Letters to the Editor

Why does Waite get short shrift?

1/14/2012

Your Jan. 11 article "The Bulldogs are back on Collingwood" said that the cost to renovate Scott High School was more than $40 million.

The hallways have flat-screen TV monitors. There is new furniture in the building. A picture with the article showed a beautifully renovated floor.

Waite High School also is being renovated, at a cost of around $18 million. No new monitors will hang in the halls. There won't be any new furniture. Students will continue to use the old flooring, which needs to be replaced.

Scott has 553 students, while Waite has more than 1,100. Where is the equity for the students at Waite?

Could it be because Waite is in East Toledo? Or are there other, political reasons? Only Board of Education members can answer these questions. I'd welcome their explanations.

I'm a loyal Waite alumnus of the Class of '74.

Milt Hubartt

Airport Highway

No balance in Libbey, Scott fates

Nothing like rubbing salt in a wound. On the Jan. 10 Second News front page, there was a photograph of Libbey High School being razed ("Machine claws away at Libbey, grads' hearts").

The next day, a picture of renovated, state-of-the-art Scott High School appeared. It doesn't balance out.

Anna Miller

Hampsford Circle

Are changes good for TPS students?

Like many other urban school districts, Toledo Public Schools is trying to meet the challenges of declining enrollments that have necessitated the closing of many neighborhood school buildings ("TPS students miss fewer days from suspensions, expulsions: Young people stay in classrooms; Shift to K-8 cited," Jan. 3).

To add to this upheaval, familiar buildings are slated to be demolished. The loss of a neighborhood school is something like losing a friend.

The K-8 configuration dates to 19th century America. By the mid-20th century, junior highs and middle schools became an important means for children to make the transition from a neighborhood building to a large high school, with many new academic and social challenges.

Many former TPS middle school teachers are not experienced at teaching all subjects. Because of staff down-sizing, larger class sizes affect teacher-student interactions.

Are TPS students being prepared to meet 21st-century challenges? Accounting for the rigorous demands of national and state standardized test benchmarks, what opportunities do students have for an enriched focus on the arts and the ability to learn vital life-problem-solving skills?

What has happened to encouraging creativity and a love of learning?

Kurt Van Meter

Liberty Center, Ohio

Editor's note: The writer is an adjunct instructor of English at Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio.

Officials have no sense of history

With the destruction of the Seneca County Courthouse and Libbey High School, it seems as if public officials in northwest Ohio have the historical perspective of Daffy Duck ("Demolition continues to draw residents' ire," Jan. 12).

Jim Holland

Sylvania

Time to forget the courthouse

I have three words for your coverage of the demolition of the Seneca County Courthouse: Get over it.

Mark Wuertz

Sylvania Township

Leasing turnpike questionable

The writer of the Dec. 25 Readers' Forum letter "Study of turnpike lease the right move" touts Gov. John Kasich's plan to lease the Ohio Turnpike. Apparently the writer hasn't driven the Indiana Turnpike, where leasing has caused the road and toll plazas to deteriorate.

Why is Ohio considering leasing, which will result in less maintenance and an eventual taxpayer bailout long after Mr. Kasich is gone?

The governor's plan smacks of a payback to people who helped get him elected. His argument that there is no money for the turnpike is weak. Republicans in Congress found $1.5 million for KPMG to study the lease option.

KPMG was in charge of liquidating some of the Hong Kong holdings of Lehman Brothers, the financial-services company that gave us the derivatives scandal. Mr. Kasich worked for Lehman Brothers from 2001 until 2008, when the company declared bankruptcy.

Paul Szymanowski

Curtice

Land value to sink with water tank

Sylvania City Council members are going to plop a water tower into the middle of a residential neighborhood ("Sylvania council OKs $2.7M bid for water tank," Jan. 4). This investment will have a negative impact on property values.

Instead of studying what to do with the $1 million available because the construction bid came in lower than expected, the city should give that money back to taxpayers.

Claus Stang

Sylvania

Cooper guilty of corporate greed

Cooper Tire, which has made millions of dollars in profits, wants to deny its employees quality wages and benefits ("U.S. senator drops in to cheer up locked-out Findlay tire workers," Jan. 3).

One in two Americans is poor or low-income, yet corporations forget the employees who helped them prosper. Struggling Americans are using public assistance programs, food pantries, and soup kitchens in record numbers. Meanwhile, scores of corporations pay no federal taxes.

Shared sacrifice yields shared prosperity. These are my family values.

Theresa Allen

Forest, Ohio

Tebow, prayer add up to faith

From the opening kickoff, when the football hit the goalpost, bounced back, and stopped directly on the 20-yard line, to the overtime, game-winning pass that gave quarterback Tim Tebow 316 (John 3:16) passing yards, God was in control ("Broncos stun Steelers in OT; 80-yard touchdown sends Denver to New England," Jan. 9).

America watched a battle between ego and a humble heart, played out on a great platform. He who exalts himself will be humbled. He who humbles himself will be exalted.

As a passionate member of both Steeler Nation and the family of God, I have only two words: I believe.

Bob Moyers

Liberty Center, Ohio