PRESERVING HISTORY
Martha Miller is a Springfield treasure ("Growing old gay," May 16). Her writing has helped preserve so much Springfield queer history. We owe her a debt of gratitude.
Caroline Kionka
Springfield
PAST INFORMS FUTURE
This was an amazing read. It's wild how perspectives from the past can make us so much more aware of the battles we fight in the present.
Lucy Yockey
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
HOPE IT GETS BETTER
Thank you for publishing Martha Miller's "Growing Old Gay" article. I moved to Springfield at 11 years old in 1998 and have lived here most of my life since. As a closeted gay teen in the aughts there were certainly challenges and loneliness, but reading stories like Martha Miller's brings me closer to a sense of closure about my childhood. I hope it only gets better for central Illinois LGBTQ+ people going forward.
Mike Gascoigne
Springfield
TEACHERS NEED TO FEEL SAFE
The situation at Grant Middle School is totally unacceptable ("Not ready to learn," May 16). Teachers need to feel safe, just as students do. I thought there was security at all District 186 schools? If not, shouldn't there be?
There needs to be serious consequences for the 5%-8% of students who are causing problems, such as threatening and assaulting other students and teachers. In my opinion, the student who wrote the email to his teacher about changing his grade should be expelled.
If the district continues to allow this type of behavior with nothing more than a 10-day suspension, the battle is lost, and you will find yourself seriously short of teachers. God bless them all!
Mark Anderson
Via illinositimes.com
NOT WORKING
It's a difficult situation for sure – the students have to go somewhere, hopefully somewhere that can help them grow and mature in more productive directions. But seeing this, combined with Springfield schools' absentee rates and test scores, it's clear that things aren't working as they are. We're going to start losing good teachers (and probably have already). What are other comparable cities doing that we could emulate?
Caroline Kionka
Springfield
DON'T CUT WHAT WORKS
Why cut a program that was working at Lawrence Education Center? Our program kept kids off the street and helped them get a high school diploma. We also helped with the district's graduation rate.
It was said at a school board meeting that it was too costly to rehab the original building on Laurel Avenue, and now Superintendent Jennifer Gill states that is exactly what they are doing.
Karla Libera
Via illinoistimes.com
MORE HANDS ON
How about a closer look at the kind of disciplinary system requiring "hands off" of violent kids even when they put hands on others and consistently disrupt school?
Sandy Baksys
Via illinoistimes.com
MORE ACCOUNTABILITY
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I served six years on the Illinois General Assembly House Education Appropriation Committee, the last two years as chairman. Parents and guardians must be held accountable for their minor children's misbehavior. Also, school administrators must pay a heavy price for allowing violence to dominate our public schools. Springfield District 186 pays the school superintendent over $200,000 per year and grants her pay increases. That nonsense needs to stop.
Bill Edley
Via illinoistimes.com
