Carmel High School senior Reid Watson earned a perfect 2400 score on the SAT.

But even Watson doesn’t have any easy answer to the difficulties the Carmel Clay School Board and teachers face in resolving their contract issues. Teachers are working under terms of a contract that ended June 30, 2008. Watson joined three other Carmel High School seniors in the public participation portion of Monday night’s School Board meeting.

“It’s easy for all of us to overlook the contributions teachers make outside of hours of 7:50 to 3:05 Monday through Friday,” Watson said. “We ask that all in attendance here, please consider the teachers’ sacrifices outside of the classroom. In the best interests of Carmel Clay students, we ask both sides to make concessions to resolve this issue in a rapid matter. Because in the end, education is about the students.”

Watson, Sunny Hung, Steve Brisley, Shataakshi Dube were among those honored as National Merit Semifinalists at the meeting. The four then took turns at the microphone, supporting teachers.

Hung, one of 34 National Merit Semifinalists from Carmel High School, said Carmel has consistently had 30 or more students achieve National Merit Semifinalist status each year (among the highest scorers in the state on the PSAT).

“This success is largely to due to the quality and the effort of the teachers here,” Hung said.

Dube said the teachers are dedicated to helping the students.

“Whether it’s writing letters of recommendation or offering simple words of encouragement, Carmel teachers are concerned with more than just students’ performance in class,” Dube said. “This is incredible considering just how busy they are. Personally, I can attest to the impact a teacher has had on my life.”

Dube said her science teacher encouraged her to apply for the MIT summer independent research program. The teacher then wrote her a letter of recommendation and helped her with the application. Dube got accepted. Her positive experience has her planning to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering.

As Carmel student body president, Brisley said he organizes many of the biggest events.

“Over the past year, I’ve witnessed an immense drop in the availability of teachers to volunteer outside of the classroom,” Brisley said. “We feel this is due in a large part to teachers being frustrated with the unresolved contract issues and having an increased workload because of budget cuts.”

Brisley said events such as Dance Marathon, which raised nearly $160,000 for Riley Children’s Hospital in February would not be possible without a great effort of teachers.