Also on today’s menu:
College Wine-Tasting Bill Defeated In Concord
Looking Forward To Solar Eclipse Day
Senator Daniel Innis (R-Bradford) is the sponsor of Senate Bill 374 which would address the state’s teacher shortage by allowing schools to hire part-time teachers who have not yet been certified by the New Hampshire Board of Education. Innis represents Alexandria, Andover, Boscawen, Bradford, Bridgewater, Bristol, Danbury, Franklin, Goshen, Grafton, Hebron, Henniker, Hill, Hillsborough, Newbury, Orange, Salisbury, Sutton, Tilton, Warner, Webster, and Wilmot.
Senator Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton) supports the legislation in the belief that having an uncertified teacher is better than having no teacher at all. Many school districts are having a hard time filling positions for paraprofessionals, special education, and classroom teachers, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. “Schools are having a hard time finding teachers, especially for specialized elective courses,” Lang said. “Local districts should be allowed to fill those gaps. We need to trust our local school boards to choose quality and qualified people in their community.”
While the proposal still would require part-time teachers to pass a criminal history background check, and would not extend to a teacher whose license has been revoked, many Democrats and members of teachers’ unions see the bill as an effort to undermine teaching standards. Megan Tuttle, president of the National Education Association, called the bill “a misguided attempt to address that [teacher shortage] crisis. … Regardless of whether someone teaches full- or part-time, we should all agree it is imperative that they possess the knowledge and skills to teach effectively.”
The Senate Education Committee supported the bill which then passed, 14-10, in the full Senate. The bill now is on its way to the House.
Discussion: Teaching credentials are useful, but many of the best private schools do not require certification, recognizing that “real-world” experience can be just as useful, as long as the teacher is able to communicate that knowledge to the student. It is illogical to argue that it is better to not have a teacher than to have someone who is willing to teach but does not have specialized training. What the bill lacks, however, is a time limit on how long an uncredentialed teacher can work before pursuing certification. Anyone who teaches (or is in any other profession) should be working toward improved skills if making the job into a career.
College Wine-Tasting Bill Defeated In Concord
Another Innis-sponsored piece of legislation, Senate Bill 194, failed on a 15-9 vote deeming it “inexpedient to legislate”. The bill would have allowed New Hampshire college students between the ages of 18 and 21 to “taste” — defined as “to draw an alcoholic beverage into the mouth, but does not include swallowing or otherwise consuming the alcoholic beverage” as long as it is part of a degree program done for educational purposes. The bill was intended to bolster the state’s courses in enology, the study of wine, and brewing.
Markus Schuckert, chair of the University of New Hampshire Department of Hospitality Management had made the case that undergraduate students need to know the taste of the beverages they are studying. Schuckert’s argument was countered by representatives of substance use disorder awareness groups who argued that lives have been saved by the state’s 21-and-older drinking law, and it should not be altered.
Five Republicans joined all 10 Democrats in voting the measure down.
Discussion: There is no doubt that alcohol can be a harmful substance and that it has led to deaths, including some of my best friends. That has not stopped the state from promoting alcohol sales along the highways. Allowing its use under the provisions of this bill would make it a controlled activity and one that makes sense if a student is studying the subject for future work. Even when that is not the case, a little sampling in a controlled situation seems safe to me. Perhaps that is because, when I was a freshman in college — when the drinking age was 18 — Dean Carroll Brewster made the rounds of the dormitories to hold wine-and-cheese introductions to college life, regaling the incoming students with tales of his experiences as a traveling magistrate in Africa where, among other things, he had to devour the local delicacy, raw camel’s stomach. Then there were the English Department wine-and-cheese get-togethers where we listened to and discussed prose and poetry. It is true that some students carried drinking too far — Hanover reportedly sold the most alcohol of any place between Boston and Montréal, and the movie “Animal House” was based on one of Dartmouth’s fraternities — but I don’t think those excesses were the results of a few wine-and-cheese parties.
Looking Forward To Solar Eclipse Day
Speaking of legislation and the hospitality industry, the New Hampshire Legislature passed a declaration in 2021, naming Monday, April 8, 2024, as Solar Eclipse Day, and now there is House Bill 1471 that would declare the day a school holiday and allow local school districts to organize viewings of the eclipse. It is the first time that New Hampshire has been in the path of totality in a solar eclipse since 1959, and it won’t happen again until 2079.
State tourism officials are calling it a “massive opportunity” to welcome thousands of sightseers to the North Country this spring. Most of the state will see 95 percent coverage of the sun, but in northern New Hampshire, the moon will completely obscure the sun. The path of totality will begin in northern New Hampshire at 3:27 p.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., and leave the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland at 5:16 p.m.
The New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development suggests that businesses capitalize on the eclipse by offering special lodging packages, restaurant watch parties, special menus, cocktail events, swag, and community gatherings in town squares. The Wentworth in Jackson plans to have a pre-eclipse meet-and-greet with astronomer Paul Winalski, an outdoor viewing reception with fire pits, and cocktails, themed desserts, and small bites that represent areas close to the equator. The Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce has arranged with the state to offer official eclipse glasses to all area hotels to encourage safe viewing of the eclipse.
Discussion: I have a vague memory of seeing the 1959 eclipse, and look forward to seeing this one from the back deck of my cottage in Wentworth’s Location. If the weather follows its usual pattern, however, the day will be cloudy, as it has been for the recent meteor showers we had looked forward to viewing from a place with minimal light pollution.
The last thing that a state should want are uncertified people to teach a class of special education students, in particular. Please don’t do what Florida has done. The state may believe this an answer. Obviously it isn’t. And, what has happened here is certified quality teachers are resigning due to this, and other laws that have been passed regarding the LGBTQ+ community by limiting how teachers interact with students. Including up to being charged with a felony if a teacher listens to a student who is going through a difficult time regarding this community for a number reasons.
I am starting to believe that many politicians do not want students to receive quality education. You know, the type of education if they were fortunate to go to a prep school where they have quality teachers and sincerely want to teach students to be able to critically think. Since the legislature here put in some of these laws the testing scores for reading and math at grade level have significantly decreased.