I would like to express my gratitude for my year at Clancy Elementary School. It is by far the best school I have ever worked in. The staff works well together and they work very hard. Mr. Bruce Dunkle is a fabulous principal and the best one I have ever worked for.

I would like the community to know my reasons for leaving my position. My husband and I are both teachers and we have three children. Our salaries are not sufficient to keep up with the cost of living. Without medical and dental insurance for our family and/or higher pay, we are not able to supply our children with the quality of care we feel they should have. Because of the recent events in negotiations with the Clancy board over salaries, I am concerned about salaries in the future. For almost the entire time my husband and I have taught, we have qualified for the CHIPS program and a few years ago we qualified for food assistance as a family. I do not think two college-educated people should have to resort to public assistance to support their family.

Besides low pay, I am also concerned about my own future and the future of my family when it comes to education. I fully intend to go back to school to improve my skills and to receive my master's degree. Unfortunately, there is very little monetary incentive (in my current district) for receiving a master's and the expense of more education in Montana is very high.

I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in third grade. I love my job, my students and the summers with my family. However, when I look down the road 30 years, I am worried that I will work my whole life as a teacher and have very little to show for it without another means of income. I plan on returning to teaching. The Army will help me pay for more education, train me in foreign language skills and provide my family with excellent medical and dental benefits. My enlistment salary is thousands of dollars higher than a full time teaching contract and the Army rewards individuals who continue their personal education. In many ways it saddens me that I have to leave my profession in order to better myself for it. I look forward to the day when I can afford to be a teacher in Montana again.

I have been a member of a school board so I know the financial issues from both sides of the table. I also know that when we as a board had the means of providing higher salaries to our teachers, we did so unanimously. There was never a question about whether or not teachers deserved higher pay, more salary steps or better benefits.

I hope the Clancy school board will value not only education but also the people who educate. Ensure for the future the continuance of excellent teachers and programs by helping them provide for themselves and their families. Ensure better educators by encouraging them to receive more education and by giving them incentive to continue to grow and learn as professionals.

In service to my community and my country,

Tammy Sloulin of Basin was a teacher at Clancy School. She resigned this spring to join the Army.