To the Editor:

Movies, articles and books have moaned on and on about the state of education in the nation. There are many success stories that we never hear about, including the excellent job that our Brunswick teachers do day in and day out.

Recently, another success story has emerged. Everyone should read the News in Review section in the Feb. 10 editions of the New York Times. The article was written by professor David Kirp of the University of the California at Berkeley.

Kirp describes the wonderful work and results achieved in Union City, N.J., public schools. Some highlights will make my point: Eighty-nine percent of the students graduate from high school; 75 percent go on to college.

All of this achieved in a poor city where the unemployment rate is 60 percent, and three-quarters of the students mostly come from poor, immigrant families where Spanish is spoken in the home.

How is the school district doing this? It implemented free two years of prekindergarten. It started a program that teaches Spanish and English to all in the early grades, and started treating teachers with the utmost respect, as expert educational leaders.

The city does not have any charter schools and does not use the program called Teach for America.

Check out some good news for a change.

Robert Morrison
Brunswick