Schiavoni’s attack on Ohio’s e-schools lacks credibility, evidence

Schiavoni’s attack on Ohio’s e-schools lacks credibility, evidence

In a recent LETTER “Online schools must be held accountable,” state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman continues to get basic facts about the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and other e-schools wrong.

Schiavoni writes that ECOT has the worst graduation rate in the nation. That’s not true. In fact, ECOT graduates more students than many public school in the nation, and there are dozens of public schools in Ohio that have a lower graduation rate than ECOT.

In Sen. Schiavoni’s nearby city of Youngstown, the public schools have a chronic absentee rate of over 30 percent, one school has a 54 percent rate. Unfortunately, Schiavoni works to protect these failing schools even as they cost taxpayers over $7,000 a year more per pupil. If all the students in Youngstown schools went to an e-school, the taxpayers would save over $20 million a year.

The numbers for how much Cincinnati taxpayers would save would be even larger. That’s why Cincinnati Public Schools spend over $350,000 in advertising every year – because if parents knew there was a better option for their children they’d take it.

Sen. Schiavoni should stop attacking school choice in Ohio.

Rick Teeters, Columbus

The writer is superintendent of Columbus-based ECOT.

Renounce Clintons over unfair treatment of US organized labor

I am writing this letter to the media for all of us. Who am I? Really no one of any worldly standards; I am a Christian first, an American second, and a union supporter third.

Let’s deal with the issues facing our families regarding the reduction of income for them. The Democratic national party has created an environment of dependence for minorities and low-income white families. They control your votes and your path out of poverty by bringing immigrants to take your jobs and lower your wages.

I worked 42 years for the same company. I stood with my union brothers and sisters on the picket lines with our jobs in jeopardy, but we did not worry about the color of our skin. We were union.

I saw the union and the management treat us disrespectfully. We blue-collar workers stuck together. Minorities still have a harder time getting their abilities noticed because of the prejudice of others.

I am asking my union brothers and sisters to renounce Hillary Clinton for president. She will outsource our jobs in America; President Bill Clinton did with NAFTA.

The DNC is slowly pulling away from supporting unions.

Robert L. Kirkland, Leetonia

Workers in the region, Don’t let Trump fool you

There is no excuse for supporting a racist, sexist like Donald Trump, but he will get the support of a lot of people who during the debates said that he wasn’t fit to be president, and most of them came from his own party.

We have a huge problem with the trade deficit, and on this issue Trump is all over the place. We have to get China to raise the value of its currency against the dollar. Currency manipulation is a big issue for America. One reason why nothing is being done to put pressure on China to do so is that a lot of American companies who sold out their workers and moved to China are not interested in seeing it raise the value of its currency. General Electric is producing a lot of goods in China and sending their garbage back to the U.S. They don’t want to see their profits lowered by raising of the Chinese yuan. Wal-Mart has also set up shop in China, and it is just like GE.

The good signs shown by Trump are that he is against cuts to Social Security and Medicare, but who knows if he would flip-flop on these issues because this anti-middle-class Congress wants to gut both programs.

American workers feel that the system is rigged against them and some would turn to Trump for guidance. Beware! Before Trump, the Republican-run house and Senate put the screws to American workers with tax cuts for the rich and their war against labor unions and raising the minimum wage.

Do American workers think that Trump will go up against the Republicans who helped him get the nomination? That will never happen. So, the answer to the trade problem is not only do workers have to vote no on Trump but they have to get these corporate loving Republicans out of office.

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage, Pa.

Anti-frackers bring smoke and mirrors to ballot yet again

Can it be? Oh no, not again, is the public once again going to face another round by the anti-frackers and their smoke and mirror rhetoric? Have you not faced enough humiliation?

I guess not because here you come again with the same old song and dance that fracking will bring the apocalypse for us all. We need to have the vision to see into the future, to see the benefits that fracking will bring to the Valley. New jobs, new business and a new beginning will arise out of the shadows of the mills of yesteryear.

But that will only happen if we have the vision to see it. Tell the doomsday preachers it’s time for a new beginning in Youngstown.

Jim Eidel, Beaver Twp.

Words of praise for Vindicator coverage from longtime reader

I have been reading The (Youngstown) Vindicator since I was a young teenager and began to have an interest in the news. I am now 72 years old.

Thank you for servicing our area. You are our only newspaper, and one would think that your staff would become complacent and just sit back and have a “whatever” attitude.

But I have found that you cover the news extremely well in an unbiased manner. We are fortunate to have a publication such as yours.

For a small town, we have a first-rate newspaper just as good as any of the “big city” tabloids. Thank you for serving us for such a long time. The editor and staff are to be highly commended.

Annamarie Migliozzi, Girard