To All Students Who Have Received Instruction from Erica Wright, Former 8th Grade Algebra I Teacher at Pollard Middle School (Needham, MA):

Dear Students (and Parents),

I am a freshman at Needham High School, and I have recently been conveyed the unfortunate news that Mrs. Wright, my math teacher from last year, has been fired from Pollard Middle School for undisclosed reasons.

Mrs.Wright by no means deserves to have been fired. She was helpful, intelligent, open minded, and taught her students difficult material (some of which my dad admitted to me he hadn't been exposed to until later in high school) in ways that 8th grade students were capable of understanding. When students had trouble with concepts, she was always willing to help by offering both additional one-on-one and group instruction, during class or after school. Quizzes and tests covered exactly what we had learned in class - nothing more or less. Class time was nearly always extremely productive. Usually, Mrs. Wright would start off by explaining a lesson for 25 minutes or so, making sure to give us a chance to complete a few practice problems as a class in order to ensure that we understood the lesson, and then she would hand us typically two sheets: one for class work, and one for homework. In terms of homework, she expected you to put in your full effort, but was very reasonable and understood if you were a slower worker, like myself for example. Mrs. Wright's compromise was that if you worked on your homework for 40 minutes and weren't able to finish, you could receive full credit if you obtained a signature from a parent or guardian in order to confirm that you had spent 40 minutes doing your best to complete the homework.

Perhaps most of all, Mrs. Wright was very respectful of her students. She would never yell at us or single out one person unless they were behaving particularly badly. This isn't to suggest that she was a pushover. It was, in fact, the opposite; Mrs. Wright was certainly a no-nonsense type person, but she would always help you, treat you with dignity, and she was a terrific person to talk to if you were having difficulties in any school-related area.

If you, too, believe that the administration at Pollard should reconsider their decision to fire Mrs. Wright, I encourage you to sign this petition. Thank you very much for the time you put aside to read it.

Sincerely,

Anna L.