Raps Criticism Of IRMA

Editor, The News: There's a lyric from an Irving Berlin song which runs: "After you get what you want, you don't want it." And that fairly well sums up the position of the dissidents on the Ann Arbor school scène. Last year they all hollered about how the schools were being run. A mess, they cried. And right they were. Now the mess is being cleaned up, and they don't like the brand of soap. Take Mrs. Billings, for instance; IRMA wouldn't do her busy work for her (which incidentally an employee in Huron High School has been hired to do), so IRMA's no good. Take "A Teacher" for instance: He or she made "two simple requests" (if they were so simple, why didn't she do them herself?), which weren't done, so IRMA's no good. IRMA isn't infallible; nor is it a stenographer. IRMA is there to do the things that teachers can't do any other way. And in my range of hearing, IRMA's doing a good job at that. What IRMA does is to provide service to teachers so that teachers may be more effective with students. True, IRMA absorbed supplementary staff at the building level who are excellent educators - they still are. But now they are serving a much broader base of people. Last year they served too few in a system which is growing too large to afford such specialized teachers, no matter how good they are. No, Mr. and Mrs. Laton, IRMA isn't a nice frill; it's a necessity, if only we will learn how to use it. (And by the way, will you please stop bothering the administrators for "cost breakdowns" and staff lists? If you want that, go to your elected school board member and let him get it for you. That's why he was elected, so that he could serve you. Let our new administration get on with the job of overhauling our schools, which is a lask somewhat equal to the Labors of Hercules.) Don't despair, IRMA. Ann Arbor can't even change the date when school opens without a major fight; however do you expect it to accept something modern in the way of education?