Company’s closure of Cole charter school
Re: “Cole charter school set for closure,” Jan. 12 news story.
When Cole Middle School was closed in 2005 due to poor performance, conservative pundits and politicians who advocate the “free market” approach to education were elated. At the time, we saw front-page articles and innumerable television interviews about how replacing poorly performing public schools with charter schools run by corporations was the key to success. As recently as August 2006, The Denver Post reported that the jump in test scores at the new Cole “could be an indication that a state law that requires failing traditional schools to be converted to charter schools does pay off.”
The free-market advocates have been conspicuously silent since KIPP announced plans to pull out. They want “accountability” for public school teachers. How about accountability for corporations that are more concerned about their bottom line than they are about educating our children? And how about accountability for our political leaders who regularly unveil the newest and greatest “innovation” in public education while asking our students and our teachers to do more with less?
Apparently the capitalist approach to public education does not “pay off” as well as earlier results may have indicated. It does not pay off for urban children and their parents, who are left with fewer and fewer education options, and it does not pay off for companies like KIPP, whose primary goal is to turn a profit. Instead of looking for quick fixes, we should improve efficiency in public school administration and we must give classroom teachers the resources they need to get the job done.
Steve Laudeman, Denver
A plan to help city clear snow from the streets
Re: “Charge of the light plows; Brigade will hit neighborhood streets after 6 inches of snow or more,” Jan. 11 news story.
The Denver Department of Public Works is evolving a plan to aggressively plow snow, as it falls, on all streets. This large- and small-plow strategy seems to be on target. However, these plows cannot possibly complete the neighborhood snow-removal task. The city needs more help.
The big plows plus the light-plow brigade are needed. Additionally, we need a citizens’ snow-blower brigade. Let’s name it the CARS Brigade (Citizens Assist in Removing Snow). The city would pay half the cost to arm citizen-volunteers with home-based two-stage snow blowers. The volunteers could then help finish the snow removal, freeing neighborhood cars and clearing many of the now-dangerous sidewalks.
A Denver investment of $5 million would show good payback. About 20,000 privately owned snow blowers would help solve our problem by increasing the snow-removal workforce. Think of all the snow that citizens can remove without labor cost to the city.
I would readily invest in a half-price snow blower to do my share. My neighbors would be pleased with the result. Are others ready to join me?
Len Hierath, Denver
…
It is both idiotic and mean-spirited of the City of Denver to attempt to coerce homeowners and renters to remove the accumulated snow and ice that the city itself put on the public sidewalks, especially when the city did such a pathetic job removing snow from the side streets.
While I firmly believe that a citizen has the obligation to clean the sidewalk after a storm, that obligation should not extend to snow and ice that the city itself plowed up there. In my case, during the recent storms I repeatedly cleared up my walks and those of my next-door neighbor, but soon the city plowed so much snow and ice onto the sidewalks that the mass became virtually immovable – much the same as the dangerous ice on the side streets, which remain in deplorable condition long after the storm subsided.
It should be a simple matter for our mayor to direct the Public Works Department not to plow snow and slush and ice from the streets onto the adjacent sidewalks. There is no reason why the streets have to be plowed right up to the curb anyway.
R.C. Hill, Denver
Importance of visits for inmate rehabilitation
In December, I found out my son, a Colorado inmate since 2000, was moved to Oklahoma in a plan to help our financially strapped prison system. We had no prior notice. It doesn’t seem possible that a problem-free inmate like my son could be moved, especially since he’s been getting visits from friends and family every other weekend, but now it’s a reality for us: 18-hour drive, hotel room, three-day weekend, one-day visit.
Statistics show 90 percent of all inmates in Colorado never get a visit, ever. Statistics also show a connection to family and friends is one of the most important factors in keeping released prisoners from reoffending. Released prisoners can become productive members of society, or they can reoffend and be a drain on society’s pocketbook. The problem with our system is we take people who commit crimes, and instead of meting out the punishment they’ve earned, or even trying to rehabilitate them, we add a bit of bile, creating bitter people who can’t function in society and end up back on the taxpayer’s dole, which is running dry.
My son has a chance to be rehabilitated, and yet if our system insists on treating him like he’s less than human, he may just act that way.
Tracy Masuga, Aurora
What about other men?
Re: “Kids reflect on King’s ‘right time,”‘ Jan. 14 Style essays.
Why does The Post always cover the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday when it doesn’t even recognize Lincoln’s or Washington’s birthday with a front-page article? These two men had far more impact on our country.
We must stop judging people by color, and this is what you’re doing.
I hope these fifth-graders will learn about these men as well.
Tim Sleyzak, Golden
Time for impeachment?
Ever since the Democrats gained control of the legislative branch of our country, I have heard many claim that it is in our best interests for them to work towards improving the country through important legislation such as the minimum wage and health care reform. I’ve even heard them claim that the impeachment of President George W. Bush is “off the table.”
I believe this is extremely misguided. By not starting the impeachment process, we are in essence telling the world that we are a nation of hypocrites who support torture, human rights violations and war-mongering.
Bush has already clearly sent this message to the world through Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, warrantless wiretaps and his refusal to negotiate with the “Axis of Evil.”
That is more than enough reason to throw him out of office, but it is absolutely essential that we fully investigate him to ensure that the entire world fully understand the extent of his abuse of power.
Daniel Martin, Broomfield
“Don’t Ask” policy
Letter-writer Bill Spencer (Jan. 11 Open Forum) has it exactly right: eliminating the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gays in the military would create deadly distractions because, as everyone knows, gays are incapable of responding appropriately to serious situations. Think of the chaos that would result as gay lovers quarreled in bivouac, clogged command lines with their intimate messages, and engaged in sodomy during combat operations. Of course, similar dire predictions about the inclusion of women in the military have failed to materialize, but this is different.
A.J. Hill, Nederland
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