May 11, 2018, Letters to the Editot

Teacher Appreciation

Dear Editor: Quality teachers are the key to student achievement, and in the Sitka School District we are fortunate to have not only high quality teachers but many staff members who dedicate their careers to our students and community. This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and since we know effective schools rely on excellent teachers, staff, and administrators, we are turning this week into School Staff Appreciation Week!  

Our school staff makes a difference in the lives of our students every day, and we encourage everyone to reach out and thank a teacher, staff, and/or administrator who has made a positive difference in your life or the life of someone dear to you. The relationships that are built during the pre-kindergarten-12th grade years are the foundation to creating lifelong learners. The connections our teachers, staff, and administrators make with students and families help motivate our young Sitkans to do their best. 

The School Board and superintendent want to publicly thank our teachers, staff, and administrators for everything they do to help our students achieve success, and for helping create a promising future for all of us.

Dr. Jennifer McNichol,

President of the Sitka School Board 

Dr. Mary Wegner ,

Superintendent of the

Sitka School District

 

 

Assembly and Taxes

Dear Editor: I have just two points to make: Alaskans are going to have to pay higher taxes and this is not the fault of the Assembly. 

The Assembly, made up of elected citizens, must make up for the loss of the easy largess of oil revenue. This is not likely to get better. We still need first rate schools, harbors, roads, medical care, and, for my money, a vibrant arts community.

To do this we are going to have to pay more from local sources of income. Sitkans rejected an increase in the property tax rate. The Assembly now must make ends meet through the means at hand. I think that these citizens deserve a great deal of respect for taking on these difficult decisions.

Randy Hughey, Sitka

Delegated Democracy

Dear Editor: I did not vote for Mr. Trump because he said (and believes) that ‘‘only I can!’’ We are now struggling to find out whether, in our new Twitter age, any ‘‘balance of powers’’ remains.

Here is what I consider to be a similar sentiment I received on May 8, 2018, from one of our Assembly members – in response to the issue of whether or not ‘‘we the people’’ should have a say in decisions involving our community:

‘‘We vote for people to make decisions. If we do not like those decisions, we vote them out. For the people to usurp the power of the Assembly when they think it is ‘important enough’ is a slap at all of the other issues that we are charged with making and all of the challenges we face in having to make them.’’

I have been taught that we elect people to represent us, not to decide for us! I have been ignored by politicians, and received messages from them that have nothing to do with the issue I’ve opened to them, but I have never before been told to leave well enough alone – that my involvement in civic matters would be an unwelcome ‘‘slap.’’ I am not prepared yet to become a civic cipher and exercise my civic rights ONLY to elect someone who will, then, always decide for me.

Democracy, including checks and balances, AND PUBLIC VOICES, is never ‘‘tidy.’’ Often it takes more effort and is less ‘‘business friendly’’ than a more totalitarian government. But it is what our country has fought for, and tries to be!

David S. Steward, Sitka