Letter: Public discussion needed

Dear Editor,

In response to Wendy Post’s article on Always an Indian, I offer the following points.

While the article was biased in choosing to only highlight minimally those who favor keeping the Indian as a mascot, the article does state the School Board has been reaching out to the community. “As little as possible” best describes their effort.

The school board has a website that is the only place I am aware of that offers a place for feedback. As of the date I am writing this they claim to have received 547 inputs, 287 to keep the mascot, 206 to remove it, and 54 Neutral.

Why has there been no public discussion? Why wasn’t this topic added as a line item on the Public School Tax vote? Why wasn’t this added to the mailing that all taxpayers received prior to the Budget vote?

The answer is the same as the Owego Pennysaver creatively editing some Reader Column inputs like mine: The School Board is hiding behind their website, knowing darn well most citizens are either unaware of its existence, or don’t bother wasting their time “online”.

The School Board claims “they reached out to the community” and have populated their site with selected documents. And, according to their feedback (excluding neutral votes), about 60% don’t want it changed.

So the answer is, the School Board knows they are going to do what the New York dictatorship tells them. If they truly wanted feedback, they would have made an effort to reach out via public discussions, added to the mailed taxpayer letter, or added to the School tax vote.

Rance Brode

Owego, N.Y.