Trumped up charges.

The situation at Clear Creek Elementary School in Bloomington, Indiana, is not an isolated case ("A Chill in the Classroom," by Matthew Rothschild, March issue). Without the backing of a strong union, teachers across the country are virtually powerless to defend themselves against determined parents and administrators. Free market ideologues vigorously maintain that unions diminish educational quality by protecting incompetent teachers. What they slyly avoid, however, are cases such as Deb Mayer's. The trumped up charges against her would never have been filed if her school had an effective teachers' union.

Walt Gardner

Los Angeles, California