Senator addresses issues of opinion column

GUEST EDITORIAL

MOSES LAKE - It would be convenient to focus on the My Turn column, "Why I'm Choosing Private School for My Kids," published April 18 and the subsequent front page article, "Newspaper Apologizes for Opinion Column," April 20; but in doing so my attention would not be given to the issue at hand.  In this case, the issue is not who wrote what or should it have been printed?  The issue is education and what's going on in the classroom, or on the school grounds. 

My first multiple reactions are:  (1) the school teacher owes her students and their parents an apology for her apparent immodest attire; (2) the school administration and school board owe the taxpayers an apology for allowing a lack of modesty and decorum in the classroom, and a lack of leadership where students who have reached the high school level of education have not been taught appropriate communication skills.

As a former public school employee and mother whose children attended both private and public schools, and whose grandchildren currently attend public schools, I would have been "offended," and in fact, outraged if my 14-year-old granddaughter had been exposed to observing her teacher's exposed anatomy, or been accosted by a boy using foul language because she hadn't kept in touch. 

We teach our children to respect their elders and those in authority, to treat their peers with kindness, and (in our family) to express opinions freely without profanity, and to value their own humanity as God intended. We ask them to set high standards for themselves and to give the very best of themselves in their daily lives. 

Can we ask less of those who lead them? 

And, yes, as a former elected official and current public employee my work is "always under the scrutiny of the public ..." as it should be, since I work for those who pay the taxes that pay my salary. In government it's called transparency.