WNYresident
January 31st, 2004, 12:43 PM
This was posted on www.buffalo.com. You are not replying to the original writer but your comments would be appreciated.
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Let the public vote on school mergers
1/31/2004
Please allow me the opportunity to make a few comments on the recent News article, "A change for the better," and the follow-up editorial, "A lesson in redundancy."
First of all, let me state that I am not the anonymous person who has circulated a letter to the members of the town's four main school boards regarding the merger of their school districts.
I publicly made this same appeal more than 11 years ago as the president of the Cheektowaga Central School Board. As a result of this action, I was labeled a troublemaker who did not understand the problem. The problem then, as it is now, is the constantly increasing school taxes.
Second, the often referenced 1989 State Department of Education study of the "Options for the Merger of the Cheektowaga Central and Maryvale Union Free School Districts" is, by its own title, only an option. It also neglects to mention that it was conducted by five members of the administrative educational community for the school boards of these districts without the involvement of members of a taxpayer coalition from these districts.
This study was a justification of a preconceived finding of "a status quo" - there is almost no advantage to a merger.
In my opinion, no merger of these school districts will ever take place unless the school boards give up their parochial fiefdoms and show a willingness to let a public vote decide the question of merging districts. This is the only way the issue will ever be resolved.
LEON S. REGENT
Cheektowaga
The article (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040131/1017026.asp)
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Let the public vote on school mergers
1/31/2004
Please allow me the opportunity to make a few comments on the recent News article, "A change for the better," and the follow-up editorial, "A lesson in redundancy."
First of all, let me state that I am not the anonymous person who has circulated a letter to the members of the town's four main school boards regarding the merger of their school districts.
I publicly made this same appeal more than 11 years ago as the president of the Cheektowaga Central School Board. As a result of this action, I was labeled a troublemaker who did not understand the problem. The problem then, as it is now, is the constantly increasing school taxes.
Second, the often referenced 1989 State Department of Education study of the "Options for the Merger of the Cheektowaga Central and Maryvale Union Free School Districts" is, by its own title, only an option. It also neglects to mention that it was conducted by five members of the administrative educational community for the school boards of these districts without the involvement of members of a taxpayer coalition from these districts.
This study was a justification of a preconceived finding of "a status quo" - there is almost no advantage to a merger.
In my opinion, no merger of these school districts will ever take place unless the school boards give up their parochial fiefdoms and show a willingness to let a public vote decide the question of merging districts. This is the only way the issue will ever be resolved.
LEON S. REGENT
Cheektowaga
The article (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040131/1017026.asp)