Teachers enjoy good pay, benefits

The news on the strike by teachers in the Ringgold School District has prompted me to write my first letter to the editor.
Next year, I will retire after working as a registered nurse for 42 years. At that time, I will have no pension and no health care coverage. I will live off Social Security, the money I have saved, and I will have to work at least one day a week to purchase health care.
I have contributed well over $84,000 in school taxes while employed. I’ve never had any children. I’m sure this money helped a teacher retain their pension and health care coverage for life. I have worked weekends, holidays and every summer over the last 42 years, and my current salary is nowhere near a teachers’ salary.
If my guidance counselor in high school would have told me the difference between the retirement benefits between a nurse and a teacher, then I would have become a teacher. Then, I would have been retired years ago and would have had a pension.
Michele L. Irey
Marianna