4/7 Letters: Teacher pay is ‘enough’ for a ‘part-time job’

Regarding “Teachers strike for school funding and pay in red states” (Apr. 3): I’m fairly certain I’m not the only person in America who feels like this, but I’m tired of hearing about teachers. If teachers want to be paid for a full-time job then they should have to work one.

Fact is: teachers in our public school system work 180 days a year. Last time I checked, there are 365 days in a year. Regular businesses require employees to work 254 days yearly. Business employees are off two days weekly and granted 10 days of paid vacation along with holidays.

Teachers on the other hand: Fall, Christmas, Spring Breaks, Holidays and summers off. And then there’s their benefits – no major company provides pensions anymore. With the advancement of technology, in many of the high school classrooms teachers are no more than proctors supervising the students taking online computer courses.

I’m all for education. The NC lottery has pumped billions into the schools, the teacher average salary in NC has crested at over $50,000 per year, over 50 percent of the state budget is allocated for education and for some reason $277 per day with full benefits working part-time is still not enough. It is enough.

‘Cabinet Apprentice’

Regarding “Bolton replacing McMaster as Trump’s top security adviser” (Mar. 23): After the recent Trump Cabinet replacements it seems an appropriate moment to dust off my letter published in The N&O just over two years ago on March 6, 2016:

“Fast forward to 2017. President Donald Trump has created a new reality TV show ‘The Cabinet Apprentice.’ Each week viewers learn in the White House boardroom what Cabinet members have accomplished before one gets fired...For the first time American school children enjoy learning how government works, thanks to President Trump, who proudly takes full credit for being the first U.S. president to make government relevant to the voters.”

Protect Pittsboro

In 2014, a master plan was approved for Chatham Park, which is expected to raise the population of Pittsboro from 4,200 to 60,000. Though the development is expected to bring many jobs and services to the area, there are significant dangers to the water quality of the Haw River and Jordan Lake.

Without adequate regulations, the water quality will be harmed by deforestation of 7,500 acres, construction and regular land use. Pittsboro currently requires the state’s mandatory minimum, a 50-foot buffer for year-round or perennial streams. For perspective, Chatham County, the development’s location, requires 100-foot buffers, and Chapel Hill, which currently has the population Chatham Park predicts it will bring, requires 150 feet.

Pittsboro has never before had to regulate so defensively against such a massive and obtrusive development and does not have the regulation it needs. Pittsboro must step up its watershed protection ordinances to meet the growth that Chatham Park will bring if it wants to protect the water bodies we hold dear.

‘Same mistakes’

I fully agree with “Bolton’s beliefs are a recipe for diplomatic delusions” (Mar. 28). The belief in a limited war after bombing Iran or North Korea is delusional. In both cases, it will result in much wider wars.

Bombing North Korea will draw in China and will result in our cities getting bombed too. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are no longer protections since intercontinental ballistic missiles were invented. War will come to our shores too. Will our endless wars fuel the next populist revolt? Will this revolt come before or after another war? We will probably have to learn another painful lesson.

President Trump’s selection of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and John Bolton as national security adviser is ominous. The hope that Congress can modify and limit president Trump’s impulsive actions does not apply to starting a war. The American president has almost unlimited power to start a war, which Congress will not be able to stop after it has been started. After the first Korean war, the Vietnam war and the quagmire in the Middle East, one would expect that American leaders have learned their lessons. We keep making the same mistakes over and over.

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 6:00 PM with the headline "4/7 Letters: Teacher pay is ‘enough’ for a ‘part-time job’."