Letters: Dec. 18, 2019

Subs policy hurts student learning

I am quite concerned about Kennewick School District limiting substitutes to working eight days per month. I understand that this is an attempt to minimize the impact of SEBB benefits required for all school employees who work over 630 hours per year.

We already have many failed-to-fill substitute positions at the elementary level. Most specialists (music, library, PE and technology) and counselors are already being pulled from their jobs to cover for their sick colleagues.

I teach technology at Vista Elementary. I see my students once a week for 50 minutes. When I am pulled to cover a classroom, 100+ students miss their technology lesson that week. It is not possible for me to “reschedule” 5 classes who miss a lesson when I am pulled—those 50 minutes are lost forever. When I am pulled, the teachers of those five classes are forced to miss their planning time. They don’t volunteer, they are volun-told!

I don’t mind doing my part when my colleagues are sick and there are no available subs, but this policy places systematic limits on an already fragile system. Pulling elementary specialists and counselors to cover unfilled classrooms is a policy that adversely impacts student learning!

Don’t trust state to defend initiatives

In response to the editorial from the Tacoma Tribune, “Voters should trust state lawyers to defend $30 car tabs.” Sorry, this has to be some kind of joke. Washington elected officials have not upheld a single voter initiative in the history of this state. They consistently override the will of the voters at every legislative session.

It appears that the AG’s office may have intentionally came up with a poor titling of the bill so that King County could then indeed sue to have the will of the people circumvented. The AG and his office have spoken out against this bill and that creates a conflict of interest, no matter how professional they may be.

The people of this state have to start voting every election and not fall into the trap of, “What does it matter? Our votes don’t count anyway,” or they will never count.

Dog bite statistics tell all on pit bull

These are the statistics of fatal dog attacks, which show pit bulls leading by a large margin.

http://bit.ly/dog-bite-stats

I’ve read articles that (the) pit bull’s adrenal system never turns off, so they’re always in attack mode. I witnessed a pit bull loose in a park years ago. She saw an Irish setter it and went at her full sprint, a boy on a bike was in its path, it leaped and slammed into the boy and he went flying, but the pitbull didn’t break stride. The pit bull attacked the unsuspecting setter with such ferocity, it basically ripped the side of her face off.

No such thing as a little extremism

There is no such thing as a little bit of extremism. The House led by the Leftist Democratic party cannot be condoned. When you cannot speak unless you agree with them, (it) is called Fascism.

This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Dec. 18, 2019."