Letters: BASD’s mascot should reflect its mission; Buck is the ‘real deal’

BASD’s mascot should reflect its mission

I am writing as a 20-year resident of Bellefonte to urge the Bellefonte Area School District to change the “red raider” mascot to a symbol that is consistent with its educational mission. A mascot sentimentalizing genocide and cultural appropriation is not in keeping with the BASD values of “kindness, dignity, and respect for others.” The “red raider” is a form of visual terrorism that perpetuates institutional racism. I am proud of the Bellefonte alums, students and residents who have spoken in favor of replacing iconography that continues to misrepresent indigenous Americans as nameless good luck charms and thereby carries on the legacy of U.S. settler colonialism and the erasure of cultural memory. As a local taxpayer and educator, I urge the BASD to uphold its educational mission of creating an “equitable learning experience” that “embraces a respect for diversity … children need to be successful in an ever-changing global society.”

Buck is the ‘real deal’

I enthusiastically support Peter Buck’s campaign to replace our ineffectual State Representative, Kerry Benninghoff, who has represented Pennsylvania’s undemocratically gerrymandered 171’st District since 1996.

Gerrymandering allows politicians to manipulate their voting districts rather than citizens’ right to vote for representatives of their choice. Although 82% of Americans say gerrymandering is undemocratic and should be illegal, Benninghoff has prevented anti-gerrymandering legislation from moving forward.

Peter Buck supports nonpartisan redistricting and protection of rural postal service so everyone can vote and be counted in a census.

An award-winning educator, outdoorsman and highly regarded community leader with years of government service —chairing Ferguson Township’s Board of Supervisors — Peter Buck has a record of protecting our air, water, and land and the health of our community.

Peter Buck has the courage and insight to move Pennsylvania forward on critical and interconnected fronts:

• Equitable funding of public schools
• Rebuilding our failing infrastructure and collapsed economy
• Fair-paying jobs
• Protecting rural hospitals and health service
• Investment in rural broadband access
• Corporate accountability

Pennsylvania’s legislators have failed us on too many fronts: Pennsylvania has the country’s third worst drinking water; our natural environment ranks 44th nationally; we’re the largest gas-producing state without any severance tax on drilling.

Peter Buck is the real deal. Down to earth, a respectfully persuasive team player, Buck has the skills and passion to break the spell of inertia that has prevented too many working Pennsylvanians and small businesses from reaching their potential.

SCASD’s change of plans hurts students, teachers

SCASD changed elementary remote instruction three weeks from the start of school, leaving little time for parents to find alternative options, thereby creating false hope for an instructional model that promised synchronous instruction with an unmasked teacher and remote classmates. This new model has children at home watching a masked instructor teach to masked classmates. This concept of cohort instruction ends poorly for everyone.

My 5-year-old needs to see her teacher’s face — an adult educator smiling at her. She needs to see other children smiling at her. We did not want to enroll in charters, even though that would have provided peace of mind knowing a school had an established online model. SCASD wasted time and effort trying to appease parents who want their children in person when they should have prepared a strong remote model. Cameras and microphones used to record in-person instruction seems like an afterthought.

If the numbers don’t work, make them work. It’s time to make changes to the number of students allowed to physically attend. Only have students that need in-person resources attend, creating smaller class sizes, and require the rest to choose between remote or Virtual Academy. Or, hire long-term substitutes to teach remote classes, which could save the district money as opposed to students leaving SCASD to enroll in charter schools.

The hoops SCASD is asking teachers to jump through are unrealistic. Saying they have faith in our educators is condescending without support. You’re telling them to figure it out.