Letters to the editor: Bullies, all-day kindergarten, Crapo’s no-show and other topics

Bullies

Traits of this personality include being cruel, insulting, threatening, swaggering and harassing anyone who is not willing to submit to their power. Bullies tend not to have a lot of empathy. They are aggressive, impulsive, controlling, prone to feeling frustrated and annoyed by anyone they do not dominate. Bullies have difficulty following rules, blame their victims and view violence as a positive way to control others. Sounds like those who have taken over school boards and legislatures.

Sheila Robbins, Boise

All-day kindergarten

As a parent of young children and a nonprofit leader in Idaho, I am thrilled that we finally have an opportunity as a state to provide all-day kindergarten for families who desire that option. For the past three years, I’ve been working with community leaders to help expand opportunities for more children to start school on track and to stay on track from cradle to career. The future of Idaho (and our economy) depends on providing a full-day educational experience for all children entering kindergarten in Idaho.

Currently, access to all-day educational opportunities for kindergartners is dependent on if you are lucky enough to live in a district providing that option or if you are financially well off enough to pay for an extended school day educational experience. This presents very difficult choices for full-time working Idaho families.

Access to the educational start that all Idaho children deserve shouldn’t depend on what zip code you grow up in or how well-off your parents are. Let’s ask our Legislature to step up and take care of a problem that’s gone on for far too long. It’s time to approve all-day kindergarten for all Idahoans.

Kevin Bailey, Boise

Crapo’s no-show

Recently the Banking and Housing Committee met to consider President Biden’s Federal Reserve nominees. The committee could not conduct business because they did not have a quorum. Every Republican senator failed to attend the meeting. Senator Mike Crapo, from Idaho, is on that committee and was absent. According to his office, he was at another meeting. The office had no information on what arrangements he tried to make to have the committee meet at a time when he would be available. Are we supposed to believe that it was a coincidence that no other Republican senator showed and this was not the reason why Senator Crapo also failed to attend? If selected, these current nominees would be focused on important issues like combating inflation and working to lower prices. I personally don’t want to hear one word from Senator Crapo about the economy and inflation after he pulled this stunt.

Connie Giannantonio, Hope

Left-wing extremism

In a recent article about Lt. Gov. McGeachin, you call her out for her extremist view on Dr. Fauci and wanting to arrest him. You ask the question “what crime has he committed?” But that is only a small part of the context of her comments. The larger context was that she was questioning Boise police and Boise State University’s officer training that has a session on “Right Wing Extremism”. I do see that they wised up and renamed it “political extremism” but I am sure the curriculum is unchanged. Other than the Jan. 6 protest turned riot, how many cities, public buildings, private residences, and city blocks have been destroyed by right-wing extremist organizations? I will ask the same about the political extremists on the left. It’s funny to me that we are only concerned with extremism on the right and ignore, or worse, support the extremism on the left. Yet far, far more damage has been done to communities from those on the far left. Do I need to name some instances? I hope not because we have seen three years of utter destruction of cities from the left.

Devon Sinsley, Post Falls

Militia law

Open letter to Major Stephen Stokes (Idaho National Guard), Lt. Col. Christopher Borders (Idaho National Guard) and Brad Little (Governor of Idaho) regarding support for legislation revoking the anti militia law in Idaho. Are you advocating for “military companies and organizations to parade in public with firearms in any city or town of this state” which could include organizations such as Hamas, Al Qaida, and ISIS. The citizens might like a little more information on the logic behind this position, especially from our uniformed services.

John Miller, Post Falls

Education standards

As a high school student, I’m sick of so-called conservative legislators overreaching their place in our government. The Idaho State Board of Education represents hundreds of educators who have spent countless hours creating strong standards for Idaho’s students. Now the House Education Committee seeks to overrule the Board of Education and charge taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars updating supporting content. While the proposed standards are not significantly different from the rules the state board has put forward, the precedent of partisan elected officials who know nothing about public education setting state standards is incredibly damaging for students and the institution of public education as a whole.

Chairman Lance Clow, the sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 27 and HB 437 – which will implement these K-12 science, English, and math rule changes – says parents are upset they can’t help their children with their math homework. The last time Clow was in school was in 1969. Handheld calculators didn’t even exist. I’d hope that as a society we’ve progressed enough in the last 50 years that Clow can’t help today’s students with their homework. I urge readers to tell their legislators to vote no on HCR 27 and HB 437.

Sneha Sharma, Boise

This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 4:00 AM.