I’m tired of saying goodbye to great teachers

It was Friday, June 7, and I was reading Where Do Balloons Go? by Jamie Lee Curtis as a sendoff to all the teachers who were leaving.

I was thinking in particular about the third-grade teacher who worked tirelessly by my side for three years. She is young; I am old. She is creative; I know how to take great ideas. She loves children; so do I. She won’t be here next year; I will. She is leaving the teaching profession.

The simple truth that is she is single, working more hours than you can imagine, and she can´t afford to stay. I, on the other hand, provide a second income for our family. I can’t imagine my income sustaining our family.

We all had that glimmer of hope that things might change. But the 1 percent increase in our pay makes little difference. People want to blame teachers for poor performance in schools, but they do nothing to promote positive change.

So … where do balloons go? Far, far away from the school grounds, leaving behind the memory of great teachers who left the profession forever.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.