LETTERS: School Board confident in Skorkowsky
To the editor:
There was a misrepresentation in your Feb. 19 editorial (“School secrets”). The editorial stated: “If trustees’ concerns are serious enough to warrant their intervention in every single hiring decision, that doesn’t reflect well on their confidence in the superintendent and his ability to move the school district forward.” This comment and the rest of the editorial insinuate that the board as a whole is concerned, would like to intervene and lacks confidence in Clark County School District Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky. This is simply not true.
The reality is that only Trustee Linda Young expressed this concern. I have great respect for Ms. Young, and believe that her concerns should be taken seriously. However, it is simply irresponsible to suggest that because one trustee shows concern, there is an emerging leadership crisis in CCSD. There is not. Anyone who attends School Board meetings regularly, as I do, will come away knowing that this board has great confidence in Mr. Skorkowsky.
I appreciate the role this publication plays in keeping taxpayers informed, and support your efforts to provide us with quality information about our publicly funded institutions. However, in this instance, the R-J’s editorial was simply wrong in its assertion that the School Board has a problem with Mr. Skorkowsky, and you should correct the record.
BRENT HUSSON
LAS VEGAS
The writer is president of Nevada Succeeds.
Wranglers’ arena
To the editor:
The proposed move of the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team to a circus tent structure on the rooftop of the Plaza should be squashed by the ECHL right now. It is apparent that Wranglers President Billy Johnson is not interested in promoting hockey or advancing the level of hockey played here. By his own words, he is more interested in having “quirky” promotions and more “sick” midnight games.
Fans of this team have been there for the hockey, not the sideshow gimmicks that Mr. Johnson comes up with. The P.T. Barnum atmosphere that Mr. Johnson wants has no place within the ECHL, which bills itself as America’s premier double-A hockey league. If Mr. Johnson wants to have a hockey entertainment show, he should develop the hockey version of the Harlem Globetrotters. Come on, ECHL, stand up straight with a stiff spine and say no to this foolishness.
JOHN SLOWIAK
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Tea party the problem
To the editor:
In response to Gary Echols’ letter to the editor (“America becoming a laughingstock,” Thursday Review-Journal), not everyone hates or is embarrassed by President Barack Obama as Mr. Echols apparently is. But he does not speak for me. Luckily, Mr. Echols has found an eager and willing forum for his letter, which has no basis in fact.
I am proud that Barack Obama is our president. I voted for him twice and would do so again if given the chance. If the world is laughing at us, it is because of the backward, nihilistic attitude of the tea party wing of the Republican Party, which has done everything to block, impede and obstruct this president, his administration and everything he is trying to accomplish. Tea partiers have more than once tried to bring the economy of this country and the world to ruins. This is why the rest of the world is laughing at us and is embarrassed for us.
MARK BRADSHAW
HENDERSON
Minimum wage
To the editor:
It might improve the understanding of raising the minimum wage, whether you’re for or against it, if we define it properly. The minimum wage is welfare for those who do not have the skill, desire or opportunity to get a job with higher pay. Should there be such welfare? And if so, how much? One might argue that it is part of the ladder out of total welfare dependency for adults, and thus should be related to the many other existing welfare programs.
And who should pay? Should we punish businesses that are providing such jobs? I say we should cherish all job creators. Should the customers of such businesses pay?
Government at all levels likes to trumpet benefits while hiding taxes by calling them something else. I suppose it is too bold a move to hope for, but a rational approach would be to replace the minimum wage by integrating the equivalent benefits with existing welfare and unemployment programs, and paths out of such welfare.
PAUL ALBRECHT
LAS VEGAS
