Todays Letters: Let School Board hear your ideas

Re: Never seen a board like this Feb. 10 letter to the editor

I would like to respond to Colleen Caldwell's letter regarding the proposed gifted center. I am a parent on the task force. This letter in no way reflects the opinions of anyone else on the task force.

I have lived in Hernando County for almost three years so, as a newcomer myself, I feel as if I can shed a little light on her feelings.

I moved to Valrico in 1999. Constant changing in zoning for schools is a fact of life in Florida. Growth is so rapid that as soon as a school is built, it's too small for the area. The good news is Florida's job market is stable and the economy is still growing.

A sibling policy for magnet schools is a privilege not afforded to magnet schools in most counties. Hillsborough County doesn't even bus to the magnet schools. If that's the school for your child, you have to drive them. There is no bus for anyone who lives within 2miles of any school in Hillsborough County. My kindergartner would have had to walk to school 1.9 miles if I hadn't driven him. (Thank goodness it wasn't uphill, both ways, in the snow.)

If the school you chose for your child isn't right for all your children, Ms. Caldwell, be glad you have options. You are upset about eight years. I have two teenagers who have been in separate schools since third and fifth grades (one school across Hillsborough County, an hour's drive twice a day). This time will fly so fast it's going to make your head spin. Don't look at educating your children for your convenience; look at what's best for your children.

Getting them the best free education you can possibly get is the gift that will serve your children for their entire lives. The sacrifices some parents are asked to make are so much bigger and much less gratifying. We are very fortunate to have to grapple with this problem.

If you have issues with policies of the School Board, call a School Board member. Sometimes it's a simple matter of "it didn't occur to us." I have worked closely with four board members since I moved to Hernando County. I haven't always gotten my way, but I've always had my say.

The task force meetings are open to the public and advertised in the paper. We have time set aside for public comments at the end of each meeting. Fortunately, several parents have given wonderful ideas and suggestions, several of which the task force will be able to include in the planning and recommendations.

Unfortunately, the greater part of the comments are parents who are afraid and are angry. Change is always scary. Arm yourself with knowledge and, before you decide that the School Board is trying to make your life harder, look at the bigger picture. Our children will have a full-time gifted program designed to fit their personal needs and strengthen areas of weakness, while promoting the areas of their gift. There are only a handful of these programs in the whole state.

To all parents of gifted children, aunts or uncles of gifted nieces and nephews, grandparents, neighbors please come to the next task force meeting; we value your interest and we welcome your enthusiasm.

Cindy Hall, Weeki Wachee

A check's nice, but not the best idea Feb. 9, Barbara Fredricksen column

War, not CCC, ended Depression

I find mind-boggling the young lady's column suggesting that a solution to the economic slowdown would be to re-create the CCC and the WPA. The suggestion itself was laughable, if not to say hilarious. One can only imagine the reaction of today's unemployed youth if they were to be put into uniform and transported around the country on re-forestation projects.

Her statement that those two programs in the 1930s ended the Depression shows a monumental lack of knowledge of history. Those programs were ineffectual and certainly inefficient.

None of the New Deal programs were effective in ending the Depression. They just created the so-called entitlement programs that have grown and grown ever since. What ended the Depression was World War II. Try an objective study of history.

F. Darrell Thomas, Trinity

Humane Society needs your help

It was a great turnout Saturday evening for Joanne Schoch's birthday party, held at the Humane Society of the Nature Coast. She, along with six other kindhearted folks ranging in age from 10 to - well, way more than 10 - stayed another night with their "pen pals." I made a few passes through the kennels that evening and stopped for a moment to speak with Christina, who slept at the shelter.

She was still sitting in a pen, next to her pen canine pal, Daphne. Daphne lay still, wrapped in a blanket, as Christina gently stroked her. She told me that Daphne had her final treatment for heartworms last night and wasn't doing very well.

As I knelt down, Daphne turned her head toward me. I don't mean a glance - she looked at me. In her young eyes, I saw a great deal of pain. I saw the worry and concern in Christina's eyes. I noticed Daphne breathing quickly, and Tina held a cup of water as she drank what looked like to be the coolest, most refreshing water she'd ever had.

Without the Humane Society, I fear Daphne would have died a slow, painful death. Daphne isn't just a mutt left out and subsequently taken in; she has a soul. A soul that has had it rough and now knows love. A soul that was fortunate enough to end up at our Humane Society of the Nature Coast.

The reason Joanne and so many others are gathering is for the more than 5,000 animals that were euthanized last year because they had no home. Their goal is to raise enough money to give all of them a home, or at least have a chance for them to find their "forever home."

When the Hernando County Animal Control facility fills up, the Humane Society takes them in. When there is no room, there is no room. They want to keep that from happening.

I suggest that those who can donate to the Humane Society building fund do it now. Give them the room and facilities to take their commitment to a new level.

Is Daphne going to be okay? Call the shelter at 796-2711 and find out. Or visit www.hsofnc.com.

William Pierson, Spring Hill

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 20:14:02]