Fairfax School Board did not ‘steamroll’ Clifton Re: “Lessons learned in the First Battle of Clifton,” May 25
Ms. Hollingsworth is entitled to her opinion, but would it be too much to ask her to reveal and respond to factual information, a key element consistently missing from her many articles? It is not true that the Fairfax County School Board “steamrolled” the decision to close Clifton Elementary. The board spent more than 17 months working on this issue while seeking community engagement throughout the process.
Hollingsworth persists with her tirade by making erroneous statements about the 2011 bond referendum, assuming the costs related to specific school capacity enhancements are a result of the closing of Clifton. She’s wrong again. The building addition projects for Union Mill, Fairfax Villa, and Greenbriar East elementary schools were included in the bond referendum because the school board wanted to ensure that Fairfax County citizens were aware of these projects.
However, also included in the referendum was a $29 million credit that reduced the total by that amount. This credit reflects the savings in the construction reserve from past capital projects that were completed for less than the amounts approved by voters.
Let’s be clear: Clifton students are not attending Fairfax Villa and Greenbriar East elementary schools– where additions are being planned because of increasing enrollments. Instead, Clifton students will be attending Oakview, Fairview and Union Mill this fall. An addition is planned for Union Mill to respond to area students, other than Clifton students, being placed at this school in 2013. Therefore I would argue that Clifton students are not the reason for this addition.
I suggest Hollingsworth take the time to do her research. If not, she is leading the public down a path of misinformation and deceiving those who read and rely upon The Examiner
for accurate information.
Elizabeth Torpey Bradsher
Springfield representative,
Fairfax County School Board
Wisconsin unions’ biggest fear is loss of dues
Re: “No comparison between Scott Walker, Ike Leggett,” From Readers, May 25
You really should be ashamed of yourselves for printing the letter from Stanley J. Susar condemning our governor, Scott Walker. Every “fact” in his letter is totally false.
The real issue between Walker and the unions is that part of the law that eliminates the withholding of union dues from the paychecks of Wisconsin state employees. The unions fear that unless dues are deducted from state employees’ paychecks, those employees will opt not to pay them.
Jerry Randall
Wauwatosa, Wis.
Special election was exercise in self-delusion
Re: “What can we learn from NY-26?” May 25
I’ve been hearing talk that the special election in NY-26 was a “wake-up call” for Republicans. The Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul, purportedly told voters that she won’t balance our federal budget “on the backs of our seniors.”
Then how are we going to fix our massive debt? On the backs of our youth, who are fully expected to shell out for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in the future? The same young people who have no jobs, no assets, and whose education landed them in ruinous piles of debt? Are we really going to stick with the status quo without any reform?
Get real. That special election wasn’t a “wake-up call” or a referendum on the Ryan budget plan or anything like that. It was yet another exercise in voters’ self-delusion.
Jeremy Kolassa
Hyattsville
