Letters to the editor, Oct. 30, 2009

Teachers earn their pensions

I recently retired from the Barstow Unified School District after 40 years of teaching.  When my husband passed away in November, I learned to turn from despair to love, hope, and caring.  I taught French at the time, and both my students and I learned to give more of ourselves. It is exciting to be an educator when students make you forget yourself through the interaction and excitement of a live classroom.    

As an educator, I was hurt when my name and supposed pension were erroneously cited in the article “Pension Jackpot” in the Press Dispatch (Sunday, Oct. 18). Actually, my pension is less than 60 percent the figure cited in the paper. The author of the article apologized for the mistake and assured me that she totally supports education and the dedication of the teachers in the high desert. (Editor’s note: The incorrect information was supplied by CalSTRS and apparently combined Judith Grounds’ pension with her late husband’s pension.)

But I was hurt to think that the public might conclude from the newspaper article that I do not deserve the normal teacher’s pension. Public school teachers do deserve decent salaries and decent pensions. Their jobs are becoming increasingly more difficult as they are challenged with the demands of ever-increasing class sizes and the special needs of students from disadvantaged homes and students of different ethnicities and language capabilities. Teachers have to try their best to make sure that students learn all the mandated skills required in state testing as well as critical thinking skills needed to survive in an increasingly complex world. As a teacher, I have put in many extra hours after school and on weekends making lesson plans to help students achieve these goals.

As my family knows all too well, teachers also put in many other unpaid hours to help students. There are always students who need special help, and one on one tutoring after school is something I and other teachers have volunteered to do for no other compensation than the satisfaction of knowing that we have helped students who really want to learn. Learning also takes place outside the classroom, and teachers have filled that need by volunteering for club or community activities. In my case, I organized a French Club so students could go to French restaurants, go to special showings of French movies, and even go to the “Cirque du Soleil.” My time and the time of volunteer chaperones were never rewarded monetarily, but rather with the added excitement in the lives of students. It is unfortunate that many field trips in the Barstow Unified School District have been eliminated or severely limited.  

Dedicated teachers always put in many long hours and deserve every penny they are paid. But the real rewards come from the many unpaid hours trying to engage and motivate students. In my case, I experienced those rewards when students bragged about speaking French to their friends on the phone, told me about French movies they had watched, or had me listen to the latest French songs they had picked up. My forty years of teaching have been some of the best and most rewarding years of my life. A decent income and a decent pension are important, but not nearly as important as making a difference in the lives of students. I am sure that same vision is shared by the many dedicated teachers in Barstow.

Judith Grounds, Barstow