4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| MAY 8, 2019
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
The First Amendment
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ongress shall make no law respect-
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prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Govern-
ment for a redress of grievances.
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800)
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Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
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Letters to the Editor policy
What does Lane Education Service District do?
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal to encourage
community discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
I
n the current special election there
are are number of school board po-
sitions to vote for. There are the local
school boards, Siuslaw and Mapleton,
and there is the Lane Community
College board. There is also the Lane
Education Service District Board, also
known as Lane ESD.
What does LESD do?
Vist its website at www.lesd.k12.
or.us and you will find that it provides
services for 16 school districts in Lane
County. You will also find that Lane
ESD, just like other school districts, has
a superintendent (Tony Scurto, a gem
of a guy) and they are governed by a
citizen-elected Board of Directors.
Five of the Board positions represent
geographical zones (ours is zone 4) and
two are designated “at-large.”
But that’s not the impressive part.
Lane ESD offers a safety net for chil-
dren in small and middle-sized school
districts who have special needs. In-
deed, 84 percent of Lane ESD’s pro-
grams are for these children. It also of-
fer School Improvement Services, such
as Career and Technical Education and
professional development. Finally, it
offers technology support and admin-
istrative services for small districts
that need those services as well. This
Guest Viewpoint
By Nora Kent
LCC educator
includes courier services that our local
library accesses.
At Siuslaw School District, I met
with Lisa Utz from special services
and Siuslaw High School vice-princi-
pal Garth Gerot. Currently, there are
services children with behavioral and
remedial academic needs are offered
at the the elementary, middle and high
school levels.
Lane ESD also provides a part-time
school psychologist (who assesses
special needs), a speech and language
therapist and an augmentative com-
munication specialist. Siuslaw teachers
make good use Lane ESD professional
development resources and Ms. Utz
spoke very positively about the English
Language Learner consortium that the
district uses to improve instruction for
ELL learners.
Upriver is the small Mapleton School
District, where I met with Jodi O’Mara,
an enthusiastic superintendent and ele-
mentary school principal.
She explained that “without Lane
ESD, we would really suffer.”
Lane ESD provides Mapleton with
specialists for speech and language,
as well as occupational and physical
therapy. It also provides a school psy-
chologist and a behavioral specialist
— an extra support adult who helps
with emotional and behavioral needs is
available for any student who just needs
to talk to someone.
Lane ESD offers Mapleton technol-
ogy support — email servers, firewall
and an IT specialists they can call at
any time. Ms. O’Mara also calls on
Lane ESD Homeschool and Truancy
Services that offer resources to help
families facing those issues.
She said she is truly grateful for Lane
ESD. “It is an amazing service that little
districts need in order to give their kids
the education they deserve.”
LETTERS
Might as well just hold
elections in 11 states
Keith Kraft recently stated in a Let-
ter to the Editor (“Electoral College
Protects Against Dictatorship,” April
27) that “The Electoral College makes
minority opinion relevant whereas the
popular vote for president leaves that
decision to a half-dozen heavily pop-
ulated states.”
I hope he wrote this in jest because
the popular vote includes “everyone”
that votes, whereas the Electoral Col-
lege requires just 270 votes to win the
election — and they can be captured
by wining just 11 States.
California – 55; Texas – 38; Florida
– 29; New York – 29; Pennsylvania –
20; Illinois – 20; Ohio – 18; Georgia
– 16; North Carolina – 15; New Jersey
– 14; Virginia – 12
In Mr. Kraft’s assessment, why have
a general election and just not hold
elections in the 11 states listed above
because a vote “by the people and for
the people” is swayed by a few states.
—Win Jolley
Florence
We would accomplish more
by disagreeing less
Being a devote “Non-Affiliate” and
an avid disbeliever in partisan pol-
itics, I am constantly amazed at the
statements from the Tweets and chat-
ter coming from the talking heads in
Washington D.C.
It is very obvious that these people
have never really listened to what they
are saying.
For example, there has been a pack
of Tweets from the President blaming
the Democratic party for his not being
able to fulfill one of the many prom-
ises he made during his campaign of
what looked similar to organized riots
in 2016. I distinctly remember my 8th
grade social studies classes covering
the organization and the responsibil-
ities of the various arms of the govern-
ment.
At that time, there was no major an-
imosity between the two parties, and
society seemed to get along with each
other quite well.
Now, it seems, we have gotten to a
point where the two parties are blam-
ing each other for everything from
the fires in California to constipation.
Neither of these problems will be
solved by yelling at each other.
What the President needs to un-
derstand is that his opposition is not
from a political party at all, but rather
is caused by a thing called democracy.
We don’t elect a king or monarch to
tell us how to think, what to do — so
we rely on our elected officials to work
together in running our country.
It was an experiment that started
well over 200 years ago and still ap-
pears to be working rather well.
I think we all would feel better, be
happier and live longer if we just drop
the feeling that “I am always right and
you never are.”
—Charles Pennington
Florence
Kent most qualified to
represent Lane ESD
I believe that Nora Kent is the best
person for Lane Educational Service
District Board. I am currently attend-
ing her mathematics, morning and
afternoon class at LCC, which I have
participated in for several months.
Nora Kent once said to me “We
want our students to be effective in
the world.” Nora has held true to this
statement everyday.
Here is why I believe Nora Kent is
the best person to fill this important
position:
1. Nora has organized multiple
community events to better educate
our students to be effective in todays
world.
2. She offers individualized resourc-
es and assistance. She cares a lot about
our success.
3. She brings passion for learning,
with world views, political outreach,
and up to date learning platforms.
4. She keeps informed about educa-
tional issues and creates ways to solve
them.
5. She is a voice for the needs of our
rural schools and people, representing
us with passion and integrity.
6. Nora has a bright, inovative and
dedicated mind ready for the chal-
lenges ahead.
I can’t imagine anyone better suit-
ed to represent zone 4 on lane ESD
Board.
—Gem Ridge
Florence
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi-
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WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office
Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep.
Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@oregonlegislature.gov
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us