[Susan notes: Here is activism at its best. We can only hope that people in the community will want to know what is in that booklet.]

Published in Reno Gazette Journal
08/02/2007

To the editor

Why is school board afraid of a booklet?



What is No Child Left Behind all about? NCLB. Blaze those letters into your brains, people. Learn what it is doing. It will change public education forever.



"What Every Parent, Teacher, and Community Member Needs to Know About 'No Child Left Behind'"‰" is a booklet printed in English that explains just what that law is about. (The Spanish translation is online at http://www.educatorroundtable.org)



I foolishly thought that Washoe County School District would want this booklet to give to its teachers that they might understand this law. Oh, heavens, no! It has become "forbidden material" now. I cannot give it to principals or teachers on school grounds. The School Board wouldn't approve, I am officially told.



So what if it is free? So what if it is true and heavily documented and written by a woman who has been a literacy teacher for 25 years, has been published in numerous magazines, has received awards that most of us only dream about.

What is so scary to the School Board in this booklet?



Look for a local news vendor on a nearby street corner -- they are my last resort for distribution of what you need to know. Get one and read it!

— Georgia Hedrick, retired teacher