Editor, Gazette-Journal:

During the recent school board election campaigns in which I took part, I noted remarks by Robert Pianta, Dean of UVA’s Curry School of Education in his opinion piece last February for the Washington Post. He questioned whether the preparation provided to aspiring public school teachers is sufficient. He wants accountability from Ed Schools. Taxpayers whose funds are extracted to pay for it all have concerns too.

Pianta’s article matters in that it appears that some of Gloucester’s school board candidates were supported by local teachers with the implicit request of a quid pro quo for compensation increases in the coming months. Everybody wants a pay raise but when a public monopoly is the employer and parents have little real choice where they send little Danny or Susie, it’s hard for some of us to rationalize the basis for pay demands … especially when a dean of a regional education school writes that he’s not sure that ...