Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter concerning the expulsion of Keaton Baldwin from the South Eastern Youth Football League.
Keaton and my son, Robert, have been friends since kindergarten. They have played on the same team for six years.
Keaton loves football. Keaton is also a member of 4-H and showed livestock at our 4-H/FFA County Fair and attended 4-H camp. He likes outdoor activities.
Keaton is a good football player who is playing against players as much as 40 pounds heavier.
Football is a physical sport. Keaton is not an evil or vindictive child trying to injure other players.
It seems that the referees call the game, but also determine who plays.
It also seems strange that in this age of technology, no films of these events were available. Events such as this are not only unfair for Keaton, but affect our entire team.
We are limited in all of our sports due to our declining population.
We have no local football referees. Mike Knisely was our last. It would help if the referees knew our players and could explain the rules more effectively.
The purpose of youth football is to teach football as well as good sportsmanship.
Labeling a child is wrong.
Keaton will always be known as the player that was expelled from the SEYFL.
I ask you to consider if this was your son or grandson.
We need to always consider actions toward children.
Our children must come first!
Sincerely,
Lynn Jordan
Marlinton
Dear Editor:
RE: School Tax Levy
At first, we must address the root of this proposal and then take immediate action to destroy it.
In 1979, the U. S. Department of Education began its takeover. By the 1990s, the father of one-size-fits-all instruction attained its position as “Outcome Based Education.”
It frustrated and failed the children.
Next born was relabeled as “No Child Left Behind.”
It failed our children and frustrated our educators.
Changing the name again to “Race to the Top,” it was used as bribery money funneled to the states to deploy Common Core.
Since 2009, we have it which will lead to “No Child Left a Dime.”
Its devil-in-the-details nature is killing the spirit of our youth and educators. It equals “Epic Fail” for our children, our educators and ultimately our nation.
From the U. S. Department of Education and other agencies come funded and unfunded mandates.
Our West Virginia state Constitution is a closer to home level of protection of, by and for the people. Under and through its law, West Virginia state government cannot mandate how monies distributed to local districts are spent.
County boards of education along with every taxpayer and voter must consider their civic duty.
Ultimately, parents have the responsibility for raising their children to become the next generation of broadly educated preservers of our One Nation under God.
All together, the taxpayers who have no students in the government education system are in the boat along with the families and educators rowing into a perfect storm of government takeovers while the children walk the plank – the 10th plank of the “Communist Manifesto.”
Where is the uproar?
Contrary to Common Core proponents’, supporters’ and promoters’ statements regarding CC’s origins, methodology and outcomes –
1) Common Core is not state led.
Governor Joe Manchin signed on to Common Core, sight unseen, never test-driven, before the standards were released in June 2010 by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). West Virginia was threatened to lose money if they didn’t comply.
They were not devised by the West Virginia Board of Education. They were designed by corporatists like Bill Gates for profiteering.
There were no public hearings or state legislative review.
Parents and municipalities have no control of the standards’ contents – they are copyrighted and can only be changed and sold by corporations to school systems. Pearson and McGraw-Hill have much at stake in the CCSSI. For example – Pearson and its subsidiaries write and distribute much of the texts used to dictate the Common Core. They own assessment/test materials and are paid $14 -30 for each test taken.
2) The standards are not internationally benchmarked.
3) Intrusive date collection, tracking and dissemination of personal identifiable info are parts of the Common Core package.
4) Implementation will bankrupt towns and counties, and force states into deep debt to set up and maintain Federal mandates.
5) Research into CC is showing that this is a further dumbing down of our next generation.
Stop Common Core Now.
1) Opt-out your children of all assessments, all data collection schemes: such things as surveys and monitoring devices.
2) Remove all CC approved texts and curriculum materials from the schools.
3) Demand closure of U.S. Department of Education. Through attrition, mandates immediately rescinded and money distributed to states in block grants we can be free within three years.
As the election approaches on November 4, each voter has a duty to find out where each candidate stands on Common Core.
Individuals, as elected or appointed officials, who form or promote Fascism through public/private partnerships or align themselves with the tenets of Communism, breaking our Constitutional Covenant must resign immediately or if they will not resign they must be removed from their position.
Monique Grimes
Green Bank