Story's tone does disservice to staff

As a volunteer at Prairieview School's reading department I was upset by your article about the Blue Ribbon Lighthouse award and the conference that 20 of our fine Prairieview professionals attended.

The tone of the article implied that the award was a worthless token bought and paid for by District 46 taxpayers.

This trip allowed teachers and administrators to share exciting new approaches and techniques with educators from different states. In order to prepare for this opportunity our participants worked hard to explain our wonderful program and its progress.

Granted, it was costly but to assume that this was a pleasure junket without merit does our fine staff a disservice. I admire the excellent dedication of these caring educators here at Prairieview.

Daily they strive to see that every child who needs extra help in literacy gets it.

As they describe the long days of giving presentations and listening and learning from others I think it demeans them to assume that their trip was fun and games. When they returned to home base, they were filled with enthusiasm and fresh ideas to make our environment even more pleasant and interesting for our students.

We are fortunate to have such highly qualified leaders for our students. They deserve all awards for the work they do here in District 46.

Mary Bitto

Wildwood