Dear editor,
Fear — it can be paralyzing.
Step on a crack, you break your mother’s back. Look at the sun, you’ll go blind. Swallow watermelon seeds and a plant will grow in your stomach and you’ll die.
When we think about these now they are pretty silly because they aren’t true, but at the time when we were young they were scary. We’ve heard a lot of scary things the past couple weeks. Each week they get scarier and scarier. Get the facts on the school bond issue. The facts given today are the same facts shared at the first community forum. Facts are fact and remain constant.
We are a smart community. Making a decision based on fear will only paralyze our community, our schools, our kids’ future.
When you know and study the facts you will vote YES for the school bond. You will vote YES for the sales tax. You will vote YES for our kids.
Sincerely,
Becky Nilges,
Iola, Kan.
Dear Editor,
Let’s turn our hearts to our children. Our children need our help; they need our votes. They can’t do it for themselves, they need our help.
Our children need new school buildings — buildings without asbestos, mold, and lead — buildings that allow them mobility if they have special needs — buildings that allow for modern teaching methods.
Our children need our help; they need our votes. Let’s choose to help our children by voting YES! to the school bond, and YES! to the half-cent sales tax on Nov. 4.
Our children need our help! Let’s turn our hearts to our children, and help them do what they cannot. Our children need new schools.
Sincerely,
Robyn Fawson,
Iola, Kan.
Dear editor, Dear editor,
With only a few days left until the election, there are a lot of different issues to consider. Many are important to different people for different reasons. However, there is one issue that is extremely important to one very special group of human beings. Unborn babies have a huge stake in this election but have no voice or vote of their own. The governor’s race gives us a stark contrast between two candidate’s stand on the right-to-life.
Governor Brownback is solidly pro-life. His opponent has voted 80 times against pro-life bills even when 90 to 100 of his fellow legislators voted for them. Some examples are the ban of sex-selection abortions, taxpayer funded abortions, abortion clinic licensing with reporting of death and injury, late-term abortion ban based on fetal pain, and the creation of an ethical stem cell therapy center at KU Medical Center. As governor, Brownback signed these and all pro-life bills passed through the legislature. The choice is clear. Brownback is strongly pro-life. His opponent has an extreme pro-abortion voting record and has the support of the abortion industry and Planned Parenthood.
The Senate race is also extremely important and sharply divided. Senator Roberts has a 100 percent pro-life voting record. Roberts is a dedicated pro-lifer. Whether human life is threatened by terrorists or by abortionists, we can count of Pat Roberts to defend even the most helpless of us. His opponent is for abortion on demand and for any reason. He is supported and funded by abortionists, for example the doctor who owns and profits from the abortion center in Overland Park where his signs are displayed. The abortion industry in Kansas enthusiastically supports Orman because they know he would work with Harry Reid in the Senate to keep abortion legal, even late-term abortions when the baby can feel terrible pain.
Who do you think Orman will vote with if he gets into the Senate? He has supported and donated to President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and the Kansas Democratic Party to name a few. With this record do you believe him to be an independent, especially since he previously ran for the Senate as a Democrat? Do you really want pro-abortion Orman to be your Senator from Kansas for the next six years?
This election is literally a chance to make a life or death decision with your vote. How would the babies vote? Please vote for pro-life Governor Brownback and Senator Roberts.
Sincerely,
Marcia Roos,
president, Iola Kansans
for Life,
Iola, Kan.
I am a Jefferson teacher that lives in a 105-year-old house and my newest vehicle is 12 years old. I truly value old things, understand the importance and cost of upkeep, and work at maintaining what we own. That being said, I also know that, at some point I will no longer be able to stay in my own home, if I live long enough, because it is not able to be remodeled to be handicapped accessible and retain the charm it has now. As far as my vehicles go, a wise mechanic once told me that when you are spending as much in repairs in a year as your car is worth, it is time to get something else.
The schools in our district are not accessible to many of our staff and students and are costing us more in repairs than we can afford. The funds for this come at the expense of technology, student learning, and staff salaries. We can exist without technology, but the education of our students will be missing an important piece of what is needed to be employable when they are finished in school. Not being able to afford new books and learning tools can be dealt with, but, once again, we will be shorting the experience our students deserve. Salaries can remain the lowest in the area, and our current teachers and staff may remain, but we are already losing most of our pool of applicants to nearby districts paying more.
In 1902 the first Jefferson was built. A mere 37 years later our present Jefferson was opened and those who are now 80-86 years old got to attend a brand new school where you sat in your seat for most of the day to have information delivered to you. It is now 2014 and no classroom at Jefferson has desks sitting in rows, with students sitting quietly all day. Education involves a wide variety of strategies meant to help all students learn in the way most effective for them.
Countless letters have addressed the many reasons for and against building new schools. A new school will not be the panacea for fixing everything for our students. That requires personal involvement, too. A new school will demonstrate that we are concerned with all of our students to include those who need extra help, have physical or mental handicaps, and staff that may have physical problems.
I urge you to seriously consider voting yes for our bond issue and yes for the sales tax to help support the new school. Most important of all, get yourself to the voting polls and make your opinion count.
Thanks for your attention,
Mary Ann Regehr,
Iola, Kan.
Dear editor, Dear editor,
Next Tuesday, voters have the opportunity to do something profound for the students of USD 257 — provide them with new facilities that they most definitely deserve. Education has evolved in the years since our current buildings were constructed. No matter whether they go straight to work, to vocational school or to college after they leave USD 257, our students need to be able to collaborate with others, to transfer skills across disciplines, and to navigate various forms of technology. Our current spaces, while they have served the district well, no longer meet our needs. When money for resources and technology consistently goes for building repairs, our students suffer.
From an educational standpoint, the benefits of one unified elementary school are endless. Teachers will be better able to share resources, to have equal access to resources, and to collaborate with each other without losing large amounts of time in the classroom. Specials classes can be equalized so that all students get the same amount of time each week in art, music and PE. Our therapists and specials teachers can spend more time with our students and less time driving between buildings. Siblings can be all together at one school. Principals will no longer have to make difficult decisions about moving students around to even up school populations and class sizes.
Our students deserve better than hallways and closets to work in, better than buildings with buckling floors, leaky roofs and mold. They deserve the improved safety new buildings can provide, especially our high school students who are in and out of different buildings all day long. The educational spaces we provide our students should be accessible to ALL students, efficient, and conducive to learning 21st Century skills. Our teachers and students have been asked to “make do” for too long. Let’s utilize the 51 percent state aid available and provide our students with the facilities and resources they need to be successful. Please vote YES, YES for our kids on Nov. 4.
Beth Wille,
IMS teacher,
Piqua, Kan.
As a citizen and parent of Iola, I wish to express my thoughts on the school bond issue and its impact on the community we all care about. First of all, I will be voting yes to both the school bond and the city sales tax. Voting yes for both measures will help provide our community and USD 257 the tools necessary to equip every child with the 21st century skills required to participate effectively in the world today.
In my mind this election is about the structural issues and non-ADA compliance of each building. It is about the security concerns that exist in each building. It is about a district pay scale that is not only among the lowest in the region but also a detriment to recruiting and community building. It is about equality and opportunity in every classroom.
In short, it is about the kids of USD 257 and their kids after that. This election is not about logistics, nostalgia, or “it was good enough for me.” It is not about busing, acreage, or thoroughfares. In fact it isn’t about us at all. It is all about the students of USD 257 and the sacrifices we the community are willing to make for them.
Furthermore, I will vote Yes! Yes! because I believe the Nov. 4 election is a historic election. The basic premise of this election is that either we as caretakers of the future take responsibility for our kids and do what is right now, or we turn a blind eye and keep the status quo. Either we as voters support equality in education and professional development for all students and staff, or we let nostalgia deny what is entitled to every student and staff member in USD 257.
Either way, we the voters of this election will be held accountable for generations to come. Let us not look back and say “we should have.”
Respectfully,
Melanie Hermstein
Iola, Kan.
