Jim Plombon
Sartell-St. Stephen
At the recent school board candidate forum hosted by the Sartell Senior Connection, I was appalled when one of the candidates proclaimed a statement of support for educators when she stated, “These teachers are raising our children.” To many this may appear to be an innocent comment, but for older folks like myself who have watched this once great district falter, it is all too telling.
I raised my kids and my parents raised me. At home, we learned right from wrong and what it meant to put in a hard day’s work. At school, we learned how to read, how to write and how to do math. Our teachers were a valuable support, but nobody every confused them for Mom and Dad.
We need to get back to the basics in our schools! We need common sense. We need to return to the principles of freedom, family and faith. It is time to get the politics out of our classrooms and time to stop wasting the valuable resources of this community on equity audits and political agendas.
We need parents to be parents and teachers to be teachers and that’s why I will be supporting the trio of candidates promising to “put parents back into the equation.” I support Emily Larson, Jen Smith and Scott Wenshau. It will take the voice of and votes for all three of these candidates to put this district back on the right track.
Let me close by saying one more time… Parents raise their kids!