Not a teacher, not married to one and not a Creatore fan


Not a teacher, not married to one and not a Creatore fan

EDITOR:

I would like to start off by saying that I am not a teacher. I am not married to a teacher, nor is my best friend, neighbor, or anyone else close to me a teacher. I say that because Michael Creatore seems to believe that the only people who have a problem with the “great job” he has done in Austintown are the teachers; you know, “the enemy.”

I am, however, a mother of three with another on the way, all of which are either currently or soon to be enrolled in the Austintown School District. I am also a homeowner and a taxpayer. As a family of six supported only by my husband’s income, we are not by any means rich. When the taxes go up, my “fixed income” neighbors and I feel it. However, I also don’t see how we can afford to have anything less than the highest quality of schools. Just look east of Meridian Road and see what the property value of a comparable house is in the Youngstown School District.

Michael Creatore may or may not be a great business man in the corporate world, but the problem is that a school is not a corporation. In this system, your “investors” and your “consumers” are one and the same; the taxpayers. The products are their children, grandchildren, and future members of their community. In a corporation, the most important people are at the top. In a school, the crucial occupations are at the bottom; teachers, bus drivers, and the rest of the support staff all interact with students daily and help to mold them into productive, educated people.

In the past two years, all of my daughter’s high school teachers have provided me with their e-mails and phone numbers, and have made it clear that they are available every day before and after school, as well as during their so-called “prep periods.” They use this time to help students catch up on missed work, tutor those who don’t understand the material, and answer any questions that parents might have about a child’s progress. Teachers are also required to work lunch or hall duty, as hundreds of teenagers cannot be left unattended in the lunch room. How much would security cost if we had to pay someone to do that?

I would encourage everyone in Austintown to watch the school board meetings on channel 19 to see the way things are conducted. Watch Mr. Creatore shoot down and talk over people who dare to disagree with him. He is rude, condescending, nasty, and many times embarrassingly uninformed about what is going on in the schools.

MICHELLE GAMERTSFELDER

Austintown

Tale of two ice rinks

EDITOR:

As a resident of Mahoning County, I find it interesting that Warren was able to open a new ice rink in Courthouse Square, but it was too expensive for Mill Creek Park to keep its ice rink open. Maybe our park commissioners’ should allocate some money for some winter activities that our youth really enjoy. I, like many others, would like to see the Mill Creek Park ice rink reopened.

TROY ALLEN CROSS

Mineral Ridge

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