LETTER: Teachers are professionals and deserve to be compensated as such
As a mother or grandmother of five teachers in four states — both rural and urban — I take exception to the statements in a recent Review-Journal letter to the editor that raising pay will not give the Clark County School District better teachers.
As in any profession — and teaching is and should be treated as a profession — good teachers will move to school districts that pay more. The exception is when they have strong family or community ties so they stay in lower-paying jobs.
Example: One of my daughters had a master’s in education in science. She had more than five years experience teaching high school science out of state and in Las Vegas. She was approached by a California school district which offered to double her pay. She and her husband took the offers. Their students thrive if and when they have parent and community involvement. They earn enough to help put their child through medical school. Can’t do that in Nevada.
Teachers are professionals and should be paid as such. Too many are leaving the field because of pay and the restrictions the public and parents put on them. And then we wonder why so many students don’t thrive. As in any profession, you have good and bad. But you need to have attractive pay to attract the teachers who can handle the students in our school districts today.