Many citizens attended the Sto-Rox school board meeting last Thursday to sign petitions requesting the board not close the Foster Kindergarten Center. Many left feeling the majority of directors has already made up their minds after a motion was tabled to keep the building open next year.

At the May 22 meeting, board members repeatedly were asked to slow down and keep Foster open another year so that parents and the community can get involved.

I, personally, believe the majority directors are rushing to suddenly close Foster because they want to sell the Foster school property to the Stowe Fire Department for $1 so that a new firehouse and EMS center can be built there.

School board President Kochirka is a member of the fire department and director [Linda] Jacobs' husband is a fire chief. Our school buildings are public assets and not the personal possessions of majority board members obsessed with power.

The next meeting is 7 p.m. Wednesday in the high school auditorium where the Superintendent will present a plan to close Foster. This move will cram well over 100 kindergarten students into an already crowded elementary building.

At the last meeting the business manager noted there is no money budgeted to pay for this move. Will this shortsighted decision to close Foster force a tax increase next year since the board will be spending unbudgeted money?

Will the majority directors promise to sell the Foster property to a private developer at fair market value and get it on the tax rolls instead of giving it away to politically connected friends in nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations? Where do the kids stand in all this maneuvering and why aren't parents involved?

Concerned Sto-Rox citizens must attend the meeting Wednesday and get answers to these questions. Petitions will be available at the meeting to keep Foster open.

ELIZABETH A. SMITH

McKees Rocks

Note: The author is a Sto-Rox school director.

The Sunshine Law regulations were adopted to prevent instances such as that which occurred at the Dec. 3, 2007, Carnegie council meeting. The minutes from the Nov. 12 meeting clearly reflect a motion made by Fred Carini to appoint a mayor during the Nov. 19 meeting. That meeting was held but no vote was taken.

The meeting that was scheduled for Dec. 3 was then advertised as an agenda-setting session, but that night a vote was held regarding the mayoral position. The violation occurred when council failed to seize the opportunity, on Nov. 19, to vote to advertise Dec. 3 as a voting meeting.

Because it was agenda setting only, no vote was permitted without knowingly violating the Sunshine Law. However, an election was held during an advertised agenda-setting meeting, which means Emmett Freshwater was voted in illegally.

Mr. Freshwater believes himself to be well versed on matters of public office, yet he didn't speak up when such a violation occurred. This means that either he knew he was elected illegally but didn't speak up because the position is more important to him than the laws that govern our council; or, Mr. Freshwater has served many years in public office, but never became familiar with the Sunshine Law. He doesn't seem to come out well at the end of either of those options.

On Dec. 3, there were two votes cast to appoint Mr. Freshwater as mayor -- Mr. Carini and Vera Freshwater, Emmett's sister. Based on those two votes, Mr. Freshwater declared himself victorious and moved to have himself sworn in as mayor.

Perhaps it's just me, but I do not want my mayor to be a man who lost the mayoral race to begin with, as well as three prior, consecutive, public office races. Or, who is either unfamiliar with, or is too self-involved to admit a violation of the Sunshine Law, and who is willing to swear himself into a position he obtained because his little sister comprised 50 percent of the vote total.

ROBERT J. CHIDLOW

Carnegie

Letters are subject to editing and should not exceed 250 words. Only one letter from an individual writer will be published every three months. The letter must include the writer's name, postal and/or e-mail address and phone number. Send letters to: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15222. Or, e-mail: letters@post-gazette.com.