Vince Ramirez was excellent manager

I know there is a lot of controversy about Vince Ramirez's firing. As a future teacher, it worries me that there are people out there that drink before driving our children safely home. That's something parents shouldn't have to worry about. They place their children in our care and the only thing they ask from us is that the children are safe. I understand that.

And that's why I'm writing about Vince. He cared for all the children of District 57. There were many times I'd be lagging behind all the other schoolchildren at Lincoln, bent under the weight of my backpack and dragging my poor viola case behind me. Vince would always make sure that I, and several other musicians at Lincoln, made the bus. He understood our struggles.

He knew that new kids were not always sure which bus to get on, so he'd wait outside in front of all the buses with a clipboard, so anyone could ask him which route they were on.

Last summer I saw him training bus drivers at Westbrook, District 57's newest school. He put the drivers through all sorts of drills. I never had seen a bus successfully complete an "obstacle course" before. Vince made sure his drivers were ready for anything. He would have them back up around the whole parking lot, then drive forward through a range of cones.

He did the right thing. He couldn't prove that Ms. Burden was intoxicated. This sort of event is very rare. How would you react? He would get in more trouble if he accused her and she wasn't drunk. He took the right course of action. He was the one to inform the police. Without him Ms. Burden might still be driving our children.

Paula Burgeson

Mount Prospect