Caring teachers

To the editor:

I am a teacher and mother of a son who attended East Heights and had the good fortune of being in Donna Lang’s class.

Lawrence’s Early Childhood Program was a life raft for us, especially because we were in the infancy stages of identifying our son’s needs and were reeling from an unfortunate child care experience.

The teachers and staff at East Heights were warm, professional and welcoming. My son enjoyed a wide variety of experiences during his time there. He was viewed as a unique child whose needs were met through tireless efforts, and his talents were encouraged and appreciated.

This was certainly not a “factory” or “industry” as some misguided online comments have suggested. The comments come from individuals who have no experience whatsoever with Ms. Lang or the Early Childhood program, yet they seem happy to use Lang’s letter as a means to degrade such important work with diatribes about the state of modern public education.

The Lawrence district employs many incredible teachers who, while needing to fulfill obligations related to assessment testing, also push themselves to teach a dynamic curriculum to students they care about deeply.

In my classroom, students are encouraged to express their ideas and present challenges within the guidelines of being informed and respectful. Legions of teachers have led their classes this way, hoping to instill responsible, productive and inspired habits of civic behavior in these future adults.

By their conduct, it seems these critics perhaps were absent for those days of school.