Support new superintendent; too much government; outdated idea

Support new superintendent

The Fort Worth school board has named Joel Boyd the finalist for superintendent of the 86,000-student district.

Now the staff and faculty of the district’s schools, parents and families, businesses, churches and general public must throw full, unbridled support behind Boyd.

He’s been educated at arguably the best public school leadership program on the planet, spent professional time rising rapidly through the ranks of two of America’s mega-school districts, and held his first superintendent role in a challenging setting in New Mexico.

But he can’t do the Fort Worth job alone. He doesn’t teach algebra. He doesn’t sit at the dinner table with children and support their completion of homework assignments or test preparation.

He’s not a retiree living down the street from a public school wondering what he might do today to make a positive difference in the world. He’s not a business leader taking the long view of how our economy can be better sustained with a more educated workforce and an educated consumer.

He will expend his last measure of energy, intellect, creativity and relationship-building to change the life trajectory of each child in the district’s schools. The question for others is, “What will I do to help?”

— Dan Powell, superintendent, Crowley ISD

Too much government

I would like to appreciate that “all growth of government comes at the price of freedom” is true. (“Need enough government” letter, Jan. 31)

Taxation, for example, is theft. How on earth did the U.S. function without an income tax for the first 128 years of its existence?

The letter lists many government regulatory functions and concludes with “each critical to promoting freedom.”

This is the opposite of the truth — the bigger the government, the less freedom!

The next paragraph refers to the response to Hurricane Katrina as an example of good government. This is a joke. The Federal Emergency Management Agency mishandled Katrina so badly that its reputation won’t recover for decades, if ever.

The last paragraph about not needing too much government is defensible, but apparently the author thinks that 40 percent of our economy wasted by government is too little.

Let private enterprise do most of these things. Competition keeps people honest. The government has a monopoly on whatever it chooses, so there is no incentive to improve.

Worse, they can do real harm because there is no feedback.

— Bruce Ferguson, Fort Worth

Outdated idea

Opposing vaccination puts children and our communities at risk.

In the 1950s, millions of kids caught measles, mumps and chicken pox from kids at school.

I got everything first, then my brother and sister got sick, and our mother missed weeks of work caring for three sick children.

All we had was the disease to make us immune.

Smallpox was almost gone, and the polio vaccine felt like a miracle when it was finally available.

These were serious diseases now prevented by vaccines.

It’s not good parenting to expose kids to sick kids for immunity.

That idea is so 1950s!

— Paula Boehme, Arlington

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Support new superintendent; too much government; outdated idea."