"When will NCLB recognize there are two more wheels in the mix?"

Back to school

What the teacher can and can't do for the students

Editor, The Times:

The No Child Left Behind Act must be amended to include students and their parents in taking responsibility for their children's education.

As a teacher with 26 years of ex-perience, there is only so much I can do to ensure that my students learn. I can provide meaningful lessons and assessments. I can provide their lessons in class, via e-mail and my Web page, and I can videotape each day's lesson. I can provide a safe and pleasant classroom environment. I can work 60-plus hours a week, communicate with parents and be available before and after school every single day. I can problem-solve with the family and student, but I can't ensure that the child and parents will follow through.

I can't sit with every child every night and help them with homework. I can't take them to the zoo, the ocean, a play, the symphony, or help them plant and tend a garden, build a bookshelf or paint their rooms.

I can't make sure they have regular medical and dental care, proper nutrition, regular exercise, go to bed on time and are read to from birth. I can't turn off the TV, play Frisbee and make them stay away from alcohol, drugs and unsavory people.

I am just one wheel of the tricycle. Parents are the other rear wheel. The child is the big front one. If one wheel is broken or missing, the tricycle won't go — no matter how hard I push or how shiny and new I am.

When will NCLB recognize there are two more wheels in the mix?

— Ilsa Birmingham (science teacher, Finn Hill Junior High, Kirkland), Lake Forest Park

Note to parents: You're part of the team

Teaching a child is a team effort. In "African American Academy: Black community's dream gets one more try" [Times, page one, Aug. 27], an extremely important member of that team was all but left out: the parent(s).

If the parents are not invested in their child's education, they doom that child to failure. Parents must help with homework, read to their child no matter how old the child is, no matter which language, go to parent-teacher meetings (interpreters are available) and attend PTSA meetings or Site Council meetings.

Be sure that your children are ready to learn by helping them get enough rest and exercise.

There is plenty of support in the public schools: free breakfast and lunch for those who qualify, family-support workers, school nurses, speech therapists and an array of other services.

Please, parents, no matter which school your children attend, show them how much you love them by becoming invested and interested in their education. Support and advocate for your children so that they have a step up in today's world. The rewards will be great.

— Christen Hearn, Seattle

A simple math exercise

"Green but stylish choices for back-to-school shopping" [Northwest Life, Aug. 22] tells us that families with school-age children will spend an average of $94 this year on back-to-school supplies such as notebooks, binders, writing tools, backpacks and lunchboxes.

Ahhh, the simple life. In my day:

Notebooks: 3 spiral-edged @ 20 cents each: 60 cents

Binders: Not asked for: 0

Writing tools: 2 pencils with erasers @ 10 cents: 20 cents; 1 pen: 25 cents

Backpacks: Not needed: 0

Schools texts: Free, distributed during class by teacher: 0

Lunchboxes: Unnecessary. Mother packed sandwich in a paper bag: 0

Water bottles: None. No one was thirsty: 0

Total: $1.05

Granted, this was some time back, but it could be a marker for reclaiming some former simplicity and restoring wallet pallor.

— Ruth Petersky, Seattle

Voting pro or con

Revenge isn't the answer

Congratulations to the ACLU for standing up for those unable to vote because they are unable to pay their legal financial obligations in full upon release from prison.

One reader ["Voting privileges," Online Letters, Aug. 24] seems to think that we should ask the advice of the victims.

I contend that we are all victims if we do not have a system that works for everyone. Revenge does not bring back what victims may have lost.

As American citizens, everyone should be entitled to vote in their country's elections. This is a democracy!

— Moira Hennings O'Crotty, Shoreline

Let lawmakers decide

Is it just me or has something changed? All of a sudden we are being bombarded with the "rights of felons to vote" and illegal immigrants' rights. With the ACLU pushing to absolve them of their pasts (nobody is really responsible for their own behavior, are they, even if they did commit crimes?) and restore or give them full rights (including the right to vote, which in Seattle is dubious at best), I would suggest the following:

Have our duly elected representatives push a bill through both houses of Congress to give all felons and illegal immigrants full rights/voting status. We should call it the No Felon Left Behind Act. That way, we would not have any problem telling whom our representatives really care about.

— Dave Herrington, Edmonds

Up and down I-5

A round of thanks ...

A big round of thanks goes out to everyone involved with the just-completed Interstate 5 construction project ["It's a high-five for I-5 today," Local News, Aug. 25]. Let's acknowledge the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and other municipal authorities for giving us adequate and advanced warnings of the possible consequences of not changing our commute patterns during the much-needed highway repairs. Thanks for making alternative services available, such as additional buses, trains and water taxis, along with well-planned detour routes.

A big hand, of course, goes to the workers who actually did the job in less than the projected time, while battling heat, rain and traffic very near their work areas.

The biggest salute, however, must go to the group that I thought would be the weakest link in this whole chain of events, but that proved to be by far the strongest — the people. Because we did the right thing, heeded the warnings, altered our commutes, went on vacation — whatever it took — we made this workable.

The projected backups to Tacoma never materialized. Let's give ourselves a much-deserved pat on the back.

— Don Hudson, Issaquah

... Not so fast

I see that the Seattle I-5 roadwork project finished weeks ahead of schedule. Well, congratulations!

But let's not go slapping each other on the back quite yet.

Here in Tacoma, we're in our third year of I-5 being a disaster area, with no end in sight. Just when it looks as though things are shaping up, WSDOT tears up more of the road and doesn't put it back.

I try to avoid the backups the slow-paced job causes, but DOT also tears up the alternative routes. And when I look to see how it's going, wondering if relief is in sight, I see no one working! Not a soul!

I guess Seattle is just a lot more important than Tacoma.

— Darin Moody, Tacoma