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Letter to Editor in Response to Parisian Article
(Saugerties Times, 6-21-07)
Editor,
PROGRESS
I am responding to Saugerties Times'
article (June 21, 2007) regarding Terry Parisian's
"new position." In that article, Parisian is said
to be entering his sixth year as trustee and is
credited with commenting that trustees often enter
the school board experience with one idea of how
things will work, only to discover that they have
been completely wrong. Parisian is quoted as
saying,
"I probably went into it with
preconceived ideas of what the school board was
about," and "I found that the school board was
more political than I wanted it to be. You know,
'How can I use kids as a political football?'
They are the pawns, and a lot of times we forget
that children are first and not our egos. Maybe
this year that's why I am staying a bit below
the radar because it's got to be about the
kids."
WOW, what a confession! I am happy to hear Terry
Parisian finally admit that the school board has
been political and that they've used the kids as
pawns (which has been my point exactly) ---and
since he's never before taken a stand against the
practice, he has obviously condoned it. But now,
suddenly, after five long years in the majority,
Parisian says, "It's got to be about the kids." It
would have been far better, of course, for him to
have thought of this five-years ago, don't you
think? He certainly has had more than ample time to
have stepped up to the plate to be part of a
solution instead of being part of the problem. Why
now, after five years? Why the sudden change of
heart?
If you will recall, over the past
fourteen-months I have written 48-articles (and
submitted an overwhelming amount of substantiating
evidence) indicative of the political maneuvering
by certain board members and the administration,
and only now, when the new board members will be
coming aboard, does Parisian speak of progress,
saying that "as long as you have an open mind and
the spirit of cooperation, we can progress." Has he
finally seen the light, or is it more likely that
the light has gone out on his power?
I can say with certainty that this new board
coming on will not use our children as political
pawns as did the majority of the previous board. I
hope and would expect fellow board members
Parisian, McCaig and Brennan to take the same
position, applying the same "open mind," and
willingness to work in that same "spirit of
cooperation" with the new board members. As I've
said previously, it will take a team effort, so I
further hope and expect that certain board members
put "personal feelings" aside and work together as
a "whole board" for what's in the best interests of
the children, the educators and the taxpayers while
at the same time holding the administration
accountable. Time will tell. Stay tuned.
George Heidcamp
Saugerties, NY
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