Keep Ragsdale as Cobb schools chief
The new Cobb County School Board will soon meet to plan its education policy. If not swayed by politics, the board does not have to worry about the next superintendent. Teachers, students, parents and community leaders appear satisfied with interim Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s performance. Especially, Ragsdale’s decision to overrule changing the school system to a charter school district distinguishes him as a visionary. Such an action would have been a financial disaster, an experiment with unpredictable results. Ragsdale’s recent appointment to Governor Deal’s Education Advisory Board speaks for itself.
The major objection of critics is Ragsdale’s lack of having a master’s degree. Education should be valued. However, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the purpose of education is to develop skills, providing critical thinking and decision-making abilities, and identifying and solving problems with vision and wisdom. Ragsdale has proved to have all of these. Also note, success symbols Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were college drop-outs.
KHALID HASHMI, ACWORTH
Media shows bias against Scalise
No surprise seeing most of the media, including Mike Luckovich (Opinion, Jan. 6), jump all over House Majority Whip Steve Scalise for a speech he gave 12 years ago to a white supremacist group. After all, he is a conservative Republican. But where was Luckovich and others when Democrat Robert Byrd was in the Senate for 50 years, 1960 to 2010?
Byrd was a dues-paying member of the Ku Klux Klan and was even elected the top officer — exalted cyclops — in his local KKK unit in West Virginia. Byrd was a leading Democrat who served on numerous committees as well as majority whip from 1971 to 1977, Senate president pro tem four times, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and Senate majority leader at various stages of his career. Did you ever see anywhere near the same level of media attention directed at him as at Scalise? Of course not, and you never will.
PETE BONDESEN, BROOKHAVEN
3 issues determine MARTA’s success
Interesting headline — “MARTA at crossroads as brighter future beckons” (News, Jan. 5) — while noting a more conservative leadership. MARTA is a three-legged table of management, employees and riders. Management must commit to fiscal responsibility, employees must perform professionally, and criminally minded riders must be held accountable. Otherwise, MARTA is doomed to continued failure.
CARY DIAL, PEACHTREE CITY
