Fifth Grade Teacher Jan Bobek of Soldotna Elementary School in Soldotna, Alaska recently sent a brightly colored letter (see image below) signed by her students that said, "Bring our soldiers home! They are our family." The letter was forwarded to me by a staffer who received it in the DC office of a Congressman from another state. One can only assume that similar letters were sent to other congressional offices. Given that the students only had to sign their name, there is no educational value in this note to a congressional office from another state. It's clearly a political message that's being sent by the teacher on taxpayers' dime.

I experienced a similar situation when I was in 12th grade. My teacher asked the entire class to write a letter against a piece of legislation under the guise that it was practice for writing a business letter. If passed, the bill would have affected her job since it was to increase scholarship standards in the course she taught. Since I was 18 (and a smart aleck), I spoke up in class against the assignment. Nine and Ten year-olds can't be expected to do the same.

If you would like to voice your opinion on Ms. Bobek's assignment on the taxpayers' dime, contact the county's K-12 curriculum director here. Ms. Bobek's contact information appears on the letter below.