountable, Too’

* Mayor Richard Riordan (Commentary, Sept. 6) has hit the nail on the head about accountability: Everyone involved in the child’s education should be held accountable. But the mayor excludes parents from having any responsibility; he wants teachers to be responsible for “student attendance” and “parent participation.” I wish Mayor Riordan would spend a few days with teachers. Parents can be flaky and irresponsible. Teachers are not in the position to hold these parents accountable, and punishing the student doesn’t help the student succeed nor does it change the parents’ behavior.

Parents are culpable: when their children rarely do homework; when their children miss many days of school, sometimes on monthlong trips to other countries; when the children say their families can’t afford Dr. Seuss books, crayons, scissors, pencils, glue, etc. at home, yet the child has a $30 backpack, $50 shoes, Nintendo or PlayStation and recently has been bought one of those new $70 scooters; when parents don’t ever attend parent conferences or back-to-school night; when the parents won’t ever take their kids to the free public library, no matter how often the teacher begs them to; or when their kids lose or destroy textbooks or school library books.

We teachers care about and teach our students, but we are not their parents. Let’s hold parents accountable, too, when it comes to their children’s success in school.

OR-LI WALLACE

Valley Village

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I was surprised to read “Crowding Is on Many Minds as the School Year Starts” (Sept. 6). About half of the schools in L.A. Unified are on a year-round schedule. For these students and teachers, the school year began in July! We just gave out midterm grades at the high school at which I teach. Year-round schools have been in existence in Los Angeles for over 20 years. For The Times to announce that the “school year starts” in September does a disservice to the thousands of students and teachers who have been in school since July.

CAROL PERRY

Redondo Beach