[Vision2020] Why Not Just Say It?

[lfalen]

Keely

I wont comment on the bulk of your post, but those statements that relate to the DN I think are misplaced. They only have two regular columnists on the right. Add up how many they have with left wing views. You seem to be unhappy if they carry anyone on the right. A newspaper should try to be somewhat balanced on the Editorial Page. I think that is what they are attempting to do.

Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "keely emerinemix" kjajmix1 at msn.com
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:47:19 -0700
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Why Not Just Say It?

> 
> My head has finally stopped spinning from the dizzying array of "facts" and 
> the astonishingly glib conclusions drawn from Dale Courtney's guest column 
> in yesterday's Daily News.  I write not so much to expose the error of his 
> thinking, but the error of his character.
> 
> First, though, I'll say that he has every right to submit a guest editorial, 
> and every right to blast the School District I served for three years and 
> appreciate always.  The Daily News, which once was a reputable newspaper, 
> has the right, I suppose, to print his words, although perhaps it would go 
> down better if they acknowledged up front that Courtney is an elder at 
> Christ Church, and the DN benefits directly from Christ Church's New St. 
> Andrew's College's leasing of five parking spaces owned by the newspaper -- 
> you'll recall, I'm sure, NSA's continuing wrangling with the City over 
> parking, but you would be forgiven if you couldn't recall the DN's 
> aggressive coverage of the issue.  There wasn't any.
> 
> It'd be nice if the DN disclosed that it benefits financially from an 
> organization its city desk is supposed to cover, and it would be nice if the 
> DN acknowledged a terrible fondness for all things Christ Church -- double 
> weddings, cookbooks, regular columnists and such.  Still, the Daily News 
> operates under whatever standards it chooses; Dale Courtney, a church elder, 
> really ought to operate under only one:  the integrity befitting a professed 
> Christian.
> 
> The fact is, Dale Courtney's theology, and the theology of Christ Church, 
> and the theology of Pastor Doug Wilson, precludes him from ever supporting 
> ANY request for additional funding for public schools, because their beliefs 
> forbid it.  It's not a matter of Christian doctrine but of the 
> Libertarian-influenced Reconstructionist movement that has so influenced the 
> elders.  The Kirk believes, and teaches, that public schools, like any other 
> "government" institution, are a burden -- a punishment, if you will -- 
> imposed by God because of the unwillingness of the Church to seize control 
> and take dominion over schools, courts, banks and other institutions.  They 
> chafe under the yoke of taxes, and especially under that part that funds 
> public education.  Support of "government schools" is seen as collusion with 
> the enemy, and those children outside of the covenant (because they surely 
> must be not among God's chosen) who attend public schools are simply 
> collateral damage.   Further, says the Kirk, education is, at its heart, an 
> entirely religious matter, and any education of children undertaken by the 
> State is a challenge, however impotent, to the very Lordship of God.
> 
> Strong words, and words Dale Courtney and his pals won't deny -- at least 
> vocally.  But they make clearheaded people, Christians and non-Christians 
> alike, uncomfortable because their radicalness is exceeded only by their 
> unfoundedness in Scripture.  They may speak the language among themselves, 
> but when it comes to "outsiders" -- in this case, those readers of the Daily 
> News -- they deny by an act of omission the real argument they have against 
> the upcoming levy.  The fact is, Dale Courtney's beliefs require him to hate 
> public schools, to hope for their demise, and to oppose any additional 
> funding for which he will have to pay.  An honest man may believe these 
> things, but a coward hides his true beliefs behind recycled statistics, 
> false premises, and simplistic formulas.
> 
> Why not just say it, Dale?  Why not just say, "Hey -- it ain't the 
> economics, it ain't the demographics, it ain't that I think Blue Knights are 
> better than Bears.  It's actually that I hate public schools because they're 
> an offense to a Holy God, and I would never choose to fund them nor support 
> any additional funding for them."
> 
> No, Dale has instead chosen to repeat the late Jack Wenders' tiresome and 
> disproven screeds against what he saw as a school district gone wild -- he 
> even used some of the same stats Wenders, who died this summer, used to 
> throw out.  But the facts are very clear:
> 
> -- A 13% drop in enrollment is not a death spiral.  In fact, because of its 
> high-quality special ed and gifted/talented programs, MSD attracts many 
> students from other districts.  And Logos has lost some kids to MSD, while 
> MSD has lost some to Logos or the two charter schools that started up within 
> the last decade.  And not even the number of families moving to Moscow to 
> become part of Christ Church can reverse the overall flat-line of Latah 
> County Growth.
> 
> -- Unlike Logos, MSD is required by state and federal statute to educate all 
> children, regardless of the severity of their disabilities.  Perhaps Dale 
> could give us information on Logos' programs for special needs and disabled 
> children.  I believe there's a matchbook nearby that could contain it all.
> 
> -- Because MSD prefers to make staffing changes through attrition and not 
> head-chopping, very few positions have been eliminated.  However, because of 
> special education requirements from the Federal Government, deaf children, 
> for example, each are entitled to a qualified sign-language interpreter, and 
> provisions for the nurture and success of each student often requires 
> additional personnel.  Not a worry for Logos -- they've chosen not to 
> accommodate those who would be a burden on their support base.
> 
> -- You hear a lot that administrative salaries at MSD are bloated.  Candis 
> Donicht of MSD has been a superintendent in Idaho for 18 years, and yet the 
> first-year superintendent in Pullman already makes about $10,000 more a year 
> than she does.  Teachers are paid better in Pullman, even though nearly 
> two-thirds of MSD's teachers have master's degrees and are endorsed beyond 
> generalized curricula.  Logos teachers are . . . well, very hardworking, 
> clearly bright, and undoubtedly quite kind.  You'll have to ask Dale how 
> their experience is quantified or their performances accounted for.
> 
> -- Pullman benefits greatly from a reasonably generous state legislature, as 
> well as from the largesse of Schweitzer Labs.  Moscow School District 
> consistently scores at or near the top of every possible measure of student 
> success, in an environment made less secure not only by a stingy legislature 
> but a church group dedicated to its demise.  A man of integrity, on a 
> mission from God, would state that he is part of that group and an adherent 
> to its beliefs.  Dale, on the other hand, doesn't.
> 
> If the levy fails, MSD's fund balance for next year means that "only" 
> $400,000 in programs and staff would be cut; the year after that, the amount 
> more than triples.   That money funds smaller classrooms, technology 
> upgrades, staffing, programs and all sorts of things necessary -- and 
> beneficial -- for modern schools, even in facilities that are less than 
> adequate.  Moscow residents are already paying for an indefinite levy, a 
> fact Dale seems especially angered by.  But Moscow's citizens have 
> historically stepped up to the plate when it comes to funding public 
> schools, and I believe they are too smart to buy into Dale's message  -- and 
> too full of integrity to let him pretend his concern is motivated by simple, 
> if not simply wrong, economics.
> 
> keely
> 
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