My husband and I sent our four children to NH public schools, elementary through high school; one of our four opted for a private high school, the other three went to public high school. Our children are now accomplished adults in a variety of fields because of the educational background they received preparing them for college and life. The state required the school district to offer certain curriculums, required schools to maintain class sizes and required the schools to hire certified teachers who had passed the necessary courses to become a professional educator. All of these requirements by the state helped the schools develop an education for all children and prepared them for whatever they wanted after high school, whether it was college, work, vocational training or military.

Why is the board thinking of changing these very important guidelines? What is the positive of changing the verbiage of “shall” to “may”? What is the positive of not addressing the necessity of maintaining a reasonable class size, which has been validated for years and proven to help all students at all levels? Won’t this create an even larger gap in education? Are we encouraging quality education or are we just diminishing our educational system to fit the desires of a certain few? Is this the best we can do for our children?

MaryLouise Wilson

Alton