Your Opinion: Board of Education should keep education commissioner

Dear Editor:

I am a product of public education and so are my four children. I have been a school board member on the Maries County R-2 Board of Education since 2011.

I have sent this letter to the members of the State Board of Education:

Dear fellow Board of Education Members,

Please keep Commissioner Vandeven in place. She has been an excellent advocate for all of our children and all public, parochial, and charter schools in Missouri. All schools need to be held accountable to the same standards.

It is completely unfair to judge this commissioner on student test scores especially since we have all had completely different tests which cannot be compared for several years.

Please, give us all a chance. Being appointed is to be a great honor. Being a school board member should be about all of our Missouri students regardless of location, race, color, creed, gender, socio-economic status of parents/guardians, intelligence, and disability.

I am inviting each of you to contact me and come to visit our school district, Maries County R-2. Let's walk through the buildings, visit with our students, faculty, staff, and parents/guardians. Then perhaps you'll be better able to understand how we have benefitted under the leadership of our commissioner, Commissioner Margie Vandeven.