Letters to the Editor | July 15, 2024

If Joe Biden insists on staying in the race, couldn’t he, for the sake of the nation, take a micro-step sideways and flip the ticket to Harris/Biden? We are all watching with total fear of the extreme danger Biden is exposing us to. His failure to move aside for the next generation will cause more cataclysmic loss of progress, like what happened with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There is a time for everything, and Biden’s time has been amazing, but now it’s time for a different person — lest all the good be undone by him staying when we need change.

Naomi Haus-Roth, Bryn Athyn, nhausroth@gmail.com

I must disagree with a letter writer’s assessment of the data concerning Black suspension rates within certain South Jersey school systems. The data do show there is a racial bias within the school suspension rate. More disturbing, it shows a potential systemic pattern among the schools. I do agree that Joe Johnson of the American Civil Liberties Union is jumping to conclusions that racial bias on the part of school administrators is the root cause. The data do not provide any indication as to any causes for racial bias. The data do suggest that additional study is warranted. Of particular interest is the Cherry Hill School District, which has a very low rate of student suspension. Keeping kids in school and in the classroom should be our highest priority.

Tim Daily, Havertown

Every child needs a chance at a rewarding, informed life. As a teacher and school psychologist, I know that starts with education. Without public education, do we want this country to be the country of haves and have-nots? This debate over diverting funding from public to charter schools gives the public a sense of having false choices. We should be investing in public education now rather than pay social consequences later.

Cyber charter schools should be under the most scrutiny. They consistently report negative results, yet there is a constant lack of oversight as these schools ask for more and more autonomy without accountability. Some cyber charter schools were under recent investigation for buying property with their funding when no brick-and-mortar property was needed.

Many charter applications lack information concerning applicants’ past performance and operational ability. Charter schools are only 6% of public schools under new state standards, but are 25% of the lowest-performing schools. Once again, is the future of public education to have an uninformed, uneducated public? Diverting the already limited resources for public education to charter, religious, and private schools would be disastrous. Such a decision would further decimate public education, creating more inequity and inflicting damage on children like English language learners, and children with disabilities and other physical, intellectual, and social limitations who are cut off from options.

Public education was designed as a public benefit to every person despite social or specific needs and limitations. Rather than improving public education, there is an effort to abandon it. Replacing public education with charter schools is not the answer.

Antoinette Higman, Philadelphia

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