Letters to the Herald

For the Oct. 8 issue.

District needs to think differently

about schools’ poor performance

To the editor:
   
I was dismayed to learn last week that the East Windsor Regional School District had failed 11 of its 12 academic goals. I cannot understand why residents of this community are not expressing more concern for this district’s deteriorating performance. The district already has a very poor image, and this type of news only serves to weaken it further. In a recent article in New Jersey Monthly, Hightstown High School did not even rank among the top 100 in the state.
   The school board, administrators and teachers often blame the diverse nature of our school district, but this is not a valid excuse as many other districts with similar characteristics typically perform much better. The newly installed superintendent cannot be blamed for this poor performance, but it seems quite ridiculous that he is blaming the previous administrator, who appeared to be held in such high regard by the school board.
   The district’s problems instead likely can be attributed to a lack of accountability. In particular, teachers and administrators receive rubber-stamped pay increases and because of strict union rules, it is very difficult to remove an employee. If you or I performed as poorly in our jobs as these people have, we would not have a job for very long.
   The school board should be furious at such under-performance. Instead, judging by the minutes of board meetings, which by the way are no longer published on the district’s Web site, more focus appears to be placed on school construction and giving awards to district employees and less on improving academic performance.
   A first step toward correcting the district’s problems is to reprioritize expenditures, placing less emphasis on administrative and salary costs and more on strengthening the curriculum.
   Second, the district needs to get parents more involved in their child’s education, particularly for those students that may be falling behind.
   And third, the district should consider implementing an incentive-based pay system, one that rewards good performance and weeds out perpetual under-performance.
   Granted, this is not the norm throughout the state, but our district’s constant under-performance has grown quite tiring, and it’s time to think outside the box.

A.F.E.W. doing its part to help

control the pet population

To the editor:
   
This letter is to address the constant overpopulation of animals in the state of New Jersey. Animal Friends for Education and Welfare Inc. (A.F.E.W.) is a non-profit 501c3 organization that is doing its part in helping spay and neuter as many animals as possible.
   A.F.E.W. joined together with the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter on Sept. 18 to hold a spay/neuter day at the shelter. A.F.E.W. sponsored the AWA spay/neuter van and offered low cost spay/neuter services to the local community. A total of 50 animals were spayed/neutered that day and many received updated vaccinations. The Hamilton Township Animal Shelter offered their building and staff to assist. This event was a total success. A.F.E.W. also sponsored four shelter dogs for spaying/neutering and vaccinations. A.F.E.W. is looking forward to working side-by-side with the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter and Shelter Manager Gary Hill and his staff on future spay/neuter days.
   A.F.E.W. has been sponsoring spay/neuter days since April 2003 at the Corner-Copia Farm Nursery owned by John and Susanne Specca on the corners of Old Trenton Road and Princeton-Hightstown Road in East Windsor. The Corner-Copia is also the site of A.F.E.W.’s Saturday adoption days. Since April 2003, 74 dogs and 368 cats have been spayed/neutered and many have been vaccinated.
   What this means to the pet overpopulation control is that the estimated prevented births for dogs over a two year period is: 1,784. This figure is established using an average litter of four puppies, breeding twice a year, and having Ð of the newborns as female.
   Cats on the other hand are much more prolific and the estimated prevented births for cats over a two year period is: 22,865. These figures are established using an average litter of five kittens, breeding twice a year, and having Ð of the newborns as female.
   If you would like more information on our upcoming spay/neuter days, check our Web site at www.afewpets.com or send email to: [email protected].

Kerry won debate with optimism;

he will not leave America behind



To the editor:
   
As a public educator and the product of the great state of New Jersey, I would like to publicly congratulate Sen. Kerry on his tremendous victory in the Sept. 30 debate. I found Sen. Kerry to be very candid, sincere, and optimistic. His view of what "America can be" has given me newfound confidence in the plight of Democrats in America.
   The Senator showed the president for what he is, a leader who made a great miscalculation and instead of admitting his failure, has instead run a re-election campaign full of sound bites and video clips that are meant to do nothing more than scare Americans into re-electing him.
   In the coming month, I am sure that the President will attempt to scare Americans into believing that he is the only hope for American security. However, hope is truly on the way with Sens. Kerry and Edwards. They see that Americans are not only members of the world economy, but a world community that needs to work together and collectively solve problems.
   In education, we have learned that the best way for students to succeed is by working together in groups. Likewise, we as a nation must work together in the world community to solve the ills of the world. President Bush said that he would leave no child behind; I know for a fact that this has not materialized. However, under the leadership of Sen. Kerry, we can be assured that America will not be left behind.

Nonpartisan Web site explains

truth on ‘facts’ from campaigns
To the editor:
   
I’d like to encourage my fellow readers to take a look at www.factcheck.org. This nonpartisan Web site fills an important gap in what news carriers, and certainly partisan Web sites, fail to provide consistently as the presidential election nears: sanity checks on claims and advertisements from both camps.
   The major cable news organizations like CNN seem to prefer to let the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee chairs barrage each other with out-of-context "facts," leaving the viewing public without any useful decision-making information.
   Getting good information on the Web is even more difficult. Several of the sentences in Mr. Mullins’ letter last week, for example, appear word-for-word in two Web sites I found: on www.kerryquotes.com, a childish anti-Kerry Web site that refers to him as the "demon-cratic" candidate, and on the discussion board at www.gunbroker.com, a site whose political leanings I haven’t yet had a chance to investigate.
   The strategy behind the "barrage of facts" tactic used on these Web sites is to force the audience into a false dilemma: You must either accept the assertions of the partisan fact sheets, like "Kerry voted 128 times to replace body armor with Folgers’ crystals," and "Cheney voted yes on eating babies 927 times," or you have to look up the hundreds of votes yourself in the public record.
   I’m happy to say that nonpartisan analysis Web sites like www.factcheck.org provide a third alternative. Both parties have cited www.factcheck.org when it served their own purposes, but if you go directly to the Web site, you can see for yourself which of the candidates’ statements are on target, misleading, out of context, or plainly false.
   If it keeps your spirits up, keep visiting that DNC Web site for images of Bush making funny faces during the debate, or your favorite right wing blog to see more examples of how not to use apostrophes.
   But each of us owes it to our country to seek out some nonpartisan sources on the important issues before voting on Nov. 2. Going onto www.factcheck.org is one way to do this.

Multi-faith Web site provides

guidance during election season

To the editor:
   
Many politicians and voters are missing the point. We’re electing political leaders, not spiritual leaders. This is a multi-faith nation. Elected officials have the responsibility to represent all citizens equally. They must not favor one religion over any other.
   We need to ask candidates where they stand on our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom and religious diversity; how they balance their beliefs with their duty to represent all citizens; how they will maintain separation of church and state.
   I urge all voters and the moderators of the upcoming presidential debates to look at the Web site of The Interfaith Alliance (www.interfaithalliance.org) and its Election Year Program (www.interfaithalliance.org/elections) for ideas about questions to ask their candidates about issues of religion and politics.