Letters to the Editor for April 13

Half-day kindergarten doesn’t cut it in today’s world

I am writing in enthusiastic support of the Duanesburg school district’s move to full-day kindergarten.

The school district is one of the main reasons my husband and I moved our family to Delanson. It’s about time Duanesburg got ahead of the curve on this movement. I’m pleased to see that our school is not waiting for a government mandate to do what is right for our children and their education.

Dan Lachanski stated in his April 9 letter opposing full-day kindergarten that this is somehow robbing children of a “transition period” between pre-school and kindergarten. That left me scratching my head.

My 5-year-old is currently attending her second year of a two-hour-and-50-minute pre-school program. What sort of transition would she experience in a two-hour-and-50-minute kindergarten class? This less-than-half-day kindergarten is more trouble than it’s worth for two-working-parent households. With increasing numbers of children attending full-time day care and pre-school, this argument simply doesn’t make sense.

I wonder if part of the reason the district is finally making this move is to stop the increasing numbers of families who feel forced to send their children to private, full-day kindergarten. Fewer students mean less state funding — something that should concern anyone wishing to keep public education strong.

I believe Mr. Lachanski’s arguments are penny-wise and pound-foolish. He mentions the price of gas — think of the fuel savings the district will experience by eliminating that mid-day bus run! Could this be a reason that bus drivers’ hours are being cut?

No one wants to see their neighbors lose their jobs, but a solid educational foundation for our children should come first and foremost. I constantly read about how much better educated European and Japanese children are than American kids. Perhaps this has something to do with our country’s lagging economy?

I’m glad that Mr. Lachanski did not name names when mentioning the board member who claims that “children don’t have the cognitive ability to retain information taught to them any more for a full day than a half day.” You don’t need to be a child development expert, simply a parent, to know young children learn and retain tons of information in their first five years of life.

Today’s kindergartners are tomorrow’s work force. Whether you have children or not, these kids will be the people taking care of us as we retire. That’s an investment worth making.

Sally A. D’Alessandro

Delanson

Glenville chief to blame for cops running amok

Re April 5 article, “Officer resigns, another arrested — Investigation leads to criminal mischief charges”: So Christopher Charnews gets a felony charge, but Edward Casey doesn’t — what’s with that?

If both officers were involved, or covered up, what happened? Both should be charged, not just one. But instead, Casey walks free, to get another job in law enforcement with no black eye, while Charnews loses everything. It stinks of favoritism.

Also, Chief Michael Ranalli said there were no complaints about his officers — strange since I tried setting up a meeting with the lieutenant a while back, but he was too busy to be bothered so I got blown off.

This is what you get when people get bored, spending long hours at the station instead of being out on road patrols. But we only have Chief Ranalli to blame for this mess. He [claims] there’s more to policing than riding in patrols cars. Now we know why crime has increased in Glenville — no road patrols, bad guys moved right in.

It’s a shame; we used to have a darned good department, now we have a waste of taxpayers’ money. Maybe it’s time the state came in and cleaned house.

Paulette Kolakoff

Princetown

The writer works in Glenville.

Strock should stop disparaging Christians

In his April 6 column, “One more preacher into the fray,” Carl Strock had some insightful things to say, and it’s evident that he is passionate about what he believes. Unfortunately, as seems increasingly common for him, tacked into the middle of the column was his usual tirade against Christians, calling their beliefs “hokum” and propositions that “would make any clear-thinking 8-year-old squirm.”

In line with Strock’s own reasoning that no white preacher would ever be able to say the things that Obama’s Pastor Wright said without being labeled a racist, I must respond that when Strock speaks of “the pulpit,” he speaks of all people of faith. He would not be able to redirect his inflammatory comments about Christians toward Jews without being labeled anti-Semitic, calling their beliefs “hokum” and so forth.

There are Jews, Muslims, Buddhist and others who do not believe in evolution, who maintain strict sexual standards according to their scriptures, and who believe that our society is, in many ways, heading in the wrong direction morally. But I suspect that he would never single out moralistic, Hassidic Jews as closed-minded, exclusive, hatemongers, or insensitive, or infer that their beliefs were “hokum.” He would be called anti-Semitic. People would be asking to have his column removed from the paper, or at least be asking, if not demanding, for an apology.

When he persists in belittling and haranguing Christians, he does so without regard for all of the others who believe similarly. Again, following his own reasoning, he can’t apply a different standard to himself. If disparaging remarks against Jews is wrong, then disparaging remarks against Christians is wrong.

Dave Hart

Cohoes

A few ways to deal with Sch’dy’s Erie Boulevard

Re the April 7 letter “Erie Boulevard plan will be bad for business downtown,” by Carl F. Liss: I have been a Schenectady resident since 1925, and I remember the boulevard as it was back then and how it has changed. No more GE traffic from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. as [workers] headed home.

Anyway, this will be a short set of ideas that I have picked up in my travels. Try some of these things: I find that parking is a huge problem. Disney World, Turning Stone Casino and England all have park-and-ride; the ride is provided by small, 20-plus passenger buses that pick up at loading stations every 20 minutes. Debit swipe cards are used in England, with senior and student rates.

These lots are available now: the empty food market on Hamburg Street, the empty Trustco lot on Curry Road, or any empty store or shopping center. The small buses are also used in the large parking lots and in Atlantic City; they pick up passengers in many hotels and travel lodges.

I’ve noticed while playing at the racino, the handy way they keep track of your play, and credit it with value points. Wow! What a concept. Remember Carl’s Gold Bond stamps? If you came home after shopping and didn’t have some stamps, mom would scalp you! That little book was kept for Christmas gifts, etc. So here’s where Schenectady might (with computers) issue swipe cards to get points. Every merchant could participate (almost like that Carl’s stamp).

Traffic circles: If you can drive and have driving skills, these circles will save fuel and time. I hate waiting at empty intersections.

Edward Sakacs

Rotterdam

Amsterdam should help Elwood Museum

It was with great dismay that I read of the Amsterdam Common Council Budget Committee’s decision to eliminate recreational services through the Walter Elwood Museum in the city’s 2008-2009 operating budget [April 5 Gazette].

I strongly believe that this museum is a “quality of life” establishment that serves as a link to the dynamic richness of our common cultural and historic heritage. It has functioned as an educational, recreational, intellectual, artistic and community center for the city, as well as the Mohawk Valley, for over 50 years. Investing in a contract for recreational services with the Walter Elwood Museum would be an investment in the city’s quality of life, and I urge the Budget Committee to reconsider this important line item in the 2008–2009 operating budget.

Jacki Meola

Amsterdam

The writer is president of the Walter Elwood Museum.

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April 13, 2008
6:54 a.m.

[ Suggest removal ]

coachmike ( no real name given ) says...

In the article of Carl Strock " mocking" Christians only shows that his heart is trying to fight being convicted that he is a sinner and does not like to see the "negative" character in which he is portraying to the public by putting down christians, because in reality he is fighting against God and we know that no one wins against God. Usually someone who is self rightous beleives that he is his own God and that he is the leader of his own life. Well Carl,your column will stop the day you stand in front of the almighty God and then for one time in your life you will be silent, but I hope that you will before God as a saved soul and not a lost one.