Consolidation needed to save NYS schools
With a budgetary crisis, school boards are reaching to cut costs. The hot topic _ consolidation!
Opposition rings loud. Many consider the public school as the heart of the community. Others realize the smallness provides more students the opportunity to participate in inner scholastic sports and other extracurricular activities. It can be argued that these are as important to public education as academics.
Set aside the merger idea and consider the state of our schools. Bob Schieffer reported that America spends more on education, yet our schools rank behind every other industrial country. Regardless of propaganda, state and national assessments reveal that not one Otsego County school rises above the norm.
Where do the dollars go? Salaries suck more than 50 percent. We are paying our administrators, faculty and staff more than any other country but getting less.
Wouldn't it make sense to cut the personnel costs that are linked to inferior education rather than save a few maintenance and utility dollars? My wife taught in a school that achieved USDE Blue Ribbon status. There were 6,000 students in the district _ one superintendent, one guidance counselor/500 students, and a school day of five block periods (rotating days _ like college) greatly reducing teacher numbers while improving faculty/student ratios.
How does that work in our county? Simple _ let the districts consolidate personnel. Give a decent superintendent $175,000 a year for overseeing 3,000 students dispersed over neighboring districts. Shed the bad and designate the good teachers to two districts (mornings/afternoons or every other day.) Employ online technology to expand curriculum options and utilize the SUNY system as is done by every other county.
We can't afford the status quo. We can keep our schools. Our students deserve better.
Teachers and nine of 11 superintendents will ignore the evidence and claim it can't work.
Eric Rheinhardt
Cooperstown
God's love extends to unborn children
I must agree with the former pastor, Thomas Clemow, that abortion is not a "new experiment." It was a huge issue with our founding fathers in the 1790s. However, that is the ONLY point with which I will agree.
I am appalled at the thought that someone who called himself reverend (one to be revered) would go against the very word that they are told to uphold. God loves people, ALL people, even the unborn that are tossed into the trash every day.
The reasons for unplanned pregnancy are many, but the consequences should not fall on our unborn.
There are many people (some even put ads in this paper) that are praying for a baby that they will love and nurture. I mentor many women who acted impulsively and without full exposure of their options who live with deep regret now.
We are the victims of our own ignorance. Thank God for his mercy, I pray more find it. Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness."
Jane Romano
Hamden
Romano is a chaplain at the
Delaware County Jail.
