Perspectives from Another Small District

Thanks to the emailer who saw this letter and the reply in the Burlington County Times.

Not surprised by report card
Burlington County Times

I am appalled, but not surprised, by the statistics of the School Report Card story.

I live in Pemberton Township and have two children who attend a parochial school. I chose to send my children out of the district for many reasons, but the biggest reason was these statistics.

I can not believe that in Pemberton only 22.6 percent of the students go on to attend a four-year college or university.

If you look through the other numbers, there seem to be some missing children out there not doing much of anything...Where are they ?

I am sure we can all figure out what they are doing and it is a shame. It seems to me that spending $18,818 per child is not helping them become academically ready for post-secondary education.

Am I to assume that maybe not all that money is going toward each child and maybe to the over priced salary of administrators and teachers? Is there anyone who can justify why these professionals are highly paid and and possibly higher than at other school districts that produce more qualified students ?

I am quite happy I am sending my children out of the district and will continue to for as long as I live in this school district. I hope that this school district will take a good look at these statistics and come up with a way to change their curriculum to better prepare students for post-secondary education. I am not from here and feel that I was greatly educated by the public school system [I attended in another state]. It prepared me well for college, but unfortunately, I do not feel the same way about this public school system.

Melissa Peso-Watkins
Pemberton Township

February 16, 2009

Teacher responds to Pemberton writer
By Gretchen Barrett
Burlington County Times

This is a letter in response to Melissa Peso-Watkins [Feb. 16]. She sends her children to private school because she does not want them attending the [Pemberton] township schools.

That is her choice and if she can afford it, that is nice for her. Her concern is that not enough students from Pemberton Township attend college after graduation and she doesn't want her children exposed to these seemingly unmotivated individuals and ineffective teachers. Well, Mrs. Peso-Watkins, I went to Pemberton Township High School. I went to college and I went to grad school. I am in grad school again, just because I want to be. By the way, my undergraduate degree is in biology and my graduate work is in embryology.

My current graduate work is in a Ph.D program in childhood studies. It was not the school that affected my educational choices, it was my parents. Many students from Pemberton have gone to college and done very well. Many have not gone to college and have also done well in their chosen fields. Where is it written that in order to be successful a person must attend college? What about our students who go on to a military career? Or those who become mechanics or plumbers, or carpenters or other occupations not requiring college? Go ahead, ask a poet from Princeton to change your oil and see how far you get. This world requires all kinds of skills, not only those learned in college.

You say you are not from here. That is obvious. This community once consisted almost entirely of farming families. The people who live here now work very hard to make a living and for many of our residents, it is financially difficult, if not impossible, to send their children to college. But you would not know that because you are not from here and have obviously not invested any time in acquainting yourself with your new community. Many of our students end their school day only to begin their workday. College is a financial impossibility for them. Some of them will go to college when their employer pays part of the bill. That is not included in the statistics you see.

Here is another point to consider; how many of the students going to college in those other districts remain in college? How many of them go on to graduate? Maybe those are the statistics we should be looking at.

As for your comment about the overpaid educators, you are way off base. Why is it that teachers are always pointed out as being overpaid? You are entrusting me, the teacher, with your most precious posession, your child. During the day I laugh with them, I cry with them, I calm their fears, I guide them, we make jokes together, I correct their language and behavior, and I teach them the subject matter. After they have left for the day, I clean up the messes they have left behind and I prepare so that I am ready for them the next day. And by the way, every week I take money from my own pocket to pay for things I need in my classroom. Yet, I am still paid only a fraction of what athletes or musicians make and that is still too much according to you.

I guess you think we are overpaid because we have the whole summer off. When do you think we have time to learn new techniques or brush up on some new material? This usually happens during our summers. Summer by the way, is not three months for us. If we leave June 23rd and return September 1st it does not add up to three months.

Maybe it's the fact that most of us are done with work at 3pm. You forget we started at 7 when you were probably still snoozing or just enjoying your first cup of coffee. And our day does not end when the final bell rings. When do you think we prepare our lessons, grade the papers, enter the grades into the computer, participate in conferences, meetings, and run the many clubs your children so enjoy?

I have taught at Pemberton Township High School for 22 years. Our entire staff, not just the faculty, does an amazing job. There are many factors affecting whether or not our students go to college. Would we like to see the numbers be higher? Of course we would, but we do not live in a perfect world and sometimes reality is a bitter pill. I would like to recommend that Mrs. Peso-Watkins and any of you other educator bashers out there open your eyes, look around, and begin realizing what reality is.

Petra Farmer
Eastampton

March 03, 2009