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School article ignored successes, 1/3/07

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published January 3, 2007

I was disappointed with your article Best of 2006/School District. Upon reading the title, I expected to see a listing of our district's many successes this year, such as becoming one of only eight districts in the state to achieve district-wide SACS-CASI accreditation, or the fact that Pasco County now has over 100 nationally board-certified teachers working in our classrooms. The article could have mentioned how we ranked in the top 10 districts in the state for closing the achievement gap in reading among African-American students. It could have featured how we successfully increased our total school capacity by 10 percent, opening six new schools for the 2006-07 school year.

If the intent of the article was to focus on the best events of the year for our school district, the reporter had to look no further than the individual successes of our students and staff. Over 70 percent of our schools achieved an "A" or "B" grade from the state. We have turn-around students, National Merit Scholars, volunteers of the year, as well as teachers, administrators and school-related personnel of the year, which are all noteworthy accomplishments, representing the collective achievements of the year.

Instead, the article focused only on the trials we faced this year. In the future, I hope your coverage of our school district will center on the hard work and dedication of over 9,100 employees and the many outstanding accomplishments of over 64,000 children. It is their efforts that truly constitute the best work of 2006 for the Pasco County School District.

Heather Fiorentino, superintendent, Pasco School District

We get promises, not trash pickup

Shame on Waste Management. It promised to not leave Pasco customers without trash pickup. This past week was Christmas week. Many people in our community did not get trash service. Our street did not get service at all.

In all of the news articles the company was quoted saying, "We will not leave our customers with out trash service."

Well, I called three times and each time I was greeted by a friendly voice telling me lies that they were on the way. Each day the same story. Telling me that we would have service by a particular time. They never showed up. We have had to go without service for a week.

I do not think there was any intention of picking up our trash. Now we have overflowing cans that dogs have spread all over our street. We have bags in our garages.

Shame on Waste Management. It needs to come out here and clean up our ditches that have trash and pick up the trash in the streets. We paid for our service to the end of the month we should get what we pay for.

Laurie Stahl, Wesley Chapel

Driver doesn't see boy, kills him Dec. 30 story

A tragic story needs sensitivity

I am appalled that this newspaper would approve Erin Sullivan's referenced article.

Where is responsible journalism? Has Ms. Sullivan ever been the recipient of a call that a loved one has been run down and smeared in the roadway? I suggest the following, since my husband was run down six months ago, on 49th Street in Pinellas, and his body fluids were also on the pavement.

The end result of a newsworthy article should be to give information relative to the incident. It is also to leave the reader with empathy or feelings for the incident, while reporting accurately. It should be to relate pertinent matters to the reader, while maintaining some discretion and sensitivity for the family of the victim.

If it is published in a reputable publication, it should never be an attempt at sensationalism. Your reporting should take your readers to the heart of the story for the sake of informing them; not for a shock effect at the expense of the surviving family and friends!

Ms. Sullivan should never have felt the need to describe this little boy's head tissues being stuck or smeared on the pavement; the swelling of his little head and his skin and hair peeling off his scalp. What a wonderful story for this child's family to read; how inspiring for your readers who possibly have lost a friend or loved one to an accident and how heartfelt this story was to me after my husband was run down by a careless driver who was uninsured.

I don't want to even imagine what my husband's body looked like, and I certainly don't want to read the gory details.

How disgusting and insensitive; your newspaper and Ms. Sullivan owe an apology to this family and to your readers, also!

Patricia Gutterman, New Port Richey

Our favorite scenes Jan. 1 photo

Spare us from dead gator photos

What better way to welcome the day than with a large, front-page photo of a dead alligator lying upside down in a pool of blood while a man with a knife drags another dead one out of his truck? I was shocked and disturbed that a newspaper like the Times couldn't come up with something slightly more tasteful for its 2006 favorite scenes. Particularly when featured on the same page as Times photographer Janel Norton's statement that "it's nice to break from the notoriously ugly news we cover on a daily basis."

Problem gators do need to be removed and or killed, but is it really necessary for the entire readership of the Pasco Times to watch the blood run out of one on the biggest photo on the front page?

Just awful.

Janet Walker, Holiday

Drivers rushing toward accidents

I am just wondering why everyone was in such a hurry over the holiday season. Where are you going? Why are you rushing? I have been nearly sideswiped twice by stop-sign runners and twice hit while parked or stopped.

Slow down, please! Obey the stop signs and the red lights; we will probably meet at the next light anyway. Slow down, stay off the cell phone and drive. You will not beat anyone to the next sale or the next parking space.

Stay off the cell phones and concentrate please! No one misses you that badly that they can not take a call from you when you are not driving.

Dee Morva, Hudson

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[Last modified January 2, 2007, 21:07:56]