The Mis-Education of a City

Budget this . . . budget that. . . spend . . . save. . . AHHHHH! Is anyone else going CRAZY over the state of our city? Twenty-Five years I've lived here; for the first time I am considering leaving. Maybe that doesn't mean anything to the corporate world, or to any of you on the council . . . but it hurts me to think that we are becoming just another American Town.

Ferinni . . . I like you. I think you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think that all of these things were set into motion before we elected you to lead our town into prosperity. I'm honored to live in one of Forbe's "prettiest cities in America," but that doesn't mean everything. Here's my plea: Stop focusing on making this town "pretty." It comes naturally. I'd like to see the hard numbers reflecting what we spent, and what we're spending on "prettification." All due respect, because of fund mis-management we may be one of the prettiest . . . but our children are being dubbed as "some of the dumbest." That's just not right.

People used to be proud of being educated here. Now, that's just not the case. You know what the running joke is? If we can't think of a simple math problem, or mis-speak I hear people say "it's not my fault, I graduated from portsmouth." I know that none of you on the council or schoolboard are happy with the fact all of our public schools "need improvement," but it is your job to fix it. Why are we fighting for a stupid pool, and funding for an over-populated police department when our students are struggling now mor than ever.

Perhaps you are all ok with parents choosing to send their kids to private schools, or keeping their kids homeschooled . . . but I am not.

I am a product of the Portsmouth School system. . . and feel like I got as addequite an education that I could for the effort I was willing to put in. Walking around getting my graduation paper signed four teachers told me they shouldn't sign it. I wasn't ready. As good as their intentions may have been, if that was the case, they shouldn't have signed it. This, along with budget balancing should be TOP priority. The question remains . . . how? Well I have a couple of ideas. . . even being a graduate of Portsmouth.

1.) Get rid of the pool. Sorry, but it's just not owrth it. A childs ability to learn should far come before his/her ability to swim. Parents: take your kids to the beach, or to a lake, or to the Y, or to Pierce Island, and teach them how to swim yourselves. You all need to take an active roll in your kid's lives. A lot of the Elementary parents are my age, and I know how little time is spent focusing on your child's development.

2.) The "GreyHound incident," proves to me that there is no need for such a large police force. I'm going to tell you right now, that the "imminint danger," facing Portsmouth is not a dyer as some council members, and Chiefs Ferland and Magnant want you to believe. Currently there are 69 Full-time officers and 28 Auxillary officers . . . that's a total of 97 not including the 25 non-sworn in civillians. Really? No one on the city pay-roll will agree . . . but the numbers speak for themselves between over-time . . . holidays . . . Bonuses.

I know a lot of officers, and respect them. but when I see two cruisers for a traffic stop . . . or three cruiser's for an arrest . . . is it really necessary? After all was said and done The officers were all commended for their actions on that bus. The only two arrests were two men who weren't complacent. Did it ever occur to anyone that perhaps they knew that there was nothing wrong? And that poor man stuck on the bus for 9 hours. How scared must he have been? Crosshairs pointed right at his head. American uniforms, almost like millitary with pointed guns right outside. It would have taken one person ONE to walk onto the bus and see that he was nothing more than a frightened tourists. Whether it's because of racism, or our post 9/11 world, I don't know . . . but it's not right. 9 hours . . . for nothing. . . if there WAS a bomb, I would start commending . . . but there was no bomb . . . and from what I could see . . . no courage.

It's time to take our heads out of the Ground. It's so true, shoing fear means the terrorists win. Over-staffing, and over spending means that our city's children loose. The private schoolers get the best in education . . . . all the support for higher education. Public Schoolers seem to just get the shaft. If I'm wrong, if I'm ignorant . . . shed some light for me. I guess my point is that a pretty face will only get you so far . . . but a great mind will take you everywhere.