Cumberland Times-News

Letters

February 7, 2010

Delegation asked to back school referendum bill

While I appreciate your communication with the school board, and your inference that “ We would like to state to the board our strong support for community-based schools. We believe that the board should examine the importance of maintaining community schools of all levels (elementary, middle, and high),” I doubt your letter will accomplish anything.

I state this because I have had conversations with several board members in the past week, and some have inferred they feel the letter from the delegation is just the delegation giving me the run-around until it is too late to enter legislation for this year. I have wondered the same.

If you wait out the process of hearing back from the board, and wait to see what the committee studying the Cumberland schools says, it will be past the opportunity to enter legislation for this year, the people will be put on hold, and the opportunity for recourse will be lost. Next year is not an election year, so the injustice would continue.

Although I have met each member of the delegation and submitted information and evidence of the school board repeatedly ignoring the desires of of our communities and citizens, your only response has been to send this letter to the board and infer that you were going to wait to hear from the board and see what the committee studying the Cumberland schools were going to recommend.

With all due respect, I say this response is not acceptable or an adequate response to 20-plus years of controversy over school consolidation that has been forcefully inflicted upon our county. The undeniable 20-year record of controversy, community anguish, and school board arbitrariness commands further immediate action from your office, the office that gave us our elected Board of Education in the first place.

I understand you may feel it is “protocol” to communicate with the school board before entering legislation known as “The Allegany County Neighborhood Public Schools Act of 2010.”

However, since the board of education is the problem ... by nature of their actions of ignoring the known desires of the citizens and communities ... isn’t it the same thing as- asking the bank robber if something should be done because he robbed the bank?

The board of education robbed the communities of their community schools against their known desires and against their wishes (Note COMAR community reports). Mr. Arnone, as a board member trying to correct some of the wrong, used strong language to state that, “Westernport was raped of its high school!” It is unquestionably appropriate for the delegation to take action to place the question before the citizens by nature of the referendum!

I suggest the delegation members need to simplify your consideration of the request to enter the Neighborhood Schools Act.

You are not being asked to unscramble an egg, or if you can undo 20 years of consolidation, and you do not need all of the answers now as to how it would work.

You are being asked to place this issue in the hands of the voting citizens of our county. They are the ones who have been directly affected. Several communities have suffered anguish over the unjust actions of the school board.

This issue has great merit in carrying it to a vote of the citizens, Without you submitting the legislation and setting up the requested referendum, you are leaving citizens with no recourse, and our representative democracy will have failed because you have failed to represent and protect the desires of your constituents.

Thomas R. Marsh

Westernport

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