Posted on May 19 at 9:57 a.m.

I was so saddened to hear that Ms. Schlinder and Ms. Scuderi are being forced to resign from their teaching positions. I grew up on Marco and attended Tommie Barfield in the 1970's and I still remember both of these teachers well. Ms. Scuderi was my younger brother John's Kindergarten teacher and I remember picking him up from her classroom daily. She always took the time to show me which little book I needed to help him read each night. Ms. Schlinder was our P.E. teacher and she christened my best friend (Heather Ward) with the nickname "Gigglebox", which we continue to use to this day. Both Heather and I have grown up to be teachers ourselves and know what a tremendously demanding career choice it can be. The fact that these two ladies are still willing to teach and still obviously have a love for the job should be valued and honored. I hope that they realize that they have made an impact on thousands of kids over the years. I think that to not allow them to end their careers on their own terms is disrepectful and shameful. This is just another unfortunate example of how little teachers are valued in our society. I wish them both the very best during their well-deserved (although premature) retirement.

On Two long-serving TBE teachers to depart after non-renewal of “drop” program contracts