LETTER: Let Voters Choose Northampton School Board

October 18, 2012

DEAR EDITOR,

Many years ago our founding fathers were faced with the choice of acceding to the demands of those persons who insisted that they knew better who should govern them and therefore be appointed to positions of power as opposed to making those decisions themselves through elections.

I’m certain they were somewhat fearful themselves of their decision to make a revolution against those powers and create the first nation on Earth in which the people would be given the opportunity to choose for themselves their representatives.

This year the people of Northampton County will be faced with a similar decision as to whether we will have some control of those persons who will represent us, the citizens, as well as our children on the Northampton County School Board.

Will we leave the appointment of those persons to our Board of Supervisors or will we decide for ourselves through elections, who will represent us?

People have asked why this change should be made, which is indeed a legitimate question. For a myriad of reasons I believe this change will create a better situation for our county, but two in particular stand out.

First — although mistakes by voters can indeed elect someone to the school board who simply should not be entrusted to this important position, there is a remedy: Four years later, that person can be defeated in the next election.

In other words, unlike the present situation, a bad choice can be removed through the election of a better candidate.

In today’s world, members of the school board have little reason or inclination to maintain a close connection to the people, as they simply are not our representatives, but rather the representatives of those people who appointed them.

Second — people who are appointed in today’s world may or may not have an agenda in which the children are their primary concern and focus as opposed to the desires of those to whom they owe the debt of their appointment.

Does anyone truly believe that today’s members will push a policy which is better for our children and community but is not in line with the desires of the members of the Board of Supervisors?

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When the decision to close the middle school was made, for whose benefit was it? Certainly not for the children, but rather for financial needs as described to them by our governing board.

We must have greater control of such an important board. Only through elections do we have the possibility of a board more responsive to the needs of our children and the desires of our community.

We would like to thank everyone who supported the petition effort to place on the ballot in November the question as to whether the school board should be elected. Through a lot of work by a number of people, we successfully garnered 1,256 signatures.

Without the community support we received, accomplishing this would have been impossible, so all the thanks possible to those people actively involved.

Please consider voting YES November 6 on the referendum on direct election of the school board.

RANDALL PARKS
Eastville

Letters to the Editor are welcome on any subject relevant to Cape Charles, and a diversity of opinions is encouraged.  Letters should be original and never submitted elsewhere. Email submissions to [email protected].