NCTimes stops embargo
The NCTimes editors have stopped the embargo of Pro-Public education candidate letters to the editor. They have started publishing some of the thirty plus letters to the editor in support of JAKA, LILLY and CHUNKA that have been withheld from publication for almost a month. Our protest phone calls have paid off. Good job to all who called the NCTimes editors!
Today two courageous, PRO public education, VUSD voters were allowed to have their letters published in support of our three PRO-PUBLIC EDUCATION CANDIDATES: Elizabeth JAKA, Dr. Steve LILLY and Angela CHUNKA.
Read them online here: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/23/opinion/letters/z6de26879dd90032b882574ea007a7448.txt
Now that so many of you have called in to complain about the attempts of the NCTimes editors to swing the election to the ANTIs, our editor friends seem to have decided to dole out one or two letters every other day or two until the day of the election when they will publish all the rest together in one big batch. This strategy allows for them to say they are “fair and balanced,” but still eliminate most of the impact of the overwhelming letter support for PRO public education candidates: JAKA, LILLY and CHUNKA.
I have reproduced today’s pro-public education letters at the end of this blog. Check them out. Notice that the first letter from Thomas Streeter discusses how the Anti-public education members of our current school board, Guffanti and Gibson, introduced and voted in favor of one of those “fringe” political issues that have nothing to do with our VUSD students. “Fringe’ politics are what the ANTI’s are known for.
Our ANTI friends do not have children in our district schools or any public school anywhere. They never will either. Their goal always is personal aggrandizement and personal political power first, VUSD students last. They seem to think that “fringe” issues will generate headlines and support for themselves. If they win this election look for many more headlines about “fringe” political issues.
The NCTimes may be looking forward to a return of the kind of disruptions to teaching and education in the district that we all saw during the least reign of error of our ANTI friends in 1992-1994. I am sure it will sell more papers for them. However, it is hardly good for our students and children here in VUSD. Fight the ANTI’s and their attempts to insert “fringe” politics into our VUSD classrooms.
The second PRO-public education letter deals with the divineness that our ANTI friends have brought into our district. Divisive, nasty elections and a divided community are the greatest legacies of the ANTI’s.
If Guffanti/Gibson, and the gullible ones who believe them, had not been spewing hate and slander against classroom teachers and public education for the last 14 years, then we would have a united community, a third high school (years ago) and a plan for dealing with the ever increasing numbers of non-English speaking students. Instead of helping with our VUSD problems, the ANTI’s continue election after election driving a wedge deeper and deeper into divisive issues in order to get re-elected.
The ANTI’s often falsely accuse the teachers of starting the divisiveness by entering into the politics of VUSD by recalling the first ANTI majority. Ridiculous! The teachers did not want to be involved in politics. There never was a Political Action Committee at VTA before the first set of ANTI’s were elected in 1992. The teacher’s did not start the recall of the first ANTI board, we only entered into it many MONTHS after a community organization had started the recall. There were long discussions at the Executive Board about whether or not it was appropriate for the teachers to be involved. (see Ex. Bd. Notes from Feb-April 1993)
The teachers did not have any interest in politics. We only responded to attacks on our classroom’s FACT based curriculum by the first ANTI majority on our school board from 1992-1994. The ANTI attacks were on FACT based science, history and sex education teaching inside our PUBLIC school classrooms. I, for one, am proud of our teachers for defending the students of VUSD against the ignorance and intolerance of the ANTI’s.
The teachers will get out of the business of local politics when the ANTI’s leave our district alone and no sooner. The ANTI’s feign outrage that PUBLIC school teachers would dare to defend our PUBLIC school classrooms. I guess the British were pretty outraged as well when American colonists defended themselves against unfair attacks and limits on American commerce. Southern slave owners were outraged when northerners helped run-away slaves escape the horror of slavery in the South. Good Americans should always wear outrage of intolerants as a badge of honor proudly on their sleeves. I know the more outrage Guffanti and his group express the more successful the good people of our district have been at thwarting his ANTI-public education agenda of extremism, fringe politics and the destruction of public education in VUSD.
Here are the two PRO-public education letters from the NCTimes reproduced here:
Elect those who support public educationJim Gibson, with Dr. Guffanti's support, asked the Vista Unified School District Board of Trustees to pass a resolution supporting Proposition 8, a proposition on the ballot pertaining to gay marriage ("School trustee pushes for support of Prop. 8," Oct. 14). What in the world does this have to do with providing our children with the best education possible?Our school trustees are supposed to be concerned with providing a quality education, not to use the meetings to propagate personal political agendas. Fortunately, our three remaining trustees recognized this had nothing to do with educating our students and refused to support the resolution.Dr. Guffanti has done enough to hinder our schools' success. ... We should not support someone whose actions display a lack of support for public education. And we should not re-elect someone who consistently attempts to use meetings to advance his own personal agenda.It's time for Vista to take back the control of our schools and elect people who have actually demonstrated a concern for the quality of education we provide. This coming election let's elect Angela Chunka and Elizabeth Jaka and re-elect Steve Lilly. These are people who actually want to allow our schools and students to succeed.Thomas StreeterVista
And
Let's mend our divided communityBoth of my children attended Vista Unified School District schools, K-12, and with few exceptions had very good teachers. My daughter will be completing college in December, and I believe her readiness for and success in college was made possible by her diligence, her parents and her community. Yes, it does take a village.I am also a teacher, and every day I am thankful for this opportunity. On a small scale, I see a glimpse of the future. Besides parenting, teaching is the hardest and most-rewarding work I've done.To read the vitriolic descriptions of VTA and unions is disheartening, and casts a negative light on individual teachers. It divides the community and ultimately hurts the students by threatening their success. I am a proud member of the VTA, but also see myself as an ethical teacher striving to meet the responsibilities of the profession. The most dedicated teachers I've met over the years have often been the most involved in their union.I don't vote along party lines; I vote the person/legislation based on research, and in this election, my research tells me that Lilly, Jaka and Chunka will be the best candidates for strengthening and bringing this community together.Teresa GerentVista
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