Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I support the school budget. As a state boating safety instructor, I taught several classes in both Thomas Hunter Middle School and Mathews High School. I witnessed substandard conditions in both schools, most notably unsanitary and unsafe. I don’t visit these schools very often, but I do know no student needs to face this every day.

This is an example of how our school system in Mathews is broken. It is drastically underfunded not only for infrastructure issues, but more importantly our teachers and staff are spread thin and underpaid. Over the last decade, teachers received a 1 percent increase in salary while the cost of living increased 19.5 percent. Mathews County needs to support the school budget and select an interim supervisor who will commit to: funding the school infrastructure, increasing school and county staff pay, and solving this problem.

Our school system and our teachers deserve better than this. Their students deserve better than thi...