Letters to the Editor
Letter: CUSD 7 superintendent updates families on reopening
Dear CUSD #7 Families,
I hope you are continuing to enjoy your summer, as everyone’s thoughts turn toward the fall and the upcoming school year. Unfortunately, many more questions still exist than do answers.
As districts begin to release their re-opening plans, I wanted to pass along two of the options members of the school board, administration, faculty, support staff, maintenance staff, cafeteria staff, and members of the transportation department have been working on.
While no plan is perfect, members of these departments feel as if we have a strong foundation for opening school for the 2020-2021 school year. I will maintain that the stance of everyone involved is that the health and safety of our families, students, and staff is paramount. While it is widely understood that in-person instruction is the best “educational” option for our students, it may also involve the most risk. For this reason, CUSD #7 has created two re-introduction plans to kick off the school year.
The first phase of this plan is to begin the school year fully remotely. Students will be provided a time to pick up books, materials, and devices needed to begin their daily work. A new remote education plan has been created and is available on the district website. The Illinois State Board of Education is expected to release further guidelines in the coming weeks, so the plan listed is a living document and may change until those guidelines are received. During this time, the administration will remain in constant contact with the Macoupin County Health Department to gauge COVID case numbers in our area.
The second phase of CUSD #7’s plan is to re-introduce students into the buildings with a 4 day per week hybrid plan. During this phase, all students will have in-person learning Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesdays will be used to deeply clean all buildings and buses, while students learn remotely. While students return to school physically, they’ll be doing so on an abbreviated schedule. Gillespie Middle School and Gillespie High School will begin promptly at 7:30 a.m. and will be dismissed with a sack lunch at 1:00 each afternoon. BenGil Elementary students will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. and will conclude their day at 2:00 p.m. All students who attend in-person learning will be required to wear a mask per ISBE guidelines.
I would also ask that you respect the office hour times listed in each of our learning plans. While our staff will do everything in their power to assist your student, they are not “on-call” 24 hours per day 7 days per week. If you request assistance from a teacher outside of their normal contractual hours, you may not hear back from them until the next “school” day. Please remember, many of our staff members will serve as teachers during the day and will be their own child’s teacher during the evening hours.
To reiterate, the health of our families, students, and staff is the primary concern of CUSD #7. We all look forward to the time where all students can return to their “normal”. Unfortunately, I do not believe now is that time. I will continue to keep everyone updated as much as possible as we navigate these uncharted waters. I cannot thank you enough for your continued patience during these hectic times. Stay safe, stay healthy!
Sincerely,
R. Shane Owsley
CUSD #7 Superintendent.
Comments
Dear Editor:
This is not about Donald Trump. It’s not even about the sad souls seduced by him. The insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power were primarily guilty of being gullible. They fell for the fraud. They did not do the defrauding. Many have been held accountable for their actions. Most of the ones who fooled them have not. Yet.
I refer to Republican Party leaders who cashed in their moral courage to ride a demagogue’s coattails to power. They learned from their adored leader how to spew out coded calls to mob mentalities eager to vent their resentments. I used to believe people had to be taught to hate. Donald taught us you only have to invite people to hate. Let them know it’s OK. Normal. Join the gang. Have some fun.
Who would you like to hate? It doesn’t have to be a race, religion, or immigration status. People really want to hate “Elites.” Who are elites? Anyone who knows more than they do. People want to feel like they know more science than scientists; feel more righteous than the devout. What better leader could they have than one who tells them what they want to hear. Someone who claims to “know more about the military than all the generals.” That injecting bleach might cure Covid. Forget evidence. Forget knowledge. Too time consuming. Too boring. All you have to do is what Donald does. Just “feel” you’re right. Personally, I’d rather lose with honesty than win with lies.
They call themselves something they are not: “Conservatives.” True Conservatives value character, civility, and intelligence. Trump-pets reward arrogance, anger, and self-delusion.
“Alternative facts” is an oxymoron. Except in minds that can’t face an uncomfortable truth. They’re just opinions masquerading as facts. Using partial truths is not just a way to fool others. It’s how we fool ourselves. If you embrace Donald, you embrace his lies and self-delusions. You become what he is: a fraud. In the end, you will be a mere follower of a pathetic, narcissistic bully. I would rather be dead than that.
If you are one of those silent conservatives who still respect the Constitution, Democracy, and the rule of law, but allow yourself to be intimidated by Trump Trolls, the death of our democracy will be on you.
James Tweed; 1512 Wesley Ave. Ocean City, NJ 08226; (609)398-3124
Comments
President Donald Trump will formally accept the Republican Party nomination for President at the Republican National Convention next week.
America is a country divided and by virtue of accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for president, half the country will embrace him while the other half will want nothing to do with him.
The divide between Democrats and Republicans is nothing new, but what is new is the use of lawfare to target political rivals. Here in Illinois, the moment President Trump and his delegates filed their paperwork to be on the ballot in the Land of Lincoln, a group of far-left radicals immediately filed an objection to the filing. The objection was an outlandish legal charge that President Trump was the instigator of the events on January 6th, 2021, and was therefore not eligible to be on the ballot.
In the end these bogus accusations went nowhere. Even legal experts who were no fans of the 45th President thought the objection was ridiculous. But this is the state of affairs in politics today. Instead of putting ideas on the ballot and campaigning on the merits of those ideas, the far-left radicals are weaponizing our courts and targeting people solely on the basis of political ideology.
Donald Trump is without a doubt the most famous person in the world and like all famous people, he has his fans as well as his detractors. He is not “literally Hitler” as the extremists on the left claim. He is not the enemy of Democracy. He is a candidate for office like any other candidate. His ideas of a strong border, a strong military, low taxes, reduced business regulations, trade deals that protect American interests and a desire to protect America’s interests abroad have been a part of the public discourse for a long time. The notion that these ideas are an “assault on our Democracy” is just nonsense.
President Trump was leading in the majority of the battleground states long before the country saw Joe Biden’s decline in real time during the recent Presidential debate. And the reason he was leading in the polls is because Americans in growing numbers have rejected Joe Biden’s failed policies. The fact that Joe Biden has demonstrated his complete inability to serve has only served to give President Trump even more momentum than he already had ahead of the Republican National Convention.
It is time for our party to rally around our nominee. We cannot afford to continue Biden’s open border policies that are crippling our cities. We need a President who is strong on crime and who will work with state and local governments to keep our communities safe. We need a leader who will put an end to the inflation hurting so many families. I hear all of the time from constituents who are overwhelmed by the price of food and other household necessities. The current Administration won’t fix a problem and in fact they won’t even acknowledge the problem exists.
I call on everyone who may have voted for someone other than Donald Trump to watch the Convention and rally around our nominee. So-called “Republicans” like Adam Kinzinger who have done the unthinkable and endorsed Joe Biden are not only embarrassing themselves, but they are contributing to our nation’s decline.
We cannot afford another four years of the Green New Scam, the open border policies and the weaponization of the justice department to target political opponents. Joe Biden ran to heal our country and all he has done is fracture us even more. It is time to put America first and Donald Trump will do just that. It is time for Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, and moderate Democrats to rally around President Trump and Make America Great Again!
State Representative Adam Niemerg
Comments
Dear Editor,
Domestic Violence within Macoupin County is prevalent. It is destructive and can be both physical and psychological. It can affect anyone of any age, gender, race, or sexual orientation. It may include behaviors meant to scare, physically harm, or control a partner. While every relationship is different – domestic violence generally involves an unequal power dynamic in which one partner tries to assert control over the other in a variety of ways. The following statistics are all according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
We can see domestic violence inside the home: through the use and control of household pets. In one study, 85% of survivors who experienced co-occurring animal abuse reported that the behavior of their pets had changed. An even higher percentage of survivors who reported partners had harmed or killed their pet, have also reported their partner for domestic violence. We can also see an increase usage of firearms within the intimate partner violence home. A survey of contacts by the National Domestic Violence Hotline found (of those with access to firearms):
- 10% said their abusers had fired a gun during an argument.
- 67% believed their abusers were capable of killing them.
We can see domestic violence inside our schools: as partner violence is not exclusive to the home. There are many instances of violence between dating partners that begin in high school. Nearly 1.5 million high school students in the United States are physically abused by dating partners every year. Within those relationships, 13.4% of male high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.
We can see domestic violence inside our community: Macoupin County provides a specific set of needs for those victims and survivors of domestic violence. There are several complex concerns within a violent relationship that come to light once action has been taken. Safe Families sees a few main re-occurring concerns within the county:
- Survivors have fewer financial resources, making them more financially dependent on an abusive partner.
- The lack of rental units or other affordable housing options makes it more difficult for survivors to leave spouses or co-habiting abusers.
The Macoupin County Safe Families program provides support for residents as they journey the emotional endeavors to leave behind domestic violence. As a contributor to that experience, we will be hosting a Domestic Violence Awareness Walk on October 7th on the Carlinville Square. An event shirt will be included with a ticket sale. The online tickets will close 09/29 at 5pm. Tickets will be sold at 9am day-of event at the Safe Families booth. More information about the Awareness Walk can be found on our website at mcphd@mcphd.net. We urge Macoupin County residents to join us and rally against domestic violence together.
Juliet Wooldridge and Lilly Booth
Domestic Violence Advocate Coordinators
Community Health Worker
Macoupin County Safe Families
Comments
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