Let retired teachers fill in the gap in Chicago’s public schools

After spending decades getting rid of quality seasoned teachers, Chicago Public Schools are wondering why they can’t find quality teachers for every child.

Our best and brightest students are not going into teaching because CPS treats our best and brightest “favorite teacher” like garbage. A retired CPS teacher can only work a certain amount of days in a CPS school without forfeiting their pension.

The legislature should fix this rule and let retired CPS teachers work as many days as they want given the teacher shortage.

After all, retired teachers know the children way better than any substitute or babysitter.

We even love teaching, or we wouldn’t have dedicated our lives to the profession.

Marvin Neely, Calumet City

SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes.

No time to waste on climate crisis

My baby daughter is 13 months old. When I look at her, I feel gratitude and delight — and overwhelming anxiety and grief. I fear for her future because of the climate crisis.

After we reach the climate-change tipping point — which scientists worldwide agree will happen in less than a dozen years — while my daughter is in middle school, we will begin to suffer eco-collapse around the world.

It won’t just be “somewhere else,” and it won’t just be wild weather. Since food, medicine and economic systems are tightly tied worldwide, climate catastrophe anywhere will be felt everywhere.

It is not known whether my baby will suffer more from hunger, thirst, sickness, or the resulting discord by the time she is my age, but her suffering from at least one of these things is certain if we continue on our current path.

Individual actions such as reducing use of plastics help, but are just a start.

Addressing the climate crisis requires fundamental changes to our country’s economy, energy and systems of transportation, manufacturing and distribution. These changes are possible and offer amazing opportunities for jobs, innovation and progress on many fronts.

In order for that to happen, though, our political leaders must act decisively.

There is no time to waste.

Kaara Kallen, Logan Square

Trump and other egotists are blind to their shortcomings

A lot of egotists would quake at the thought of being president of the United States and leader of the free world.

Not President Donald Trump!

His gigantic ego shields him from understanding how truly disgusting, incompetent and even dangerous he is for our country.

Mary F. Warren, Wheaton