Michelle Wu: “on Monday, May 23, I read a disturbing story in The Oregonian newspaper. It was not about the war in Iraq, the rise of…”

“on Monday, May 23, I read a disturbing story in The Oregonian newspaper. It was not about the war in Iraq, the rise of unemployment in Oregon, or even the growing problem with methamphetamine abuse. Instead, this story focused on a school fundraiser. What was so disturbing about this fundraiser is that the students and their parents at Redland Elementary School in Oregon City were hosting a jog-a-thon to raise money to hire a physical education teacher. It was not for band uniforms, not for supplies, or even for a field trip; it was to hire a teacher. The parents and students have hosted this fundraiser every year since 1994 when the school district no longer had enough money to pay for a PE teacher. Sadly, this is not the first tale of such fundraisers in Oregon. In 2003, the Eugene Register-Guard reported on similar efforts of parents who were hosting fundraisers to pay for a math teacher. Math classes were jeopardized because the then current math teacher was retiring and there was not enough money to hire a new math teacher. The parents and teachers decided to give their blood to fund the position. That is right, blood. After realizing that bake sales would not raise enough money, parents and teachers decided to sell their blood plasma to raise money to fund a teacher.…”