Letters

Published on October 16, 2009

New driver pleased by police efforts

To the Bulletin: There was an article recently about the Amherst and UMass police joining forces to help drivers and pedestrians to keep roads safe.

There have been a number of accidents that have occurred where pedestrians have been crossing the street. I also agree that both drivers and pedestrians are at fault. Both have responsibilities when it comes to the road. Drivers have to be aware of people crossing the road and pedestrians have to pay attention to drivers.

In an age of iPods and cell phones, being a driver and a pedestrian is more difficult. There are too many things to distract you from being safe. Being in a college town makes it that much more possible for accidents to happen, especially with UMass drivers who have a certain reputation of not being the greatest drivers in the world.

This joint force will make the roads a whole lot safer and, as a new driver, it makes me more comfortable to be on the road.

Justin Coopee
Amherst

Missed milestone

To the Bulletin: I am writing to thank you for publishing Priscilla Deane's opinion piece ("A learning opportunity missed") in the Sept. 28 issue.

I am a junior at Amherst Regional High School, and just like the kids in the Easthampton school system, we, too, never watched the speech President Obama gave to students. It would have been nice to see a speech by the president directed at us, the next generation. No other president in the United States has done this before, and it shows that President Obama cares about our education, well-being and overall quality of life.

We're living through history, and I feel like we missed out on another important milestone in our lifetime. I hope we don't miss another one.

Caroline Mabee
Amherst

A beautiful send-off

To the Bulletin: Saturday's celebration of the life of Dr. Horace Clarence Boyer will shine on for a long time to come, as will Dr. Boyer's good life and work.

I am grateful to the many people who made this beautiful service come together; in words, music, and community gathering, he was truly honored.

I share two fitting quotations of many - his brother, the Rev. James Boyer said, "We're not expected to do all the work in a lifetime, but we cannot fail to do our part. ... A poem by Dr. Frederick Tillis, In Falling Shadows,' included these words: In the celebration of jubilee/And in praise of the goodness of life/May his spirit and blessings/Always be remembered.'"

I believe that all who knew Dr. Boyer were blessed by his generosity, knowledge, music and humor. His spirit lives on in all those whose lives he touched.

Deborah Campbell
Shutesbury

Move the line

To the Bulletin: We are requesting that the School Committee move the proposed redistricted boundary line for Wildwood Elementary School south from Amity Street to Route 9/Northampton Road. We are the residents of Blue Hills Road.

1. We are an in-town neighborhood that walks to town. We are fighting to continue to go to the in-town elementary school, Wildwood.

2. Our neighborhood ties and the children's deep friendships extend toward Amity Place, Sunset and Lincoln on the north side of Amity. The proposed boundary between the Wildwood district and the Crocker district on Amity would be cutting this neighborhood up. The students, both in our neighborhood and immediately to the north, currently attend Wildwood.

3. We have no ties to the playing fields and Amherst College owned houses on the other side of Route 9. Route 9 is the more natural boundary for the school districts than Amity.

4. If the elementary school boundary for Wildwood is moved south to Route 9 and extended to the railroad tracks, this change would not affect that many children. (While the numbers of children affected are minimal, this decision is of critical importance to our neighborhood). The area east of Lincoln to the tracks has few family houses and consists mostly of town land, Amherst College-owned property and student housing. The committees have isolated this one block long group of streets.

5. Our children's education, friendships and continued growth are our priorities and we feel strongly that these are better served by continuing to remain in their neighborhood school of Wildwood rather than sending them to Crocker Farm.

We are urging the reconsideration to move the proposed southern boundary for Wildwood to Route 9/Northampton Road from Amity. We would be happy to meet with the School Committee to discuss this matter further. We are not as familiar with the data as yourselves and would welcome an opportunity to learn more about how the Amity Street boundary was selected. We understand that Route 9 was preliminarily considered as the southern boundary for the Wildwood district, and are disappointed that that option was dropped prior to the public hearings.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration of this matter.

Bob and Liz Hyers, Bill Pete, Leticia and Rhys Davies, Lisa and Steven Pulsinelli, Don and Nancy Wise, Doris Holden, Carlos Cooper, Michael Giles, Lori Friedman
Blue Hills Road residents
Amherst

Thanks for the funds

To the Bulletin: On behalf of the ARHS students and faculty, I would like to thank the community for their recent support of our effort to raise $20,000 to restore funds for our after school clubs, which were cut from this year's budget.

These dollars will enable us to provide students with a menu of 30 after-school clubs, which is the same number we were able to offer last year.

Extra-curricular activities are anything but peripheral to the success of a high school. In fact, they are central to it. For many students, after-school clubs are what sustain their interest in school. Clubs often provide students with motivation to persist in the face of academic challenges that they might otherwise be tempted to surrender to or avoid. Now that ours have been restored, I am confident in the high school's ability to support a wider range of students and their needs.

As well, I would like to publicly acknowledge all the time and effort invested in this project specifically and, in the high school generally, by the leadership of our Parent Center group. Kate Troast, Adrienne Levine, Arnie Alper, and Cynthia Gensheimer are a formidable team. Over the last two years, their energy and dedication has benefitted the high school in multiple ways. I'm very glad they all live in Amherst.

Lastly, the generosity of the Amherst Educational Foundation was also instrumental in the success of this fund-raising effort. My thanks to AEF for keeping us in their sights.

Mark Jackson
Amherst Regional High School principal
Amherst Regional Middle School interim principal

Upset by town decision

To the Bulletin: It's very upsetting that the town of Amherst would kill a dog to punish its owner and call this "euthanasia." Does the owner's disobedience warrant taking the dog's life? There is not enough information about the nature of those "bites."

Obviously, Ms. Eddings needs training, which in the right hands would almost certainly help her dog. Dog trainers tell us that it's the owners as much as the animals that they are helping (note, a recent Sunday Times article about the very successful L.A. "Dog Whisperer.")

Have town and animal welfare officials looked into the reasons why Eddings has avoided the training and have they offered to help her resolve this problem?

How paradoxical that the Bulletin would place this news next to a picture of a very happy dog attending the Blessing of Animals ceremony conducted at the Episcopalian Church.

Isabella Halsted
Amherst

Speak up now

To the Bulletin: I am writing to alert residents of Amherst to an important misrepresentation that has made its way into several public reports about the new elementary school redistricting plan that will be voted on Oct. 27.

In a recent article published in the Amherst Bulletin, it was stated that, if the proposed map were implemented, "East Hadley Road would be an island where children would go to multiple schools, but it already is."

As a resident of Mill Valley Estates apartments, I strongly refute the implication of continuity in this statement. The school districts now in effect have the children living in the apartments on East Hadley Road attending two different elementary schools, not three.

More important, the current districts feature no "island" style districting. Children from two of the five apartment complexes attend Wildwood, along with all of our neighbors to the immediate north and west; children from three of the five apartment complexes attend Crocker Farm, along with all of our neighbors to the immediate east and south.

The proposed redistricting map, by contrast, features true islands: It would send the children of two apartment complexes to Fort River, the children of one apartment complex to Wildwood, and every other child within a radius of at least a mile to Crocker Farm. If you have not had a chance to look at these islands on the proposed redistricting map, please do. And then if you feel, as I do, that this map is setting forth a policy of unacceptable discrimination against low-income students, please contact the School Committee to let them know it.

I have been in contact with the School Committee several times already about this matter, and I know that they believe they have chosen this policy in good faith, with the laudable intention of creating greater equity between the numbers of low-income students in all of Amherst's elementary schools. Unfortunately, they do not seem to understand the grave insult, nor the numerous practical burdens, that they are foisting upon some of Amherst's poorest families in the process.

Whether or not you currently have children in the Amherst schools, you may not wish to give your tacit endorsement to a map like this one, which represents your town as a place where the poor are targeted for isolation and dispersal in the name of providing them with equal educational opportunity.

Margaret Burland
Amherst