I wish to add my voice to the discussion of "good" and "bad" teachers ("State's bad teachers rarely get fired," May 9). After 40 years in the classroom, I have concluded that a "bad" teacher (of which I have seen very few) can do little harm to students who have had the benefit of strong parenting. Likewise, a "good" teacher can do little to make up for the effects of negligent parenting. We see students from dysfunctional families going to schools staffed with excellent teachers, yet the students struggle. Once in a while teachers can close the gap, but the odds are not favorable. We can't fire "bad" parents, but we can place the emphasis where it belongs and provide the support some families need to get their children ready to learn and then keep them learning. We can also give our teachers the tools and support they need when dealing with the effects of poor parenting. JAMES TOHAL, LE SUEUR, MINN.

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Another day, another article about education that, whether implicitly or explicitly, bashes teachers. While I am used to the regular vitriol against teachers posted in the online comment section, I request that the Star Tribune write a positive article about the many teachers who work hard, achieve successful results with students, put in hours beyond their contracts, and take on additional, nonteacher duties. Would it be so hard to have one article that doesn't denigrate our profession, or must every piece imply we are greedy, lazy, insipid baby sitters who are unprofessional and not worth a reasonable wage? BENJAMIN DANIEL ROSCH, OSSEO

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This is an issue I've been complaining about in Northfield for over six years, since my oldest entered middle school. It's not that Northfield doesn't have excellent, caring, skilled teachers -- we do, in abundance. It's that we protect the bad and mediocre ones, allowing them to do educational damage to dozens or (in the case of middle and high school, where the problem is especially large) hundreds of students. We protect and respect the privacy of teachers, while we allow them to undermine student learning, motivation and focus. Our administrators, coming from the teaching ranks, look the other way, ignore or deflect complaints, lose records, and generally tolerate (and thus indirectly promote) indifferent teaching. We need to do more to weed out the small percentage -- I'd estimate it around 10 percent to 20 percent -- of teachers who shouldn't be there. Let's start with state legislation to require each school district to make available a summary report on how many teachers are on performance improvement plans in a given year. Let's also build a channel from parents to the Department of Education in the cases (such as in Northfield) where the administration just can't or won't respond to legitimate parental concerns. KATHLEEN M. GALOTTI, NORTHFIELD