[Local-Maine-Schools] a letter from a voting citizen

[Paul Murphy]

Great Letter!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jennifer Crandall" <jcrandall at u98.k12.me.us>
To: <governor at maine.gov>
Cc: "Local Maine Schools List" <local-maine-schools at lists.svaha.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 10:38 AM
Subject: [Local-Maine-Schools] a letter from a voting citizen


>
> April 5, 2007
>
> Gov. Baldacci, Comm. Gendron, members of the Appropriations Committee,
>
> I am writing, for  a second time, to express my strong opposition to
> your mandatory school district consolidation plans.  When the plan was
> first unveiled, a former political leader consoled the worried crowd
> who had gathered to learn about this plan by telling us to write our
> letters of opposition, but not to worry ourselves too much.  This plan,
> she said, was so flawed and based on such unfounded facts, that it
> would never even make it past the committee stage.  I am sorry to
> realize that this astute alumnus of the capitol was wrong.   Here I am,
> several weeks later, dumbfounded that the concerns of citizens, the
> research and opinions of experts, and the recommendations of your own
> education committee are all being ignored.  Between you folks, and Mr.
> Bush in Washington, my belief in the democratic process has been
> greatly shaken.  I don?t understand why those of us who wish to support
> and maintain the excellence of education in our communities for our
> children are having to provide research, hard facts and statistics,
> while you who wish to pull the rug out from under our schools feel that
> you have the largesse and power to do so without the need for evidence
> or explanation.  My husband shakes his head in wonder and can only
> assume ?someone?s getting a lot of money out of this somewhere?.
> Because your plan doesn?t make any sense, it feels corrupt, and I am
> not the conspiracy theory type.
>
> I will reiterate the sources and the evidence for you, and hope that
> you consider it all before you wield your power (that was given to you
> by the very people you are blithely ignoring).  Professor Donaldson of
> the University of Maine finds little or no evidence supporting your
> claims of vast savings; a Gallup poll of public opinion of public
> education shows strong correlation between local control of schools and
> community involvement, strong community involvement and high test
> scores; National Education Association?s 12 guidelines for reducing
> dropout rate include strong community involvement in the schools;
> National Alternative Education Association promotes Relational
> Education, promoting mentoring relationships between at-risk students
> and adults in the school and/or community as a method of dropout
> prevention; small class size and student-teacher ratios improve reading
> and writing skills in the elementary level.  The list goes on and on.
> I have not seen a single fact or piece of evidence supporting your plan
> that has anything to do with improving education, never mind reducing
> costs.
>
> My final point in this particular diatribe is that this is a free
> country and if citizens of this country choose, through the voting
> process, to spend their tax dollars to improve their local schools (or
> fire departments, or police departments, or roads, or sidewalks...)
> then we have a right to do so. Who bestowed you with the power to tell
> us we can NOT  choose to spend as much as we want on our schools?
> This is a bizarre twist on taxation without representation. Despite my
> liberal bent, I am not interested in living in a socialist society, not
> a dictatorship.  Beware.  Napoleon was successful because the state of
> France was in shambles, unlike Maine?s public education system, but he
> was eventually banished.  Do not forget your place.
>
>
> A very disgruntled voter,
>
>
>
> Jennifer Crandall
> 44 Russell Farm Rd.
> Bar Harbor, ME 04609
>


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