Letters to the Editor | April 9, 2025

The Super Bowl LIX champions Philadelphia Eagles have elected to accept an invitation to visit the White House and be honored by our current president on April 28. In February 2018, after winning Super Bowl LII, they were begrudgingly invited by the same president, who rapidly rescinded this invitation after an unspecified number of the players declined to participate. I was originally in favor of their decision to attend, but after further review, I’ve decided they should decline this invitation given what has transpired in this country since the current administration took office on Jan. 20. Refusing to attend a White House presidential ceremony as the honored guests — players, coaches, and management — would send an important and powerful message of disapproval of the president and of his autocratic, disingenuous, and misguided policies.

Jay Klazmer, Cherry Hill

In response to the letter by Ryan Aument, the state director for Sen. Dave McCormick, I would say that it’s good the senator’s office has sent out 160,000 (about 1,800 a day since he was sworn in) responses “to constituents calls and emails,” but that’s an alarming number of voters with questions or concerns. I hope they all didn’t just get a form letter. As far as the “real work” I’ve seen the senator do, it’s only been to rubber-stamp several marginally qualified cabinet appointments and heed his master’s advice to not hold any live town halls. I heard he was going to make a live appearance near Pittsburgh, but that event was canceled. For me, the saddest part of Aument’s screed is to tell readers the best way to “engage with” McCormick is to travel to Washington and try to locate one of his “weekly coffees.” I find it hard to believe there are “hundreds” of Pennsylvania voters able to do this.

Mike Clark, Downingtown

The Inquirer article on Chester Heights’ 40-acre land preservation rightly highlights an important win for open space. However, several critical omissions warrant clarification. Contrary to what was reported, the development of walking trails is already included in the borough’s 2025 budget, and a public planning meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Borough Hall to gather input on the property’s future use. The preserved Powell Property is the centerpiece of our park plan, which is being developed transparently with community involvement.

The article also credits the mayor for the project’s success without acknowledging serious governance concerns. Mayor Gina Ellis’ statements to the media violated borough policy and omitted the fact that she attempted to condition private donations on allowing a former official to sign the agreement of sale — a move that conflicted with state law. The borough acted appropriately and legally, ensuring the contract was signed by the sitting council president. Additionally, this story followed just days after news broke of a libel and slander settlement involving the mayor. Chester Heights residents deserve the full story.

Marta Driscoll, president, Chester Heights Borough Council

Because of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans are being laid off from their jobs, the majority being government workers, many of them veterans. I wonder how terrible this is for families, and how many of these people voted for Trump. He told you what he was going to do, and you still voted for him. I don’t understand why.

Bob Fossett, Avondale

The Trump administration has admitted it sent an authorized immigrant to an El Salvadoran prison by mistake. But it doesn’t want to take any action to get him back. Instead, it has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, basically saying, You can’t make me. So it won’t make one phone call to the president of El Salvador to get the man returned. The administration would rather let him die in prison just so it can save face. That’s our president. That’s who MAGA voters elected to keep us safe. And if you think its position is right, God help you.

Barry Adams, Malvern

A clear theme is emerging in the way the Trump administration is governing America. Taking a chain saw approach to major initiatives is becoming its primary methodology. First there were the mass firings of federal workers at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), then mass deportation, and now tariffs. Instead of taking the time and effort to analyze these issues properly, this administration is attacking them with maximum brute force. This chain saw approach is impulsive and lazy, resulting in significant, unnecessary adverse collateral damage. Efficiency and effectiveness are being traded for speed and force. Using a scalpel to then try and repair the damage caused by the chain saw is ridiculous and unrealistic. These initiatives are now having detrimental real-life impacts domestically and globally. No employer would accept a lazy approach like this from its staff. We must demand our elected officials do their jobs properly. Elected officials should be held to a higher standard and should be DOGE-d when they fall short.

Fred Shapiro, Margate

Ryan N. Boyer’s recent letter on education distorts key facts and entirely misses the critical issue at hand: Philadelphia’s urgent need for fully funded schools and bold actions to eliminate poverty. Our students are being shortchanged, and what they need most is for state lawmakers to close Philadelphia’s remaining $1.1 billion funding gap. Only then can students receive the education they deserve — an education with adequate teachers, safe school buildings, and a curriculum that is both diverse and rigorous. By fixating on the rejection of a single charter school application, Boyer is focusing on a mere distraction while ignoring the real crisis our schools face.

Also, he selectively cites academic achievement data that undercounts reading achievement levels by nearly half. This is because he uses federal test data that represents only a fraction of the city’s students, rather than the more reliable state test data that every school administers annually, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. On last year’s PSSA, 31% of fourth graders in Philadelphia’s traditional public schools and 29% in charter schools met state reading standards. For eighth graders, reading proficiency rates were 35% at traditional public schools and 39% at charters. Obviously, achievement in both the traditional and the charters is too low. This is not about pitting charter schools against public schools — it is about the systemic underfunding that holds both types of schools back from meeting basic academic standards.

What we need now are not piecemeal solutions or endless debates over individual charter school applications. We need radical action — full and fair funding for the entire system to ensure every student has access to the education they deserve. We urge our state lawmakers to finish the job and fund our schools so that every child in Philadelphia can thrive. Boyer would be welcome to join us in calling for real, transformative change.

Priyanka Reyes-Kaura, K-12 education policy director, Children First

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