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Tuesday, November 06, 2001
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Health and human service workers are a lifeline for many
I am writing in response to the Oct. 10 article "Roddey Expects County Layoffs." I am 39 years old and part-owner of a resale shop in Lawrenceville. I reside in Castle Shannon. Eighteen years ago, I was in a car accident that has left me confined to a wheelchair. I suffered a serious head injury and experience some physical challenges but mostly mental challenges as a result of this head injury.
With Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey threatening layoffs and budget cuts, I wanted to tell Mr. Roddey and County Council that they must remember that living wages for my staff, the health and human service workers contracted out by the county, need to be a priority in the 2002 budget. I -- and others who are physically or mentally disabled -- rely on these workers to live. They help us overcome daily challenges that most people take for granted, like getting up in the morning, cooking and cleaning, and even going to work. I would die without my staff, and I am not alone.
The problem is that I have to trust these people with my life, but they are always leaving because they do not make enough money to take care of themselves and their families. It takes a special person to work with me, to take care of me, to motivate me to get to work, to brush my teeth, to dress me. Please pay my staff a living wage so others and I can simply live.
DEBBIE GIBBONS
Postal prudence
We think it would be prudent during the holiday season for people to consider not mailing greetings. The mail increases to such proportions at holiday time that it taxes an already overburdened U.S. Postal Service. Why add more concerns to the mail system while there are existing and continually growing anthrax threats being presented to our country?
People might say this suggestion plays into the hands of the terrorists, but maybe we should err on the side of caution.
MARYANN and TONY FASCIANI
Focus on winning
This war with the Taliban is an unconventional war. The ranking officers of the Pentagon, who are responsible for planning our military strategy, are used to fighting conventional wars. Before they spend valuable time thinking about a replacement government for Afghanistan, they'd better spend their time on winning the war.
The planning of our strategies has turned out to be political, not military, in nature. Politicians should leave war strategy to those whose job it is to do such things. They have hampered special forces plans.
ALDO GIANNINI
A woman of strength
When I read the article "Standing Up to Racism" (Nov. 1), I wept -- first for the huge courage of Hannah Mumma for helping a man who was being attacked and then for the misguided rage of his attacker. I hope Ms. Mumma knows how much her strength meant to me. She must have wonderful parents who are very proud of her.
In a recent e-mail I received about strong women, part of it said: "A strong woman isn't afraid of anything . . . but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear."
Thank you, Hannah Mumma, from all of us.
GLORIA CLARK
Our beloved aunts
I am writing in regard to the Oct. 31 Magazine article about the "haunted" furniture in Mt. Lebanon ("The Supernatural Sofa"). The women referred to in the article were my maternal grandfather's sisters. I, along with several other family members, was horrified to read this article besmirching the character of our beloved aunts.
While the majority of the article was offensive, I believe the reporter crossed the line into tabloid journalism when she used the quote attributed to a "psychic" that these were "miserable old witches who hated each other."
These fine and gentle women lovingly cared for each other and their extended family. No one can remember them speaking a harsh word or raising their voices to each other or any other person. When their health failed them, they chose to find housing more suitable to their needs and sold most of their possessions from their magnificent house.
I hope the new owner of their furniture enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame at the expense of our aunts' fine reputations. I am "haunted" by the fact that anyone can attack the character of women who have no way of defending their honor against such blatant falsehoods.
DEBORAH TOBIAS
Beautify the Point
After reading about the plans of the Riverlife Task Force for the riverfront property ("Task Force Lays Out Grand Plan for Waterfronts," Oct. 23), I am concerned that plans for the Point State Park area will be put on the back burner, and I might not even be around to see the Point become the focal point of the city.
I feel that we need this -- and oh, how I wish this could be No. 1 on the list of waterfront improvements!
Am I the only one who feels that the Point should be made to be the most outstanding, interesting, important part of Pittsburgh?
VERA SLEMMER
The state House should redo its flawed cyber charter school legislation
The Oct. 11 editorial "Cyber Saver" did little to inform the public debate raging in Pennsylvania about cyber charter schools. The editorial did not deal thoroughly with the major issues that face online schooling. In my opinion, the Post-Gazette's enthusiastic support for House Bill 1733 is not warranted.
HB 1733 is far from thoughtful legislation. While I can appreciate the efforts of HB 1733 to correct the tuition windfall that is so often raised by opponents of the charter law and cyber schools, the formula proposed in the bill is not data-driven.
The recently released study on the topic by KPMG Consulting, "Cyber Charter School Review," suggests that cyber schools may need tiered funding formulas -- larger schools may not need as much funding as smaller schools. Further, other provisions of the bill are regressive and pander to school districts and teacher labor unions. They do nothing to further school reform or innovation in Pennsylvania.
HB 1733 requires cyber schools to be licensed by the Department of Education. The ability to be chartered under Act 22 (the state's charter school law) is taken away. Such a requirement would politicize the concept and could stop the cyber movement in its tracks if a governor were elected who opposed online schooling.
HB 1733 requires little or nothing from school districts that wish to operate their own cyber schools. This implies that districts need no guidance in this area and relegates other cyber schools to second-class status.
Make no mistake, the same issues that now plague charter cyber schools will plague district cyber schools as the movement matures and reaches its full potential.
HB 1733 requires cyber schools to follow the same instructional and certification provisions mandated for traditional schools. The bill would do away with opportunities to try new staffing patterns and delivery models. This stance denies the fact that cyber schools are a different breed of education that requires different operating formats, language, definitions and formulas.
The bill is further flawed because it fails to include the recommendations as outlined in "The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice, A Report of the Web-Based Education Commission to the President and Congress of the United States." The Education Committee of the House was not "thinking big" as the writers of this report had hoped.
The report's authors urged legislative groups to proceed from a comprehensive framework and work from a well-developed plan. At a minimum, the report calls for such a plan to include universal broadband access at home, school and work; high-quality professional development for cyber professionals; well-funded and focused research; online educational content that is affordable, available, rich and developmentally sound; relief from regulatory and administrative requirements; safeguards to protect online learners; and sustained funding using old and new sources.
Without these components, Pennsylvania will by design and legislative action create its own barriers to effective online learning. HB 1733 should go back to the drawing board.
INNOCENZIO A. GRIGNANO
Political correctness is making our society grammar-impaired
If there is a heaven, and if Miss Sutter (ninth-grade English, Dickson Junior High School 1960-61) is there, I hope she didn't hear the ad I recently heard on TV: "Every father wants their daughter to be successful."
If she heard that, then her heaven is hell! I feel the pain of those of us who were pounded with rules of the language. Isn't it ironic that voters clamor for better education while the language degenerates to pure garbage?
Let's just use "it." "Every father wants its offspring to be successful." Why is it we can expose body parts in public but not refer to a person's sex? I would suggest that it is because we will not face reality.
ANDREW MUNSTER
Castle Shannon
Bradford Woods
Wilmerding
Highland Park
Pleasant Hills
Mars
Director
Charter Schools Project
Duquesne University
Uptown
Swissvale