The letter and the responding posts are very powerfully written, and so scary to read.
I agree with artchill; all teachers and mechanchim should undergo some sort of training. The power they have to ruin a child’s life is frightening.
In addition, teachers have to understand that it’s NORMAL for kids to question Judiasm -belief in Hshm, the Torah, the halachos, etc. If teachers blow off such questions with answers like “if you ask that you must be an apikores,” the kids never have the chance to truly learn about Yiddishkeit. Unfortunately, I think the majority of teachers do answer that way, and I think it could be because they don’t know the answers themselves.
We are in this world to question and to learn so that we can grow. No one should ever be made to feel ‘stupid’ or ‘not frum’ because they are asking.