Spanish language department at North Bethesda Middle School

Gazette Letter to the Editor: Teachers need more oversight

I love teachers. They are among the most notoriously underappreciated, underpaid groups of professionals of our time. Unfortunately, every once in a while, we get one who shouldn't be teaching. They're burned out, stressed out, maxed out ... whatever the issue, they are no longer good for our children. So what do we do? Well, nothing. After three years of good behavior, they earn tenure and they are apparently set for life, long after their teaching has become ineffective and/or inaccurate.

Take the Spanish language department at North Bethesda Middle School. One of the teachers cannot speak the language properly and therefore teaches the students in her class some kind of hybrid language that is completely useless, leaving parents to find private tutors or subsequent teachers to undo the damage.

Here in Montgomery County, knowledge of Spanish is quickly becoming vital. How can we continue to shortchange our children and keep protecting the teacher at the expense of the student?

Sef Hussey, Bethesda