The school board has ignored the evidence

Our school board voted 5-4 to forge ahead with Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's half-baked and, frankly, delusional high school reform "plan" ("School Board Votes to Close Schenley Building," June 26).

The board was repeatedly presented with overwhelming evidence that closing Schenley is both unnecessary and supremely unwise. It heard articulate, informed testimony by teachers, parents, engineers, civil rights activists, financial and architectural experts that numerous aspects of Mr. Roosevelt's collection of reform ideas, and his unpleasant habit of shoving them down our throats, would irreversibly damage our city and our children.

Board members Mark Brentley Sr., Thomas Sumpter, Randall Taylor and Sherry Hazuda voted wisely, in favor of reason. New member Hazuda, who ran for school board questioning Mr. Roosevelt's excessive speed, actually lived up to her campaign promise to buck the majority's tendency to just "turn over the keys to Mr. Roosevelt" ("Three Enter City School Board Race," April 30, 2007).

Heather Arnet, Theresa Colaizzi, Jean Fink, Floyd McCrea and Bill Isler stared reality in the face and chose to close their eyes. Their vote brings to mind that quote from the Vietnam War about needing to destroy a village in order to save it.

Our children deserve so much better. If a narrow majority of school board members cannot listen to reason, we need to either change their minds or change the board. School reform does not begin at the Board of Education; it begins in the voting booth.

MICHELE FEINGOLD
Squirrel Hill

---

Tuned out

As a former Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher who taught at Schenley High School several times over my 33-year career, I have followed carefully the news articles and opinions about whether to close Schenley High School.

All I have to say to the parents of the Schenley students who will be moved to Milliones/Reizenstein is: It was a done deal. Nothing they said or did would have changed the minds of the superintendent or the board. They were not listening.

I have seen, many times, the effects of moving students to other buildings against their will. No one seems to acknowledge that high school students do not belong in middle school buildings, just like middle school students do not belong in elementary school buildings.

No one seems to look at the total upheaval to students, teachers, administrators and programs when they are moved over and over again. No sooner do students get settled in one school than it's time to move again.

COOKIE (JANET) ELBLING
Squirrel Hill

---

They owe soldiers

The PG assessment of the Iraq oil situation ("Sticky Contracts," June 21) doesn't go far enough. You start by saying "So maybe the Iraq war is about oil." Why the "maybe" qualifier? There's absolutely no doubt the war was about oil, and absolutely no doubt the war was, and is, criminal.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney abused the power of their offices resulting in the deaths of thousands, and the oil executives who attended Cheney's secret meetings played along because they saw dollar signs. They're all criminals and cannot be allowed to walk way without accountability.

Furthermore, the oil companies need to pay back the profits they've reaped so far, and will reap under their no-bid contracts, as follows: free lifetime support for families of the soldiers who died; free gasoline for life for every U.S. soldier who set foot in Iraq, and their families; full funding of the Veterans Affairs hospitals and all associated rehabilitation costs for injured Iraq veterans; and full costs to replace all damaged military equipment.

But who will champion the necessary justice? How about our brave representatives and senators? Are you up to the challenge Tim Murphy, Arlen Specter, Bob Casey? Do you have the guts to make this happen? As far as I'm concerned, your action or inaction on this issue will be the single litmus test we citizens should use to determine if we really do have a representative government in which the people have real power. We'll be watching you.

BRIAN RAMPOLLA
Whitehall

---

Salaries matter

"Study: Region Low in Pay for Nurses, Others" (June 17) brings up a valid and disturbing point; our population in Western Pennsylvania is elderly and we can't keep losing our young generation to other regions that promise prosperity and higher salaries.

As a physician assistant who has worked in several states (that also happen to offer a lower cost of living) I know firsthand how much other employers in other states are willing to pay for my background. According to the most recent national survey that was put out by the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the national mean salary is $86,214. Pennsylvania is ranked No. 50 coming in at a mean salary of $75,375 with new graduates earning $64,794.

Western Pennsylvania has much to offer in the way of recreation, arts, entertainment and higher education. Why not salary? Definitely something to consider when wondering why we can't attract new college graduates to stay here. After all, who is going to take care of our population if we can't entice those who care for them to stay?

HEIDI FELIX
Swisshelm Park

---

Cost of living counts

Regarding competitive salaries in the Pittsburgh region ("Study: Region Low in Pay for Nurses, Others," June 17): A key factor for a valid comparison was given one measly sentence by Kelleigh Boland, Three Rivers research coordinator.

"We're much closer to Cincinnati and Cleveland on some wages than if you look at a Boston or Charlotte," she said. "So there's some question about how cost of living and city size play into these numbers."

Some question? Are you kidding? If you took the time to examine the cost-of-living and cost-of-housing data for the same cities, you would see a significant difference (see www.money.cnn.com). For example, taking a job in Boston can yield a 42 percent-plus higher salary. Move to San Francisco and the difference can be 60 percent or more.

The bottom line: When the cost of living is significantly less in a region, it is not a bad thing if salaries are lower. They go further!

These researchers should dig a little deeper before "crying wolf."

MICHAEL POCHAN
North Huntingdon

---

Upgrade discourse

Holy thesaurus! The venom spewed in the June 24 letters section by Patricia Moran ("Hillary Has Damaged Progress Made by Women") was enough to make the milk in my breakfast cereal curdle. This letter was the ultimate in ugliness, and it doesn't matter who the subject of her ire is or was. Her operative words included "whined," "sniped," "hysterical," "screaming," etc.

To strike out at another human being as Ms. Moran has done is utterly indescribable and unacceptable in a civil society. Perhaps there is some good in her diatribe. It should remind all of us that this is the type of thinking that has pervaded this entire country for the past seven years under the present administration, and we should do all we can to remove anyone and everyone from this mind-set.

One word says it all ... change!

MARTY WEIXEL
McCandless

---

Our president should support Israel fully

Concerning Nicholas D. Kristof's interesting column "There Are Multiple Israels" (June 24): Mr. Kristof presents two Israels seemingly divorced from one another, yet I would argue that the two Israels Mr. Kristof considers are simply two interwoven parts of the same nation. Our next president can no more choose which Israel to support than he could choose which America to lead.

Sadly, the abuse of man by his fellow man has been with us through the ages and will continue to be. It is, of course, wrong to steal a farmer's field and wrong to beat people. As awful as these things are, they are anecdotal, and abuses occur among every people, including our own. Can it be less wrong to have a desire to destroy an entire people, and to have this desire so ingrained into your thinking that it becomes in some cases a government mandate?

History has recorded that Israel's neighbors despised her so much that they tried to kill her at birth, and without yet succeeding, have not reconsidered but redoubled their efforts, failing at times yet never relenting. Israel has taken extraordinary measures in her own defense, a choice dictated by her situation, not by her desire.

The next president should support Israel fully and choose to influence her decisions by taking the steps that will give our friends better options to choose, rather than holding a carrot on a stick in front of them while their neighbors hold a gun to their heads.

WAYNE MULLER
Ross

---

We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.