Letters to the Editor | Feb. 3, 2023

While some organizations are purported to be “too big to fail,” it seems to me that the School District of Philadelphia is too big to succeed. After reading that the district needs more than $1 billion to “adequately educate its students,” I am more convinced than ever that this behemoth should be split up. Creating four or five smaller, autonomous districts would allow each to address individual challenges in a more focused way, rather than trying one-size-fits-all solutions that aren’t effective. There would be obstacles to this approach — economic inequity, additional management costs — but also advantages, including a better sense of community, more hands-on administration, and a better chance for success for a larger number of students. The current paradigm just doesn’t seem to be working.

Michael Brophy, Plymouth Meeting

I find it outrageous that the executive branch of our federal government cannot handle classified and secret documents properly. These documents should all be assigned a document number when they are classified as such. Anyone from the executive office must sign out the documents with a required return date. If the documents are not returned on the required date, they should be fined per day they are overdue. Proceeds from the overdue documents should be used to pay down our national debt.

Jerry Wildeboer, Berwyn

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ saying that an AP African American history class “lacks educational value” is not his only disturbing statement. His labeling discussion of reparations and “queer theory” as “indoctrination” is also dangerous. Debating issues civilly is a skill students won’t learn by observing our leaders. DeSantis has no faith in students to form their own opinions or in teachers to allow them to do so. Reactionary policies banning controversial topics threaten our democracy. Instead, we must lean into alleged student discomfort and teacher indoctrination. Florida should train teachers to provide facts about both sides of disputes, facilitating opinion generation. Banning discussion of race and sexual orientation does not aid education. It moves us backward to when the contributions and needs for equal rights of African Americans and gay people were not in the curriculum. This does not make America great. It polarizes and moves us another step toward fascism.

Larry Arata, retired teacher, Havertown, lvarata@gmail.com

The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposals for the reduction of pollution from methane, the main constituent of natural gas, are most welcome. Methane’s warming power is more than 80 times that of carbon dioxide, and that warming power is greatest during the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. The threat is not distant, in time or in proximity: methane pollution harms us throughout our lives, manifested through low birth weights and premature deaths. We must fight this pollution aggressively, and immediately. It is vital not only to support the proposals but also to ask that they be strengthened. Exemptions should be reduced. There should be none for leakage from crude oil storage tanks. There should be none based on lack of equipment, or for wells with low production, which create disproportionate amounts of pollution. Oil and gas companies should bear the burden of proof; for example, when companies seek to exceed flaring limits, they must prove that the excess flaring is necessary. We are second on the list of methane-polluting states, so we bear a special responsibility to speak out. For the health of your family and community, and for the future of the planet, please sign one of the many online petitions to the EPA, or, better yet, submit a formal comment before Feb. 13.

Susan Babbitt, Philadelphia, philad49@gmail.com

I am a former Union League member who wrote to protest the award to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and requested an explanation and reconsideration. An explanation provided was that the gold medal is given to someone who embodies the league’s “core values” of supporting the Constitution and the free enterprise system, limited government, and individual rights and responsibility. With DeSantis, nothing could be further from the truth. He has transported immigrants using false pretenses and government funding, forbidden teaching African American history, and banned language concerning sexual and gender identity in elementary schools. The policies in Florida evidence his blatant disregard for individual rights, obvious indifference to our Constitution, and his penchant for an authoritarian government. As a former Philadelphia Bar Association chancellor and Philadelphia Bar Foundation president, I am proud that many Philadelphia lawyers also expressed their disappointment. In our beloved city, where our democratic republic was created, which is a melting pot of immigrants, where an individual’s rights are valued, which is recognized for its “LOVE” and inclusion, it is important for all our leaders, present and future, to step up and express outrage against this abhorrent behavior.

Deborah Gross Kurtz, Gladwyne

Helen Gym’s recent trip to the Union League despite condemning the same organization the week before isn’t the only time she’s made questionable choices. In 2019, City Council voted on a proposed ordinance that would have required drug sales reps to register with the city and track gifts to doctors. An ordinance particularly important to a city mired in opioid deaths and seemingly an easy vote. As was reported at the time, Gym’s husband worked for a pharmaceutical company, and she subsequently voted against the ordinance. Maybe while on the stump for mayor she can explain why to the people of Kensington. Also, she was picked up on a 2016 wiretap when disgraced former Councilmember Bobby Henon gave her Eagles tickets and told her not to disclose them on her required ethics forms. She reportedly filed an amended financial interest form to report the tickets two years later. If Gym was unable to avoid questionable decisions when she was on Council, what will she do as mayor?

Charles Brennan, Philadelphia

Columnist Jennifer Stefano has again failed to focus on the real issue of governance: creating and passing good laws. For citizens, it is most fortunate that Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi accepts that Harrisburg is broken. He created a bipartisan panel to seek opinions across the state as to how our legislature can better serve us. This is an exercise in democracy. Rozzi should be praised and supported for his courage to articulate that legislative rules must change. The rules that have determined the function of the state House marginalize voters. Current rules force our elected representatives to immediately surrender their ability to propose legislation to a very small number of appointed members. Revised rules can make positive bipartisan legislation a reality. Rozzi promised to be an independent vote. His courage helps us.

Nancy Krablin, Downingtown

Whenever there is a fight in Congress over raising the debt limit, The Inquirer and other liberal media outlets typically paint Republicans as the boogeyman, as evidenced by Wednesday’s editorial cartoon. The fact is Democrats bear equal, if not more, responsibility for these protracted fights because they adamantly refuse to negotiate over spending cuts. Meanwhile, the national debt is $31 trillion and counting. When will sanity prevail in Washington and our country return to fiscal sustainability in our federal budget?

Fred Hearn, Turnersville

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When the GOP is in power and there is a Republican president, they run up huge deficits. They disguise it as “tax breaks,” but the result is the same: huge increases to the national debt. But when we have a Democratic president, they suddenly worry about spending. It’s a game they play, and since it seems to have served them well in the past, might as well try it on for size again, right? Anyone else notice this, or is it just me?

Steve Schwartz, Springfield

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