Benz letter: Idaho teachers

Audrey Farrell’s March 8 letter condemning Idaho teachers as lazy and overly complaining could not be more untrue. I’m not a teacher but I have a great respect for the work I’ve actually seen them do. Teachers are not getting vacation days when their students are out of the classroom. Farrell obviously doesn’t have a clue how the schedule operates and how hard Idaho teachers work. Teachers spend many hours outside of school time planning lessons, correcting papers and doing classroom administrative work. Despite the fact they have one of the lowest teacher salaries in the country, they often use those salaries to subsidize classroom shortages. For Farrell to claim that teachers don’t earn their salary proves how poorly informed she is. Maybe she should volunteer to help in the schools so she can actually see what’s going on. For Farrell to write such an ill-informed letter to the newspaper, however, is inexcusable. She should be ashamed of herself. Her letter truly disgusted me.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Benz letter: Idaho teachers."