Utility Bill Increase
Dear Editor: I take exception to Finance Director Jay Sweeney’s comment to the City Assembly that a 15 percent increase in utility billing is inexpensive because the total utility cost is only 4.4 percent of a mythological household average income. I assume Mr. Sweeney’s average number comes from the Alaska Department of Labor’s report. Data from the DOL does not include the income of commercial fishermen (Sitka’s largest labor force). Many of these people would be surprised to find that their annual household income is greater than $60,000.
The city finance director should be aware that an item is judged expensive by how much it cost and not whether it represents a large or small percentage of an inflated estimated wealth of the purchaser. Something is expensive in Sitka if it cost significantly more here than in similar communities. I consider his comments onerous after the revelation that certain city employees, including Mr. Sweeney, would be receiving large pay increases. For many Sitkans taxable income has declined with no COLA in sight.
What can be said about a leadership that wrings their hands over affordable housing and then raises utility rates 15 percent? Management has been drunk on a citizen-financed building-spree and deaf to opposition from working people concerned about expensive white elephants like a Performing Arts Center for the wealthy financed by taxes on groceries (and utilities). The largest public works project in Sitka’s history is the latest example of binge spending. The Blue Lake project was launched with a ‘‘Field of Dreams’’ ‘‘Build it and they will come’’ attitude, but looking around, the reality is more, ‘‘Build it and they will go.’’
Matt Donohoe, Sitka
Standardized Testing
Dear Editor: The teachers of Blatchley Middle School, the students and the parents should be recognized for their above average rating on the standardized tests required by the state. However, citizens should be aware that standardized testing is not a good measure of either knowledge or skills and should expect that their children perform far above what any standardized test can measure.
Recently, the Alaska State Legislature mandated new requirements for teacher evaluation. In 2015, 50 percent of any teacher’s evaluation will be based on student performance data. It stands to reason therefore that any instructor who wants to do well in their annual performance review will ensure that the students in their charge do well on the tests. That means teaching directly to the test. That means taking time to practice test taking. That means encouraging students to value tests.
That also means not having the time to foster valuable critical thinking and living skills and or time to require high-level performance.
Any adult today knows that tests appear in their lives. Yes, one must take a test to get a driver’s license, to get into a college or advanced degree program, to practice law, to become an EMT or to advance professionally. Tests are a part of our lives.
But our children must also be able to work together, value artistic expression, write powerfully, to work effectively in government, to research, solve complex problems, to invent and prove efficacy of their inventions. They must have time for thoughtful discussion, time to process and ponder and wonder “what if.” Our children need to be able to function effectively among the complicated problems that face them in their futures.
Some may suggest that tests are a good measure of a school’s performance, that tests hold schools accountable for their performance in the classroom, that they justify the expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars. Think instead of what education in the United States would be like if teacher education became much more selective and rigorous and if teachers were admired, if citizens and organizations became active in education, if parents sent the message every day that learning is a joy and then ask themselves if schools would even need to be held accountable to standardized test ratings.
Testing, when it becomes the focus in education, is a waste of resources, energy, and time. It diminishes our school system. It diminishes our educators’ abilities. It diminishes our children’s abilities. Demand that testing not become the sole evaluation for our school’s success.
Kathleen McCrossin, Sitka
