To the Editor:

Cathleen Sato's opinion of the people behind Educate Worthington (Worthington News, Nov. 18) is correct, but she gives them too much credit. They're not as effective as Sato thinks.

There is reason for that. They can say less in more words than a fundamentalist preacher.

A reading of John Herrington's guest column (Worthington News, Nov. 11) and any of Marc Schare's pontifications reveals the fatal flaw of the Educate Worthington leaders: They have no solutions to the problems they claim exist. Ask any of them for a direct answer to what specific changes should be made and you will not get an answer.

In the late 1990s, I attended a public forum at which then-school board member Jim Timko stated that Worthington teachers were overpaid. I then asked him point blank how much Worthington teachers should be paid. He looked as though I had just handed him a subpoena and he sheepishly answered, "I don't know."

Ms. Sato wants to "call them out." The best way to do that is to pose the question: "How much should Worthington teachers be paid in salary and benefits?" Any answer other than specific figures will be an admission that they can't substantiate their claims. If they know enough to make the statements they've made, they know enough to give the specific figures requested.

Dick Graham