Blaming only one side widens the rift
Lynne Varner’s opinion column [“Majoring in the minors,” Opinion, May 20] seems to be trying to say that both Seattle Public Schools and the teachers union the should stop focusing on little stuff and take care of the big stuff. It appears that she is trying to take both sides to task. Yet her piece only lambastes the union, calling the union members “whiners,” and “lost in the minutiae,” claiming that they are making “plays on our sympathies.”
The only criticism she makes of the district is that it gets distracted by all those terrible union complaints, implicitly putting even the blame for the district’s distraction on the union.
The Times continues to be a cheerleading squad for the administration, rarely, if ever, recognizing the legitimate issues facing the rank-and-file educators. When you argue for the educators and administration to put aside their petty differences and work toward benefiting children, it would be helpful if you would not widen the rifts between administration and staff by ignoring the mistakes made by the administration and amplifying those of the staff.
— Gordon Macdougall, Seattle