Dear Mr. Pastorek
To the editor:
I want to address some of the issues that [Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek] recently raised in the conflict that has developed between [himself] and local school boards [“The gospel according to Paul,” March 10].
[He] has expressed concern about several issues that [he] seems to feel are blocking progress in public education. Several of these concerns are hard to disagree with. [He] has said that [he] thinks nepotism is a problem in public schools and needs to be addressed. Perhaps it is a problem, but I’m not sure how it could be addressed more fully than it already has been. Under current law, no member of a board member’s immediate family [parents, siblings, spouse or children] can be hired in any position or do business in any way with the school system other than being hired as a classroom teacher, teaching within their certification. No board member’s immediate family can compete for bids, or even sell fuel to the parish fleet if they happen to own the only gas station in town. If a board member’s family member held a Ph.D. in management and finance from the most prestigious university in the country, that person could not be hired as an entry level clerk in the finance office of a local school board.
[He] also has demanded that school board members have at least a high school diploma. Who can openly argue with that? But if it is important for school board members to have that level of education, shouldn’t that requirement be extended to all government officials? As it is right now, there is no education requirement for any elected official, from the president of the United States to governors, members of Congress, the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives and Police Juries. Don’t all of those people and members of those bodies have responsibilities as great as ours?
[He] is also fond of quoting a school board member from Calcasieu Parish who says that he ran for the school board because of alleged abuses of power by members of the Calcasieu board. I think that it is very important to note a few other things about the Calcasieu board. First of all, one of [Pastorek’s] key allies, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, apparently acknowledges that the Calcasieu Parish Public School System is one of the best in the state. Also, the present board president in Calcasieu, Elray Victorian, acknowledges that there had apparently been a problem of that nature on their board but states that it has been corrected either by the electoral process or by internal board leadership. However it was solved, it was solved as it should have been, at the local level, by the people of Calcasieu Parish, the same people and institutions that made the system there so successful, and not by anything that has been done in Baton Rouge or by anything done by the bureaucracy in the Department of Education.
This brings me to the major point of disagreement that I think most school boards have with [his] approach to education reform, an approach that I believe to be creating a schism between [Pastorek] and the people at the parish level. [He] has suggested that superintendents be given the authority to hire and fire people at will without consulting the school board, that they be authorized to sign contracts of all kinds for the expenditure of public funds without board authorization or apparent oversight, that they cannot be terminated without a “super majority” vote of the board.
All of this says, point blank, that [he] wishes to take the governance of local school systems away from the people of the communities that they serve and the communities that pay for them. If [he] does that, who does the school system answer to? Who is the local superintendent accountable to? How will people want to pay taxes of any kind at the local level and feel that they are a part of their local schools as they always have if they have no real voice in the system through elected board members? Taking governance of the schools away from the people at the parish level is simply not the way to proceed. This approach misses the point of what the problems are that we face in public education today and how to continue solving them. With all stakeholders working together, we can insure several key reforms: better parental involvement, better discipline, teacher effectiveness and improved educational results for all children in Louisiana. Divisive and argumentative approaches serve only to hurt these efforts.
Dudley M. Glenn, President, DeSoto Parish School Board
Speaking out
To the publisher:
An editorial written by your publisher, Rolfe McCollister, included insinuations about me that are blatantly false [“Publisher’s View,” March 24].
Absolutely no “type of arrangement regarding [my] campaign debt in exchange for [my] support” was ever discussed, much less entered into by myself or with either of the two gentlemen campaigning for the Louisiana State Senate in District 16. I feel certain both men would have verified that fact if Mr. McCollister had bothered to check.
Mr. McCollister also went out of his way to again attack me for having supported Democratic candidates. I have. Perhaps he wants his readers to believe there is something evil in my having done so. I would remind Mr. McCollister that he has also supported and contributed to Democrats for public office. I do not consider his having done so to be part of some underground, sinister plot.
It seems that the publisher of this paper allowed his emotions and support for one candidate to get in the way of the facts, the truth and common decency. His false and malicious attack was shameful and unfit for an otherwise great publication. That’s too bad, as it only served to contribute negatively to an already divisive campaign by espousing untruths and baseless insinuations.
Laurinda Calongne, Baton Rouge
To the publisher:
I cannot believe that Paula Pennington would ever make a public statement about someone that was not factual. There is nothing for her to gain by making false statements. Paula evidently felt that this was something voters should know before casting their votes. She and her family have been by far the most generous members of our community. If Lee [Domingue] feels that she has slandered him, he should file charges in a court of law.
Norman Deumite, Baton Rouge
Climate change
To the editor:
I find it painful to read articles such as the one written about Chelsea’s in Daily Report AM [March 26]. When I moved here just over two years ago, I would have used the word “amusing”—but my attitude towards the business climate in this city has become cynical to the point of pure annoyance. If I read the story correctly, a local restaurant/bar owner has found the state and city licensing process to be confusing. An ATC commissioner has seized the opportunity created by the confusion to impose fines and potentially force the business to rezone or close. All while the business is already suffering from heavy construction on the Perkins Road overpass.
Mr. [Murphy] Painter should focus on solving the real issue, that the state and local licensing process for food and beverage retail is so mired in politics that it encourages businesses to fail. He says, “It’s just what I have to do.” Weak people have used that excuse for several thousand years in the performance of various tasks.
Seriously folks, are there any restaurants in Louisiana that are open after 9 p.m. and don’t serve alcohol?
Brad Artigue, Baton Rouge
Up in smoke
To the editor:
Why don’t we just tax every kind of entertainment we have in this state so the single people who don’t have children along with working married people who have school-age children and have to put them in private schools are completely paying for other nonworking people’s children’s education and health care because they were not smart enough to remember birth control is free at health clinics [“Random Thoughts,” March 24]?
In a state where our government drags its feet in bringing in new employment opportunities for their citizens to be able to work but constantly tries to broaden companies we have here, there should be a governmental tax on the politicians. With the salaries these politicians and governmental employees make, all these children who don’t have health care and need adequate education will be taken care of for life.
Continuously taxing people and trying to make it look like its a health issue because you haven’t done your job will not get you voted in the next go round.
Cindy M. Denham, Baton Rouge
To the editor:
Let’s assume that higher taxes will cause people to stop smoking. When people stop smoking, they stop purchasing cigarettes, which, in turn, causes a decrease in revenue to the government. Our government nannies, being addicted to tax revenue, will find another way to make up for that loss by creating another tax or fee on some other group.
If politicians were genuinely concerned with the health of the citizens and if smoking was truly a health hazard, then why don’t politicians ban tobacco altogether? Because they want the tax dollars it generates.
Frank Panepinto, Baton Rouge
