Retired teachers can continue to serve

To the editor:

As I contemplate retirement from public school education along with many others this year, the thought occurred to me that we'll be taking a wealth of expertise with us. The prospect of not using these skills for the benefit of others seems to me to foster a great waste of talent.

In today's world, we need continued commitment from our public servants. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy challenged our generation to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

If retired teachers were to volunteer to tutor in a public school for one day a week, it could have a major impact on the rate and degree of learning in such areas as math, writing and reading.

Giving back to the communities that provided our livelihoods for 30 years or more would be an exemplary way for retired educators to continue to provide service to the public.

John Adriance
Received via e-mail

Junk food doesn't belong in schools

To the editor:

The article by Mike Coyne ("Physical education needs more than mandates," March 27) was right on the money. Many hours are spent by our youth today sitting around and playing all sorts of electronic games. However, our schools can do a lot more to protect these children by not having all the junk food that is available to them.

In the past 30 years teaching in public schools, I have seen a steady decline in fitness levels in all children. There will always be your athletes but the majority of students today are out of shape.

Snack machines come in all shapes and sizes. Healthy snacks should be the only kind sold in the public school system. We can't have it both ways; we teach children to eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle, but we sell a ton of junk foods in our schools.

If we are here "for the children,'' let's keep their diet free from junk. The amount of cake, candy, ice cream and soda fund-raising sales in most schools is ridiculous.

Let's keep our next generation as healthy as possible. Some health and fitness magazines report that this current generation of youth will have a shorter life span than the baby boomers.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases are common today among our youth. Let's all work together to help our youth.

Lucian Durso
Received via e-mail

Has President Bush earned a passing grade?

To the editor:

Let's pretend that NCLB stood for "No Commander-in-Chief Left Behind" and that President Bush's "test" was merely having to have kept — and not broken — 65 percent (the traditional passing grade) of all the campaign promises he made in 2000 and 2004.

So, did he "pass?"

Richard Siegelman
Plainview