Column: Merit hiring best for students

Some of my fondest memories in high school are winning the conference basketball championship and classes such as chemistry, biology and English. Mr. Anderson, my English teacher, brought the classics “A Tale of Two Cities,” “The Ancient Mariner” and others to life. So much so that I couldn’t wait to go to class to discuss the next chapter. In my mind I can still hear his voice resonate reading short passages, “10,000 Duckets,” ahh... that’s the good stuff. What a shame it would have been not to have been instructed by those special individuals because of hiring policies that deny outside candidates from applying for teaching and coaching jobs in our school district. The policies I’m referring to are called preference hiring policies, which are designed to eliminate outside competition for district jobs when current members of the Union wish to take the position. The Tomah School Board adopted these policies and placed them into the collective bargaining agreement. The primary criteria in the hiring process as a result is not based on character and merit, but rather are you a member of the Tomah Teachers Union?