Mayor Jimbo … one more year
Jimbo said last year that the job was too much for him and he couldn’t wait until his term was up. Well, we feel the same way, and the consensus is that Wilson Goode was a better mayor without question.
That’s what happens when you elect someone as mayor who never held a job before, not even a paper route. He has no executive experience, decision making or leadership skills; his career was spent on the phone working in a political office, and it shows.
When the riots, burning, looting, etc. happened, he didn’t know what to do and still doesn’t. He went out of his way to hire a commissioner who is absolutely overwhelmed by her responsibilities and did two things — one being how long a female officer’s nails can be and the other not sending officers to vehicle accidents.
Jim outdid that when he hired a school superintendent without big city school experience who insisted that he bring a friend with him with a half a million contract.
Mayor, you still don’t get it. Your top two priorities are public safety and public education, and you did not deliver on either. It’s not safe on our streets, in our homes, in our retail establishments, or in our cars. Gangs periodically rob stores and steal what they want with zero punishment.
Our schools now rank at the bottom of any measurement standard.
You attribute the high number of killings to too many guns in the community. Is that the same reason why there are so many carjackings … too many cars? Or the theft of ATMs … too many of them and too many stores?
You can retire to Margate and lay on the beach with the humpback whales.
Michael E. Hartey
Upper Moreland (formerly of Burholme)
Failing schools
I entered first grade in an integrated neighborhood at a public school in North Philadelphia 80 years ago. Most of the teachers were born in the 1800s. Hanging on a wall next to the classroom blackboard was a 3-foot-long wooden pointer about as thick as a thumb. Teachers would call to the front of the room a misbehaving child who was talking, chewing gum or slouching and told to hold their hands out palm down. They would be struck on the back of the hand several times with the pointer. It hurt, but not as much as the laughter of their classmates. If the teacher called home and told your parents what you did you could expect to be punished much worse. Your mother would say to you, “Wait until your father comes home.”
The ceilings leaked. Pots were placed on the floor to catch the drops. One of my jobs was to empty the pots into the sink.
The safety patrol students wore a chest strap with a badge. They told the children when it was safe to cross the street coming to school and going home.
Years later Northeast High had one man doing the jobs of disciplinarian, managing the book store, lunch room, hall security and the locker room. He was the only non-teaching assistant in the building. No police on site. Now there are several security and non-teaching aides on duty, as well as counselors. Schools even have metal detectors.
Years ago it was said that if you do the crime, you do the time. That’s called consequences, something currently missing in our society and schools.
Countrywide searches are made for administrators who get high salaries. They are brought in from afar to come up with solutions for poor academic performance and discipline problems. They have obviously failed. It all works like putting leeches on a corpse to bring it back to life. These expensive remedies are as effective as trying to drive a nail into a wall using a ripe banana.
I am not comparing any student to garbage. Let me make this very clear before I continue.
In the computer world there is a saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” Faulty data input will not get a valid output. In other words, if a student cuts class, is frequently absent, does no work when present, is disruptive, etc. there is little chance for success. If parents are not backing the schools, teachers can only do their best. Dumbing down the curriculum and passing students despite their making no progress won’t work. Simply put, if a student does not cooperate he or she should not be allowed to attend. Period. The teacher did not fail the student; the student failed the teacher despite the instructor’s best efforts. School should be only for those willing and able to take advantage of the educational opportunity presented to them for free. At the same time this opportunity comes at a high tax cost to the public. There is no reason for an expelled student not to be welcomed back next year to try again. It makes no sense to claim that suspended students are being deprived of an education. In reality their behavior was depriving others of their education. Under current conditions it is hard to prevent good teachers from leaving and for those remaining to deal with psychological burnout causing them to go into survival mode. Administrators should be seen as those whose job it is to help teachers and not just be their critics. We used to have quality education and we can do it again.
Mel Flitter
Somerton
Lock ‘em up
Can’t our legislature and politicians vote on stricter laws to give these criminals more jail time?
How can anyone leave a scene after a hit and run? A mother beat her children, left her 3-year-old in a bathtub dead and now a Temple policeman killed.
All the innocent people and children who have lost their lives due to the senseless killings.
I can’t even imagine the sadness of the families left behind.
Thanks so very much to all our healthcare workers and our police for trying to keep our city safe.
How did all these killings become so rampant all over our country? Why all the killings of innocent people in schools and in malls?
Please, to our judges, hand out stricter jail time.
Patti Wirsz
Bustleton
Keep death penalty on the table
The elections were just a couple of months ago and it didn’t take long for our senator (a D) and governor (a D) to screw up.
Our senator evidently has medical problems and the governor has stated he won’t approve the death penalty.
Now we have an 18-year-young man with a criminal past allegedly killing a policeman.
But one shot wasn’t good enough. He supposedly stood over him and put a few more rounds in his head.
If I would be a juror on that case I would vote for the death penalty.
Can the feds step in here because we have Krazy Krasner (a D) as a DA?
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
Ukraine needs our help
Mr. Al Ulus’ recent letter to this page (“Knee deep in the swamp,”, Jan. 4) contains a line so ignorant and offensive that it calls for comment.
This is his line: “And it’s no surprise that Zelenskyy shows up on Capitol Hill just in time for his Christmas bonus”.
In his remark Mr. Ulus shows no comprehension of an event that has riveted the free world’s attention, namely Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine, which has caused countless deaths not only of that country’s heroic defenders, but innocent children, women and elderly.
Mr. Ulus feels he is being “clever” with his remark, so offensive to Ukrainians who have lost loved ones, and are threatened with still more losses, if not for America’s assistance. Mr. Ulus needs to understand what the rest of us know – that assistance for Ukraine is not a “Christmas bonus,” but our effort to boost Ukraine’s own defense of itself. One can only wish that the “Al Uluses” of this nation would pay more attention to world events, try to comprehend their seriousness and avoid “clever” remarks such as this that express ignorance and extreme insensitivity.
Roland Williams
Pennypack East
