To the editor:

I am writing to comment on the article, “Advocacy group draws criticism,” (Dec. 18). The article quoted one attendee, who stayed for only a portion of the meeting, who criticized Saving Excellence in Scarborough Schools (SESS) for appearing to focus only on teacher salaries as a way to improve education.
The goal of SESS is to promote community discussions about what the community wants in its municipal government and school department. This community-wide soul-searching is critical at a time when our town risks losing millions of dollars in state funds. We need to prioritize what our guiding principles should be as our school board and town council draft their budgets.
Other towns’ school departments are conducting similar introspections.
Portland recently held a two-day conference attended by 100 community members, including teachers, students and community leaders, to craft a “vision statement” that will be used to guide the school department as it makes difficult budget decisions.
Among the recommendations were that students’ success depends on strong community partnerships, including families and success in the global marketplace demands 21st century skills and technology; and all students should have equal access to quality education.
Cumberland’s school department is asking residents, teachers, and students to fill out a survey at its Web site to prioritize school programs.
Another neighboring city has proposed creating focus groups to recommend education priorities. Among the groups are senior citizens.
At first glance, seniors may be a curious choice from whom to elicit views on education, but every member of a community benefits from a high-quality education system. For example, retirees are untapped volunteer resources who can provide one-on-one tutoring and coaching to students. They can also provide time and expertise in fundraising, grant writing and other initiatives that can benefit students and the school system at a low cost.
But this is also a two-way street for retirees. When it comes time to sell their homes, the presence of a strong school system will drive buyers to their home in a weak market.
Other potential “focus group” representatives include employers, who can provide input into ideal curriculum and offer apprenticeships, job shadowing, and other opportunities that can enrich students, and of course students and parents.
The other group whose input is vital – and which netted SESS criticism—are teachers. We would be remiss not to involve teachers, many of whom are Scarborough residents. Whenever any company launches a movement to improve quality and efficiency, all employees are involved in discussions about how to improve productivity. It is often the workers themselves who know best how efficiencies can be gained.
In this case, to not invite teachers to be part of this discussion would place us all at a disadvantage, which is why SESS is promoting information nights at each school so parents, teachers, administrators, and even students can discuss the quality of school programs and examine what works, what doesn’t, and what we can do about it.
Unfortunately, this communitywide discussion comes at a time when Scarborough teachers, who are among the lowest paid in the county, have worked without a contract for several months, despite the fact that police will get a 6 percent raise and firefighters will get a 3 percent raise effective July 1. This fact was raised during the recent SESS meeting.
But even if the teacher contract was settled tomorrow, Scarborough still needs to have these soul-searching discussions about what its priorities will be in the months ahead and the mission of SESS would remain unchanged.
If we residents sit out this public discussion, or get deflected by futile debates about the value of police, firefighter or teacher unions, we will miss an opportunity  to make us a stronger, more efficient and more cohesive community.

Christine Kukka
Parent coordinator, SESS