Big factor, Chuck! Curious how some cultures and families with supportive parents, a positive attitude about their schools and teachers, and a recognition that THEY and their school district are responsible for educating their children can find success within the public school system. In each public school there are great teachers, good teachers, average teachers, and possibly a couple of poor ones. A distribution of talent found in most professions, like it or not. While we may want it, we don't pay our teachers enough to have all of them be good and great ones. Teaching has rarely attracted the brightest and most creative candidates; other careers are more appealing. The figures presented as average teacher salaries must be skewed heavily by teacher turned district administrator numbers because even with twenty-seven years of experience and six years worth of college credits, my pay was always below the figure published as the average teacher salary. My wife's grandfather was on a small district school board. An oddity for sure, in that he didn't put much stock in education. He was complaining about the poor teachers in his district and how they weren't worth the money they were being paid. At that point, I asked him, "What would you have to do to get better ones?" He thought about it for a moment and responded, "I guess we would have to pay them MORE." As a teacher, I always enjoyed seeing the lightbulb of discovery go on.

Another factor is the ever present need to pass a school levy. Can't offend ANY patron of the district with real discipline, or a serious reality check of their child's behavior 'cause that will just lead to a NO vote next election. A case in point would be the Lacey mom who recently went ballistic because an elementary teacher used a single wrap of masking tape as a seat belt to remind a disruptive student to stay in his chair. If she had used twenty wraps of duct tape the mother's response would have been warranted. If she really felt the teacher's action fell outside the realm of creative discipline, there were so many ways she could have dealt with the situation other than turning it into a television news story. It has been said that behind every great man, there's a great woman. My own experience indicates that behind most messed up young men, there's a mom with her hair on fire!