There are 1,603 unfilled teaching jobs in Kansas right now, according to the website that posts them, out of some 34,000 such positions in the state. The site also says, Kansas, a great place to teach and live!
But what it doesnt say is no secret: According to the U.S. Education Departments National Center for Education Statistics, the starting salary for Kansas teachers is down an average of 4.3 percent in constant dollars from what they were paid 16 years earlier. And while Kansas has a lot to recommend it, teacher pay that ranks 45th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia is not an enticement.
So when an excellent, deeply committed visual arts and theater teacher in rural Kansas, where recruitment is especially challenging, feels he has no choice but to leave the state after receiving a series of threatening letters about his sexual orientation, thats hurtful not only to that man and that community, but also to the whole states reputation and to its already struggling and under-funded education system.
Its an offense to the common decency and common sense that Kansas is rightly known for. And its a hindrance to the effort to rebuild public schools hobbled by former Gov. Sam Brownbacks deep and deeply harmful tax cuts.
Discrimination, as always, is a social justice issue, but its an economic issue, too, with many companies these days as interested in tolerant attitudes as in tax incentives.
Nemaha Central High School in Seneca, Kan., population 2,000, is sorry to lose Michael Hill, who had also started a community theater program in the town. Hill has said he wanted to stay but felt he had no choice but to relocate. He moved to California in February, and his resignation was accepted with great regret earlier this month.
Mr. Hill was our art department, said Superintendent Darrel Kohlman. He was the director of our plays, and he did a very good job as a classroom teacher. Were sorry not to have him anymore.
Ever since coming out as gay last fall, Hill had been sharing the hateful letters he received with Kohlman. In January, he also turned them over to the local police.
Fags are not welcome in our schools, said one of the letters, which Hill also posted on Facebook.
Queers will burn and so will you, said another. Dont think my friends and I still aint after you.
I know where you live, said the one that convinced Hill to leave. I know a lot about your schedule. You need to watch your back cause I aint alone.
One of Hills sons, who is a student at the University of Kansas, said that before his father left town, one of his tires was slashed, someone wrote faggot in the dust on his car, and he became so concerned for his safety that the owner of his apartment installed a security camera he could monitor from his cellphone.
Police are taking the investigation seriously, and its no doubt true that, as Kohlman says, what happened to Hill in Seneca does not represent the majority of our students, our district or staff, or community.
Theyre also being punished for the unlawful, uneducated actions of those behind the letters. The answer isnt to ignore or minimize their behavior, but to send them a strong message in return: You are hurting all of us, and its your bigotry that isnt welcome in Kansas.
The Kansas City Star
