The start of school at our local high school was enough to give one a warm, fuzzy feeling---but only if you are the kind to ignore picketing on the first day of school. I have no problem when teachers without a contract picket. I just believe that picketing should never be the welcome back for students, at least a fourth of whom are new.

But the picketing is the least of it. Last spring, it became apparent that we were going to play the �I won�t write college recommendations without a contract� game yet again�but this time it would affect my kids. I SO have a problem with this game. It�s not a new game. High school teachers were pulling it back when I was in high school. But it wears no better with age. I�m not very concerned about Kat. She will be able to find alternative recommendations easily if the college she is dying to go to advises her to do so. Besides, she tests beautifully and she�s in the top 7% of her class. The kids I worry about more are the borderline kids, the kids who don�t stand out and who may be overlooked by the colleges they want without someone taking enough interest to write something to pull them out of the pile.

The whole thing doesn�t even make long-term sense to me. Sure, it causes parents of seniors to get their knickers in a twist. But times have changed. Even if all of us parents wanted to do so, state law does not allow us to spend above a set amount in the school budget. We cannot manufacture money. Besides, the teachers usual argument for more money is that they do such a stellar job as evidenced both by test scores and by the amount of college attendance, particularly at what are considered top colleges. Writing recommendations would bolster that claim. Not doing so hurts it.

It�s not that I am unsympathetic to unions nor that I do not know the frustration of working without a contract for a long time. I am a union member myself and my union has been without a contract for as long as the teachers have. Still, I could never imagine only doing the absolutely essential parts of my cases. I could not imagine failing to respond to letters unless I dubbed answering that particular query to be essential to representation. I could not imagine refusing to speak to wives and sisters and other family members and give them general information when confidentially bars me from giving specific information. These contacts may not be essential in the broader sense but they are essential to the valuing of people.

I have long believed that, after a time, it becomes difficult to separate ends from means. In my experience, the means often dictate the ends---sometimes in ways unforeseen. I do not know how you convince students you have their best interests at heart when it becomes so blatantly obvious that their futures are unimportant in your scheme of life. I do not know how you teach children that going above-and-beyond is usually a virtue when you will not live it. Most of all, I do not know how you teach children to value education when you place so little value on their continuing their education.

I try to avoid crossing picket lines during job actions. But not this time. I have let the superintendent (who also serves as principal, sort of) know that, if it comes to that, I will write college recommendations for my mock trial kids. I�m giving him some time to work the situation out and then I�m wading in.

And I�ll go ahead and swim out to save those I can if I have to.

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