Please understand that it is with a great deal of hesitancy that I write this letter. It has been my observation certain individuals in our community who suffer from a lack of accurate information, do not suffer from any shortage of time in which to bombard your page with their opinions. For those reasons (and an absence of any balance in political cartoons) I have simply avoided the pages dedicated to letters to the editor.

I am a teacher at Oak Harbor High School and in scanning through the names of some of the writers, I have noticed students’ names amongst them. Since “Democracy Equals Participation” (some of my students may recognize that phrase) I will toss my hat into the fray, hopefully adding a perspective that has been missing from the OHHS discussion.

I am in my fourth year of teaching social studies at OHHS. Because of a classroom shortage I spent my first three years as one of those teachers that traveled from room to room. Because two teachers in the department retired last year, I finally got my own room this year. There has been some discussion in the paper suggesting that a teacher traveling from room to room is a good thing. Let me splash the cold waters of reality on that idea.

Since I have got my own room, I have found that my connections with students have probably quadrupled. Students visit me throughout the day to communicate thoughts, dreams and things outside their school work, to build on the connections established in class. I directly attribute this growth in connecting with students to them not having to go looking for me, since I have not changed my teaching style in the last four years.

Now that I have my own room, classroom management is so much easier. The hectic pace of having to move from classroom to classroom wears on the teacher. Not having that daily carpet-bagging stress makes me a better manager of the classroom because I am less stressed.

I have material on my walls that build on what I teach. I have homework helps and teaching aids that I was not able to put up when I shared classrooms. No matter how nice and accommodating other teachers are (when you share rooms) the comparison between then and now is non-existent.

I love having time between classes where I can stop and spend time with students. Whether it is a student that may have a question that they wanted to ask directly to me or a student that is confused and needs one-on-one time while the material is still fresh in their mind, being available between classes is priceless.

Having my own classroom has helped me get better prepared for teaching. My students have portfolios that I used to cart from class to class. If a student wanted to check on materials in their portfolio or wanted other materials, I had to work a way to get back to wherever I had those items stored.

Taking a look around my room (8A) at OHHS you will notice several things. You will notice that to accommodate the 33 desks, there is little room for much else. The other day a standing globe became available in the social studies department and I turned it down because of inadequate space to put it. With all of the desks in my room, I often have a hard time moving my overhead projector around the room. You will also notice that all of the furniture in my classroom is fairly old. I treat it all with loving care, but their age is fairly evident.

I know there is some concern about whether or not the district is frugal with its budget. I am politically conservative and have not had any issues with how the district manages their money. I am 100 percent behind the move to renovate OHHS. My room has two doors, one opening to a newer widened hallway and the other to one of the older narrow hallways. When classes are dismissed and I need to leave my classroom, I always exit into the widened hallway to avoid getting stuck in the chaos of humanity. I also support the district doing the renovation right the first time.

Jim Crouch lives and teaches in Oak Harbor.