Letter: Time for the schools to focus on teachers

I read with amusement the recent article about the Beaufort County Board of Education considering asking the public for hundreds of millions of dollars in a sales tax, much of which would be spent on new schools.

Has the board given any thought as to where they are going to find teachers to teach in those new classrooms?

According to reporting in this newspaper, the district has yet to fill all of the teaching positions for this school year. Why? Because Beaufort County pays lousy wages to teachers. Many have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet, as was previously written in the paper. Rent in this area is not cheap. Some teachers need a full paycheck just to satisfy their rent. This is ridiculous.

At the end of this year, the district will again lose more wonderful, experienced teachers and will hire, if they can recruit them, more first-time teachers. What a waste of time and talent.

When is our board going to wake up and value these awesome teachers? Education is important, and it's the board's job to make sure our kids have the best.

You can supply all the laptops, administer all the tests and scan data all day long. But the bottom line is, you need qualified, experienced teachers who love our kids. You have to pay them what they are worth, or they will continue to leave our district.

Nanette Downes

Bluffton

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Letter: Time for the schools to focus on teachers."