To the Editor:

I am writing this in response to the article titled “Parent worries about safety of children in Franklin schools.” I am a parent of a fourth-grader, a ninth-grader, and an eleventh-grader and I also happen to be a teacher at S.P. Morton. I do NOT fear for safety of my children, nor do my children.

My oldest child happened to be on the bus when the alleged sexual battery incident occurred. She sat in the middle of the bus and had no idea that it had happened. The girls were quiet and didn’t make their bad behavior obvious.

I do NOT blame the teachers who were on the bus. When riding with a group of girls, you just don’t think of this ever happening. I know they are monitoring differently now, but I don’t at all believe because of this bus incident that the two teachers now make the school unsafe. That’s just crazy.

My oldest child has had the PRIVILEGE of having one of these teachers for three different subjects; algebra II, chemistry and now honors physics. This teacher also oversees Academic Challenge.

This teacher is dedicated and is an awesome teacher! She was Franklin City School’s Teacher of the Year last year and I hope my other children will have her. I don’t want her to go back to her engineering job making $50,000 more a year. She not only can teach and teach well, but she also cares about the students and relates to them.

My daughter says, “She’s tough and you have to work hard but she cares and she’ll help you any way she can.”

When some people read the article, I heard them say, “Yeah, why are those teachers still there?” I wrote this response to let people know that things aren’t always as they appear. Sometimes there is more to a story.

Cherle’ Karmilovich
Franklin