Banquet offers a glimpse at what’s being lost

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6:18 PM Thursday, June 23, 2011

I recently had the honor of attending the Miami County Excellence in Education Banquet with a former student. She had chosen me, her physical education teacher, as her guest of honor and her most influential teacher.

I was moved to tears to think that the valedictorian of our high school had chosen me out of so many great educators. At the banquet, I was amazed to see the variety of teachers honored.

In a room full of the brightest kids in Miami County, there were math, science, history and English teachers, band directors, choir teachers, Spanish teachers, a French teacher, an art teacher, a second-grade teacher, a fifth-grade teacher and a home economics teacher.

These kids have been given thousands of dollars in scholarships and plan to major in everything from music to microbiology. They’ve been accepted at universities from Wright State to Yale. And the people who most influenced them were not just their core-subject teachers.

I am among the teachers losing their positions next year because of budget cuts. I feel sad for our kids, who are going to miss out on classes that aren’t considered as important. Ours are the first programs to go.

Maybe if our governor and school boards were extended an invitation to this banquet, they might see that the state minimum isn’t going to cut it for our kids.

Miranda Rinehart

Kettering

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