Letters to the Editors

Explore the good -- not ugly -- things kids do

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

Editor: Children respond to being noticed. They repeat the behavior that gets the most attention. We all want others to know we exist and appreciate or at least acknowledge our existence.

If you are a Pasco teenager and would like to be acknowledged, get some attention, you could be on an Odyssey of the Mind team and compete with more than 3,000 students from 36 countries. If you won a first prize, first of the 47 competing in your category, and you were from River Ridge High School, you would get your picture in the paper, bottom half of the Metro and State section, with the announcement of the win on Page 4. Nothing in the Pasco section where your friends and neighbors might look. The Pasco Tribune would carry the story, but with no picture.

What a wonderful achievement! Where were the big headlines? And the picture layouts? Why couldn't we learn more about these exciting kids and how they were able to bring home these honors? Did they have problems? Were parents involved? Why did they want to compete in Odyssey of the Mind? What is Odyssey of the Mind? Do these students have other interests?

Why give so much attention to a teenager who chooses to stab her mother? Am I the only one who got sick of seeing the Valessa story? I can no longer believe that newspapers play up the ugly because that is all the public wants to read.

We could try acknowledging the winners for a change. Those kids were great!
-- Dorothy Wylie, New Port Richey

Council member wrongly criticized club

Editor: After reading council member Joe Menicola's remarks singling out the Second Amendment Republican Club for criticism, I felt compelled to set the record straight.

I am a Second Amendment Club member and have participated in the cleanups of Madison Street, Washington Street and Fivay Road on three different occasions. Surely the street department can confirm the number of bags filled and then collected. The community benefits when citizens give freely of their time, without compensation, to improve or maintain the community. A sign acknowledging who does the work is a thank you well deserved.

Perhaps Mr. Menicola was motivated to make these remarks because he was unable to find a sponsor when he attempted to join the Second Amendment Republican Club several months ago.
-- Roger Hammond, New Port Richey

Gun opponent overlooked issue of safety

Re: No excuse for having unsecured gun in the home, May 31 letter

Editor: Once again Arthur C. Hayhoe in his anti-gun rhetoric only focuses on guns. He complains that the NRA fought legislation that would restrict how a handgun is kept in the home. He fails to point out that stringent requirements on storage can render it useless when needed.

What is the point of having the gun if a homeowner can't use it for defense at a moment's notice? Victims can really just say to the criminal who just broke into their home, "Wait a minute, I have to go unlock my gun and find my bullets, and then I'll just need another second to load the gun." But, of course, rendering the gun useless is just what the anti-gunners have in mind.

Many more children die of poisons, car accidents, drownings, falls and suffocations than firearms. Following the writer's logic, we should make criminals out of every parent who suffers the accident of a child. If the concern were really for the safety of children, energies would be directed toward preventing the more common sources of injury.
-- Ann Bunting, Bayonet Point

Special ed referrals are made carefully

Re: Team effort reduces referrals, May 28 Editor: I am a special education teacher in Pasco County, and I want to assure parents that while some schools have not adopted the former Pupil Assistance Team model, we are certainly not "dumping" students into special education as intimated by Mr. Fischer's article.

At my school, teachers are constantly trying interventions before referrals are made for testing for a special education program. As a matter of fact, two documented interventions are required before a child can be tested. The special education team often works with the basic education teachers before the testing is completed to continue brainstorming ideas that might help that child. Sometimes those meetings take place after school with the parents, so these dedicated professionals are taking their own time after the workday to help that child.

Basic education teachers are being extra responsible to fill out the necessary paperwork and attend meetings with the in-school staffing committee to discuss the child's problem so he can get the help he needs.

After the child is tested, we have more information about how that child learns that once again the teacher uses to help in the classroom. If the child does qualify for a special program, the basic teacher is still not finished helping that child. He/she participates with the special education teacher to write and implement the individualized education plan and accommodations to be done in the classroom. If the child qualifies for a resource room program, he is in the basic education class for the majority of the day and only with the special education teacher 45 to 60 minutes a day, so the basic education teacher is the primary source of help for that child, continually changing to meet his academic needs.

Further in the article, a parent was concerned about the length of time it took for the child to be tested and placed. We also are concerned. My school even had a committee to examine what we could do to reduce the amount of time a child waited for testing. Who served on the committee? Teachers! When do committees meet? During morning planning time.

Unfortunately, part of the solution is out of our hands. It is a political agenda. The federal regulations and requirement to place a child in a special program require numerous documented steps. Funds to pay for extra staff to help with testing and other services come from state dollars. While we are trying to provide as many services as each child needs, we have seen cuts in money that pays for special education teachers and psychologists for testing.

So, parents, get involved with your elected officials! Ask them why needed funds are not given to schools to provide these services. Ask them why when we send them a count of how many special education students we expect to have, the numbers are cut and we are told that block grants will be available.

If they don't have the answers you wish to hear, remember that in November when you can vote them out of office. And Mr. Fischer, please help instead of berating us.
-- Susan Fisher, specific learning disabilities Pasco County Schools

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