Editor:
When I read The New Era article relating how the School Board decided to advocate for a four-day school week, I expected to read and hear a lot of negative response. I appreciate The New Era opinion piece trying to put a positive spin on a very controversial decision.
I also agree with the opinions of those who wrote letters to the editor with a more negative bent. Though I have a very low opinion of how “our” school system is being run in this country, I constantly try to remind myself it’s the system I despise, not the people running it. It’s this distinction that keeps the discussion civil. I can disagree with someone without hating them or getting angry.
Yes, there are those who use a system to profit themselves through greed and selfishness and some who are willing to use children, the elderly, the sick and poor of society to line their pockets and keep their jobs. But when you really look closely at an institution such as “The School System” or “The Government,” what you see is people.
Our new school superintendent, good or bad, has been handed a great big box of responsibility. When you judge his decisions, please remember he is at the bottom of a food chain. Most of the financial decisions he is left with have been dictated at a much higher level than the local district.
A wise man I know once told me something that keeps me on task when dealing with corporate or government budget decisions: “Whenever an official tells you there is no money in a budget, it just means it’s been allocated somewhere else.”
If poor or self-motivated decisions are made at the top level, it’s those at the bottom who suffer. Our local superintendent and volunteer School Board members are not at the top of the decision-making process.
Tim Riley
Sweet Home