Teachers returned to classrooms across Sampson County earlier this week, with students to follow just a few short days from now, on Aug. 27.

Actually educators in both the city and county school systems have been in and out of their respective schools for several weeks now, some working to create vibrant rooms and develop innovative lessons, others to attend workshops and training exercises, all in preparation for the best school year they can possibly offer to students .

It is our hope, as this new school year moves into full swing, that those within the community, whether parents or not, offer their full support to educators and the plans they have to move our children forward, both academically and socially.

Unlike 20 or 30 years ago, when a teacher’s word was gospel, today, parents tend to side first with the child, no matter the circumstance, often blaming poor behavior on anything but the youngster in question.

Too often parents take the attitude that their child can do no wrong. They often blame the teacher, suspecting, somehow, that the educator has a vendetta against the child for some reason or another. The end result, in their mind, is that the teacher is surely wrong in their assessment of a child’s problem. There’s little doubt that their youngster, though he may be a petulant child at home, is certainly a little angel in the halls of academia.

It leaves teachers in a position they cannot escape, a battle they often cannot win. And if teachers can’t communicate with parents willing to listen, even if it’s something they don’t want to hear, then the ultimate loser becomes the child.

Teachers don’t always get the respect they deserve in today’s society, nor the support that surely must come in order for students to achieve the successes we all want and expect.

Teachers have been placed in a tug-of-war, often landing in the middle between a child and a parent, and parents, oftentimes feeling guilty for their own inattentiveness toward their children, feel the need to side with the youngsters against the big, bad educator.

Unfortunately, that kind of attitude doesn’t help their child in any way, certainly not in the educational realm. And it teaches them that it’s OK to point a finger of blame at someone else rather than accept responsibility for their action.

What’s more it sends the wrong message to teachers.

The message needs to be one of support.

This year, we hope that’s the message teachers receive.

We are fortunate in Sampson County to have educators who genuinely care about the youngsters in their classrooms. They are men and women who want to see each child, each middle-schooler and each teenager succeed, and they want to be a part of leading them to that success.

We should allow them to do just that, and we should applaud their efforts, back them up in their quest and teach our children to be respectful the men and women who truly are in it for them.