Teacher Pay Hike Supported

"It is important to understand that someone who doesn't speak English has a different perspective... Teaching a kid to read with a book from Maine about lobsters won't work with a kid in the South Valley."

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By Rudi Keller
Journal Staff Writer
Saturday, December 9, 2000
Albuquerque Journal

The Albuquerque Partnership wants higher teacher salaries, better early childhood education and stronger programs for students in danger of being expelled or suspended. All three of those items, and several others, are important components of a complete public school system, members of the coalition of community activist and neighborhood organizations said Friday.

The partnership, during an annual brainstorming session, was seeking to forge its education agenda for the upcoming legislative session and beyond, said Michael Chavez, community and education coordinator.

Higher salaries for educators will go far in persuading more college students to seek teaching degrees, said Danny Hernandez president of the University Heights Neighborhood Association. Hernandez led a discussion of teacher preparation during the morning. But along with more money, he said, teachers need to be better trained, especially in focusing on the needs of a culturally diverse student population.

"It is important to understand that someone who doesn't speak English has a different perspective," Hernandez said. "Teaching a kid to read with a book from Maine about lobsters won't work with a kid in the South Valley."

The public schools should receive enough money to open their doors for pre-kindergarten children, said Luanne Stordahl of RCI Inc., which helps infants and toddlers with learning disabilities. Day care centers aren't providing the atmosphere necessary to nurture the rapidly growing minds of extremely young children, she said.

All it takes to work in day care is a negative tuberculosis test and no felony convictions, Stordahl said. The key to changing that is money, she said. "Why do the people we trust with the lives of our babies get paid $6 an hour?"

To help at the older end of the public school population, there needs to be more alternatives for high school students and better counseling on job opportunities, said Mario Benavidez of New Mexico Advocates for Children and Families. Career counseling should begin in the fifth grade and continue through the ninth grade instead of being treated as an afterthought in high school, Benavidez said.

The gathering at the Valle del Norte Community Center included several educators who are concerned about the quality of materials being used in public schools. "I am dreaming of a classroom that has computers, a VCR and the textbooks and money that a child needs," teacher Lina Friedenstein said. "I would like to see that one day before I retire."