PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Governance problems
not isolated to DeKalb
The attorney for the Cobb County school board, Clem Doyle, perhaps inadvertently gave a clue to the perennial problems in public school governance. He is quoted (“Deal to remove six from DeKalb board,” News, Feb. 26) as saying, “In theory, the school district could function for several days without a quorum of the board in place, but it could become very disruptive over the course of several weeks.”
In theory? Several days? Any organization unable to function for weeks, perhaps months, without its board in session is poorly governed and, by extension, poorly managed. School boards — even those not bad enough to trigger SACS disapproval — have their fingers so engaged in near-term, internal management matters as to shortchange long-term issues of public education policy and improvement. Mr. Doyle’s comment about the DeKalb board is actually a prescient observation of the state of public school governance nationwide, making extreme malfeasance like that seen in the Atlanta area more likely.
JOHN CARVER, ATLANTA
SECOND AMENDMENT
Beware misleading
gun ownership data
I laughed as I read the recent Mary Sanchez column (“What pro-gun activists don’t want you to know,” Opinion, Feb. 26).
In this column, she cites government data that seems to show gun ownership declined from 54 percent in 1977 to 32 percent in 2010. This “data” comes from the government’s General Social Survey. She takes this as fact, and proceeds to draw all kids of conclusions about societal trends and the activities of the evil “gun industry.”
Here’s a news flash, Mary: the biggest change that has taken place between 1977 and 2010 is not a decline in gun ownership; it’s an increase in distrust of government. Many Americans simply do not want anybody in government to know that they own firearms. It’s not complicated.
TIM KINNAN, CANTON
SEQUESTRATION
Nation’s welfare takes
backseat to posturing
So, let me get this straight: On March 1, there is a possibility of our country going into near-crisis mode. Is this because we have a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea? It appears that we either raise taxes on the rich, or hit the middle class and seniors with a decrease in the services that so many people have come to depend on from our government.
All of this, because so-called adults can’t agree on anything that would be beneficial to the citizens of this country. Where did we go wrong in electing officials who are incapable of thinking intelligently for the good of our country?
DAVID CLARKE, BUFORD
