The election is coming up in a couple of weeks and the one race that I really care about is the School Board Race JoDee Sundberg vs. Scott Bell. I want JoDee to win so badly. I have met both JoDee and Scott and I feel that JoDee is the much better person for the job. The following is a letter that my friend wrote to Scott Bell. It says everything that I wanted to say but never could find the right words to express myself. I really fear for the school district if Mr. Bell wins. I really like the way the school district does things right now and I feel like Scott Bell wants to change that. He and his group say they want change. Well, I don't feel "their change" is for the better. Even if you don't agree with me, please at least go vote at the election!!! That is so important! So here is the letter:
Dear Mr. Bell,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this email. Just a few items for you to know. You stated on your flier that ASD motto is "Enculturating the Young Into a Social and Political Democracy". This is not correct. ASD motto is (according to their website
http://www.alpine.k12.ut.us/phpApps/genericPage.php?pdid=1 ) "Educating All Students To Ensure The Future Of Our Democracy". This is the first of many misrepresentations that the group that supports your election (Oak Norton) have made. I feel this should be corrected on your website. At the Speech given on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, President Ronald Reagan has said, " Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government devised by man". (source
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganddayaddress.html ) I suppose he was also pushing the secret socialist agenda that Alpine School District has been acccused of by some of your supporters, specifically Joyce Mitchell. Within earshot of many people, she went up to Dr. John Spencer after the MVHS(your Alma Mater, by the way he was a former English teacher at this school) School Community Council Meeting and called him a socialist to his face! This is an example of the group that supports you! Is President Reagan now a "socialist" as well? Utah County is the most conservative county in the nation and yet we are too liberal for Oak Norton's group? Does the fact that democracy sounds like Democrat and republic sounds like Republican really more of the reason your supporters have a problem with the mission statement? Is the fact that the President of the United States is a liberal, African American more of the reason that so many parents were fearful of his speech to our school students?
You have chosen to homeschool your kids which I think is your right. However, I think there is an inherent conflict of interest with this and your decision to run for the School Board. You have not had the experience of seeing the teachers, principal, and parents work in action for the benefit of your children. Just because your children have followed the ASD curriculum does not mean they have had the ASD experience. They are missing out. ASD discontinued use of the Investigations Math Program after parental complaints. ASD also put more $ into fixing the schools in Orem after parental complaints. ASD listens to their parents.
The group that supports you wants 2 BYU professors fired for teaching from education books written by "socialists". BYU? Are you kidding me? They also want all ASD teachers to take a class on the Constitution(what an insult! All certified teachers have already done that in jr. high, high school, and college) and have supported the idea that teachers should not physically touch children as that is the responsibility of the parents. I have a special needs daughter and the only thing that calms her down in the middle of a meltdown is the affectionate embrace from her wonderful, underappreciated, underpaid 1st grade teacher. And what about the high number of kindergarten students who do not speak English? How are those teachers supposed to communicate with them with no ESL aides and no ability to touch them? The Oak Norton group that supports you have gone so far to the right that they have come full circle and are now on the liberal side that they so deeply fear.
On your website you have said that you will "exhaust every available option before raising our taxes" to pay for school. You also stated on your website, "Alpine is fiscally conservative. In the current tax year, the Alpine Board of Education approved a tax rate that was LESS than the certified tax rate (what the Board could have charged). The savings to families and businesses is evident by looking at your July tax estimate provided by Utah County.” Are you and your group aware of the fact that ASD is LAST IN THE NATION for per pupil spending, AGAIN? (Source
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices/14736982-1.html ). Also according to this article, "We're seeing more and more students with English language needs and more and more students from poverty," he said. "I don't know where we're going to get the resources. ? We've only got a certain number of productive working taxpayers to support all these youth." Considering decades of low per-pupil spending, the state has had exceptional academic performance, Newton said. "I think the taxpayers have gotten a tremendous, tremendous bang for their buck in public education in Utah," he said. "Nowhere else do you see the kind of education productivity that you do in Utah." Utah not only ranks last in overall per-pupil spending, it also ranks last in per-student spending on overall instruction ($3,718), last on teacher salaries per student ($2,429), last on general administration per student ($62) and last in school administration ($340)."The Census Bureau said that on average, Utah schools receive 9.1 percent of their funding from federal sources". How do you propose to make up that $ without raising taxes or cutting services or usurping local control as you state, "I oppose any and all Federal curriculum controls, including programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top." Do you not think that our children deserve to be our biggest investment?
Do you not believe that people have a moral responsibility to pay for their own children's education? The reason the taxes in Utah for education are so high is because we have so many children, once again more than anywhere in the nation. If people want to have large families they should be willing to pay for them to the best of their abilities. Otherwise, I believe the term for someone who expects someone else(the government) to pay for expenditures is....a....."socialist".
Thank you for your time.
Susan Wakamatsu
So we had our Halloween celebrations yesterday on Saturday. Today, Sunday, will be just a regular day where we go to church and worship. We have nothing planned today for Halloween. It is all done so to speak. We had such a good time at our ward Halloween party yesterday. I didn't really get a good picture of Kalli. Her friend, Cimarron, came and painted her face awesome. Hopefully, we can get it all off before church today! Anyway, Kael dressed up as a missionary and was companions with his friend Ryan Hatch. They actually went out trick-or-treating later which I think is funny because Kael's too old and he is the only one that went out! In this pic, Kalli is learning the "Thriller" dance at our ward party. There sure were some good costumes there. Later, we went to my parents for our family Halloween party which was a lot of fun. We decided since it was raining to do trick-or-treating indoors. Some of the moms went behind different doors of the rooms in the house and the kids knocked on the doors and went trick-or-treating in the house! That was fun. Aidan had fun being a Jedi this year. He says next year he wants to be a Clone Trooper. Well, Happy Halloween everyone! It is hard to believe that November is tomorrow. Soon the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays will be upon us. Love the holidays!
