[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6430-6431]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK

  (Mr. SIRES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of our teachers 
during National Teacher Appreciation Week.
  Across the country, we trust teachers with our most valuable 
resource: our children.
  Our teachers serve as role models and mentors to our kids, helping 
them to reach their potential; and in New Jersey, we have among the 
most talented teachers in the country.
  It was because of the mentorship of my teachers in high school that I 
applied for college and eventually became a teacher myself, and it is 
because of my experience in the classroom that I

[[Page 6431]]

 understand the challenges of our educators today.
  While we ask our teachers to prepare our children to meet the 
challenges of the 21st century, we must also give them the tools to 
rise to these challenges. Competitive salaries and financial resources 
must be provided so that they can recruit the very best teachers in 
science, technology, engineering, math, and the arts.
  While we honor our teachers this week, let's not forget the services 
they do for our children every day. Let us join together in recognizing 
teachers across this country.

                          ____________________