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Measure B fails to
prioritize academics
Measure B is a $195 million bond (pretty word for tax) to paint, repair and update Antioch schools. Two prior bonds (taxes) were passed to do the same thing.
Students in Antioch schools are scoring poorly on state testing. For Example: Black Diamond Middle School Math: 8% proficiency. This means 92% of the students are below grade level. Only two students in a classroom of 25 can do math at grade level on average. Reading: 18% proficiency Less than five students in a classroom of 25 can read at grade level. Other schools in the Antioch School District aren’t much better. This is a travesty.
Our school district has a superintendent, principals and curriculum coordinators with master’s degrees, and they can’t figure out how to help our students succeed. The Antioch school administrators and school board should make academics a priority, not aesthetics.
Our children deserve a better education. Vote no on Measure B.
Lynette Solorio
Antioch
Unions favor Miley
for county supervisor
Your February 13 editorial discussing the District 4 Supervisorial race emphasized the role candidate Jennifer Esteen has played in public employee unions.
You neglected to mention that both public employee unions to which she belongs have endorsed her opponent, Nate Miley.
Dale Silva
Fairview
A right to speak,
but no call to listen
Re: “Man spews anti-Jewish hate at meeting” (Page B1, Feb. 22).
I join in the outrage over the hate speech delivered at a recent Walnut Creek City Council meeting.
Here is one solution to put such vile remarks in their place: Immediately upon hearing any hate speech in the council chamber, the council members quietly walk out, returning only when the speaker is done. Those in the audience should do so too.
There may be a constitutional right to free speech at City Hall, but there is no constitutional right to be heard.
Mark Peters
Walnut Creek
Kennedy would chart
new course for nation
I’m a mom of three young children in the East Bay. I’d like to introduce to my fellow residents our independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Many American families, like my own, are feeling increasingly distressed economically due to inflation and lack of job security. Kennedy recognizes that the average American’s quality of life has not improved since the 1960s. A massive military machine and rampant corruption have contributed significantly to the decline of the middle class. His proposed economic policies are centered around ensuring that hard-working individuals can lead a decent life. Kennedy plans to, among other things, make housing more affordable by backing 3% home mortgages with tax-free bonds, support small businesses by redirecting regulatory scrutiny onto large corporations, and expand free child care to millions of families.
I call on everyone to support Kennedy, as his presidency will reform and revitalize our nation.
Scarlett Fang
Danville
Deny hate speech
a council audience
Re: “Man spews anti-Jewish hate at meeting” (Page B1, Feb. 22).
The First Amendment guarantees all Americans the right to speak freely, even at the Walnut Creek City Council meetings.
There is nothing (to my knowledge) in the U.S. Constitution that forces the council members to listen to a Nazi moron’s diatribe.
Esteemed members, when he begins his ranting, leave the room for a couple of minutes. He’ll have his 120 seconds of notoriety and you will have a couple of minutes of peace and reflection. You will have also made a massive statement of your disgust for him and his ilk.
Robin Hall
Walnut Creek
Church’s attributes are
needed in neighborhood
Re: “2 private Catholic schools will shutter amid Diocese of Oakland’s bankruptcy” (Page A1, Feb. 24 ).
I sadly read the Feb. 24 article regarding the closure of my alma mater, St. Anthony’s School in Oakland, due to the diocesan bankruptcy. It maintains that “officials at the diocese attributed the closure to more than just financial constraints.” Rather, dwindling enrollment was due to “rising homelessness, unemployment and human trafficking in the surrounding San Antonio neighborhood.”
It seems to me this is where the hope and resources presented by the church and its institutions should be the most visible and accessible.
James Erickson
Brentwood
Alabama embryo ruling
wastes resources
Alabama just declared that an in-vitro fertilized egg is a human being. Therefore, a number of changes to the law must be made. These eggs must now be counted as residents which could increase the number of representatives in the House and in the Alabama Legislature.
The United States, including Alabama, once counted a Black person as three-fifths of a human. How much of a human will the eggs be? Maybe Alabama will make sperm a partial person whether it fertilizes an egg or not. A woman who miscarries can be charged with involuntary manslaughter. A technician who forgets to turn on the refrigerator housing embryos is a murderer. If the utility company turns off the power, they will be an accessory to murder.
Alabama must find a better way to use its resources than looking into wombs.
Norman Weiss
Orinda
