Making Teaching a Year-Round Job

Re “Make Teaching a 12-Month Job,” July 18 column:

As someone relatively new to the profession, I wholeheartedly agree with Ted Mitchell’s idea about having a 12-month calendar in which “teachers will teach the same number of days and be required to take courses aimed at improving their craft, to participate in school planning activities ... and make contact with the families of children who will be in their classes the following year.”

The daily duties of a teacher--lesson planning, grading, meetings and conferencing with parents--don’t allow sufficient time, especially for new teachers, to reflect on their craft.

My experience has been that teachers want to become more proficient at their job and would benefit from the mentoring of those who have gone before them.

Furthermore, many educators resent the two months of forced unemployment, knowing it’s difficult to find decent work when your employer knows you’re a short-timer.

I think Mitchell’s idea would make for better schools and a majority of teachers would support it as well, but would the taxpayers of California?

Ken De Marco

Huntington Beach