At the end of Edward Achorn’s May 13 column, “Let managers manage schools?” he writes, “As unthinkable as it might seem to restore the right of managers to actually manage the public schools, this is a debate well worth having.”

Mr. Achorn has had his say, now let me offer a counter opinion.

I think we need to give managers less rights, and give more power to educators.

In his second paragraph Mr. Achorn insinuates that what’s good for schoolchildren will be opposed by teachers unions. Of course, there are no data to back this up. Not even any anecdotal evidence. This is just his opinion. In fact, teachers unions have done more than any group in Rhode Island to effect positive change for students. I could give you countless examples — including pushing for class-size limits and leading the charge for quality professional development. But let’s be honest, what Mr. Achorn is writing about has nothing to do with what goes on in schools and classrooms. It has to do with tax rates and budgets. Mr. Achorn has no idea what happens in the classroom, and, I suspect, doesn’t care either. What he cares about is weakening unions, and cutting school budgets so that tax rates can go down.

Teachers drive education, and know what’s best for children in their schools. Contrary to popular belief, administrators (or managers to use his misnomer) are no more educators than a hospital administrator is a doctor! Do you want a hospital administrator making medical decisions that affect your health?

Mr. Achorn wants to give these “managers” more power. I think they should get less. Administrators should do budgets, scheduling and handle disciplinary issues. Beyond that, we should let the educators take care of teaching children.

Mr. Achorn wants to give managers more evaluation power. I call for educators to push for a peer-evaluation system, much as the Rhode Island Bar Association evaluates its lawyers, Internal Affairs its police, or the American Medical Association doctors. Administrators have no business evaluating educators. The professionals in the field should evaluate and “police” themselves.

Besides, not to put too fine a point on it, but there is a dearth of any administrators out there, specifically good ones. Most administrators I have worked for can’t handle the responsibilities that they have now and could never handle more, especially a more rigorous evaluation system. Who exactly are these managers who are going to turn things around in the public schools all by themselves? I am not saying there are not good people doing these jobs, but there are no super-administrators with all the answers. If they are out there, I haven’t met them yet.

Finally, as far as the rank and file who are “troubled” by their unions’ tactics and see it as why public-school teachers are under fire, in actuality it’s people like Mr. Achorn who are painting the teachers unions in a bad light. If anything, it is him and others like him who have brought such negative perception to the teaching profession.

Mr. Achorn uses a nice (albeit dishonest) trick. He claims there are teachers out there who share his view, but does not quote or name them. This is a great way to assert something that cannot be proven or disproven either way, but saying it does not make it so. Mr. Achorn knows he can say it and not back it up, and people will believe it.

It would be like me saying, “There are those within the leadership of The Providence Journal who quietly admit that Ed Achorn doesn’t know what he is talking about.” (See, isn’t that fun!)

PAUL J. BOVENZI

North Kingstown

The writer is a teacher in the West Warwick public schools and a member of the West Warwick Teachers’ Alliance.