By BILL MAXWELL, St. Petersburg Times

Public school teachers nationwide have their eyes on Washington. The reason is not the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. It is the bread-and-butter issue of tenure. The battle is being waged between Michelle Rhee, the tough chancellor of the Washington public schools, and the 4,000-member Washington Teachers' Union.

In the film "The Emperor's Club," an epiphany on the role of the teacher occurs when Mr. Hundert, a classics history professor at an elite prep school, travels to Washington to speak with Sen. Hyram Bell about the senator's son, Sedgewick, who is a student in Hundert's class.

SKEDDED. READY TO SEND.Conventional wisdom says low-income parents whose children attend low-performing public schools do not care much about their children's education and, therefore, are not involved in their children's schools and their children's learning away from school.

On four different occasions during my teaching career, I was an adjunct professor - twice at major universities, twice at community colleges. Back then, adjuncts made up about 40 percent of the nation's college professors . Now, they account for a whopping 70 percent.

For many major universities, their sports teams, especially their football and basketball teams, give them their proud persona. The teams and their star players are virtually worshipped.

Tampa Bay area public libraries have been in the news a lot of late and not for good reasons. Most recently, because of budget shortfalls, Treasure Island commissioners voted to stop funding the Gulf Beaches Public Library system that serves Madeira Beach, Redington Beach, North Redington Beach and Redington Shores.

Few Americans will recognize these names: Catherine Burks Brooks, Charles Butler, Allen Cason Jr., William E. Harbour, Larry F. Hunter, Frederick Leonard, William Mitchell Jr., Ernest Patton Jr., Pauline Knight Ofosu, Etta Simpson Ray, Mary Jane Smith, Frances Wilson, Clarence M. Wright and Baba El Senzengakulu Zulu (formerly Lester G. McKinnie).

Between each December and May, Florida grows nearly the entire U.S. crop of fresh field tomatoes for our homes, restaurants and supermarkets. Although the tomato is essential produce, most consumers do not know, or do not care, that many of the farm workers who harvest the crop are exploited and otherwise mistreated.

"Crist throws McCabe under the bus." An angry reader posted this on Tampabay.com on Thursday.