Opinion

10

OPINION

WWW.FAUQUIER.COM

Email at yourview@fauquier.com Follow us on Twitter @fauquiertimes

Fauquier Times | August 19, 2020

Last chance to see this pretty tree

"I think that I shall never see, A poem as lovely as a tree…”

This unfortunate tree needs to come down. I contacted the Virginia Department of Transportation on July 20 and received a response on July 28 that it will be addressed in 30 to 45 days, so I wanted to show off his beauty to you before it is to be removed.

However, with all the rain and suspected storms, I fear that it will come down on someone's car before it is removed.It is located on Waterloo Road, about 3 miles west past the WARF on the right-hand side, just before Oakwood Drive, in case you would want to see this remarkable tree.

NANCY ANDERSON

Warrenton

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ballot harvesting, as in Nevada law, is unconstitutional

In 2018, Republican candidates were leading in 10 Congressional races in California when all votes were counted on election night. Within weeks, all these races were certified for the Democrats. What had happened? Ballot harvesting.

There is a fundamental difference between mail-in ballots for every registered voter and absentee voting. Absentee voting has been a proud tradition since 1864. Mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting are a relatively new phenomenon. Ballot harvesting occurs when a political operative visits a home and volunteers to help a voter make the “right choice” and then they mail in the ballot.

On Sunday, Aug. 2, the Nevada Democrat-controlled legislature passed, and its Democrat governor signed Assembly Bill 4. This historically undemocratic measure not only guarantees a mail-in ballot to every registered Nevada voter, but there is no requirement for a postmark; it allows any voter over the age of 65 to request assistance to vote for them, sign the ballot for them, and mail it for them.

The new law stipulates that votes can be cast and will be counted up to three days after Election Day. In addition, without a postmark, election officials could be counting ballots in Nevada for weeks.

What this means is that if Nevada Democrats, who control the process, do not like the outcome on Election Night, then they can simply harvest enough votes to overturn the outcome. In short, they have made it virtually impossible for [President] Donald Trump to win Nevada. No political party should have the power to change an election.

Fair-minded people will recognize that this process is patently unfair, undemocratic, and it destroys the fabric of our electoral system. I am sure the dictators in China, Cuba, and Russia would be proud of Nevada Assembly Bill 4 because this is exactly how they stay in power.

Let us hope our federal courts will rule that Assembly Bill 4 and other similar state laws are unconstitutional and an assault on our constitution.

HARRY F. BURROUGHS

Warrenton

U.S. Postal Service must be restored

Here’s a quote that is recognizable to all: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service, which dates from 1914, encapsulates the agency’s actual mission statement (as codified in Section 101(a) of Title 39 of the U.S. Code) – “The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities.”

Given that background, what in the world is happening to the USPS as we know it today? Apparently, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is unfamiliar with the above information. The latest headlines surrounding the USPS – lack of needed additional funding, delivery slowdowns, no overtime authorized, unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, etc. must have Benjamin Franklin (the first postmaster general – July 1775) spinning in his grave!

For the current administration to allow one of the oldest and (in my opinion) most efficient U.S. government agencies to become a political ping-pong ball is wrong on every front. Every American uses the post office and relies on the services it provides day in and day out; something we all take for granted. If you’ve ever used postal services abroad, you would know that the USPS is more affordable and accessible than in most other countries. The idea of not having this agency’s services which we all are accustomed to unimaginable. That said, Trump ally and fundraiser, DeJoy, who has no experience with USPS operation, appears to be leading us down that path.

I sincerely hope that people will see what a real problem it is not having the USPS operate as we expect it to and demand that USPS receive the necessary funding to operate during this unprecedented time.

KRISTEN KING

Warrenton

A matter of life and death

The Virginia Legislature began meeting Aug. 18 for a special session to consider criminal justice reform, COVID-19 relief and budget issues. Hopefully we will see an engaged legislature this year, unlike last summer’s special session on gun violence, when nothing happened. I would like to address two of the areas for this special session.

First, we have all witnessed the ongoing violence against our Black citizens and communities. While we are fortunate here in Fauquier County to have Sheriff [Robert] Mosier and Chief [Mike] Kochis, the rest of Virginia is not so lucky. That must change. We need police reform and accountability across the state. As the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus says, “we must eliminate law enforcement abuse, prevent and punish racist behavior, weed out institutional racism and increase accountability at all levels of law enforcement.”

Second, we need to address public health funding for COVID relief in Black communities, along with other communities of color. We know that COVID rates are three to five times higher in those areas - why would we not aid our citizens who are most vulnerable?

Sen. Jill Vogel, and Del. Elizabeth Guzman, Del. Michael Webert and Del. Mark Cole -- we are looking to you to do your jobs and take care of all of the citizens of the commonwealth. It’s literally a matter of life and death.

MAX N. HALL

Marshall

Letters to the Editor

The Fauquier Times welcomes letters to the editor from its readers as a forum for discussion of local public affairs subjects. WRITE: Letters to the Editor 41 Culpeper Street Warrenton, VA 20188 FAX: Editor 540-349-8676 EMAIL: news@fauquier.com

Letters must be signed by the writer. Messages sent via email must say “Letter to the Editor” to distinguish them from other messages not meant for publication. Include address and phone for verification (Not to be published.) Letters are subject to editing for clarity and length. Personal attacks will not be published. Long letters from those with special authority on a current issue may be treated as a guest column (with photo requested). Due to volume, letters cannot be acknowledged. All letters are appreciated. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. Monday to be considered for Wednesday publication.

By Robin Earl Times S aff Wri er

Remington’s Town Council meeting Monday night featured five submissions for a new town seal. Council members narrowed the choices down to three that town residents and business owners will vote on.

A little less than one month after Mississippi’s governor signed off on a bill removing a Confederate battle emblem from the state’s flag, the Remington Town Council did the same — voting unanimously on July 20 to change the town seal, which for decades featured a small depiction of the battle flag used during the Civil War by the Army of Northern Virginia, which fought for the Confederacy.

Vice Mayor Devada Allison said at the council’s July meeting that in light of the national reckoning over institutionalized racism and the “healing process” happening in the country, he said council members recognized it was time for the seal to change.

“We are moving forward as a community,” he said. “We definitely want Remington to be represented as welcoming to everybody, because that’s what it is.”

Allison said Monday night that he was disheartened by some of the Facebook comments about the council’s decision to change the seal. “It was disgusting, the way people attacked each other. It is a keyboard warrior mentality, where there is no retribution for anything you say.”

He added, “We are just going to move forward. We made the right decision.”

The final three choices will be presented to town residents and business owners; they will be asked to pick their favorite by Sept. 20. If the town is able to host the Remington Fall Festival in October, the winner will be announced at that event. If the COVID-19 pandemic prevents the festival, the choice will be shared another way.

The seal submissions attempt to represent Remington’s history, including images that represent the Rappahannock River that runs alongside Remington and the image of a steam engine, which is prominent in Remington’s past. Tom Reese Jr., who designed Remington’s current seal, was asked to submit a design, said Allison, but he declined.

Miles Friedman steps down as county's economic development director

Miles Friedman, Fauquier’s director of economic development since 2013, is stepping down from his position. He will continue to work for the county as a consultant during a six-month transition period, according to a press release Aug. 10 from County Administrator Paul McCulla.

“Friedman was hired in March 2013 to strengthen the climate for business and economic development and to grow the county’s tax base,” the press release said.

McCulla added, “Miles Friedman had certainly accomplished both objectives, and built a stronger base for economic and tourism development to flourish. Miles was also instrumental in building a stronger relationship between the county and the commonwealth’s Economic Development Partnership.”

The press release lists several accomplishments from Friedman’s tenure, including his work bringing the first data center companies to the county; successfully advocating for the construction of a Virginia Department of Veterans Services care center in Vint Hill and working to establish a “unique workforce development partnership between Fauquier County and Lord Fairfax Community College.

Friedman said Monday evening that his decision to step down came after he and "county leaders" disagreed over the direction of the county's economic development efforts, but he emphasized there were no hard feelings. "Economic development programs evolve over time. That's something I've been preaching for years," he said. "It was all very amicable. We're just headed in different directions."

He said he looks forward to continuing to serve the county as a consultant through the transition period.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Why did Fauquier County schools ‘cave’ and decide to go virtual?

Four schools without a nurse; 20 bus routes without a driver (and resignations were still coming in); more than 200 fewer substitute teachers than we had last year (Currently we have 130, last year we had 354 -- and that still wasn’t enough. Teachers taught sick last year because there weren’t any available subs to cover their classrooms.), and numerous Family and Medical Leave Act and leave of absence vacancies (both protected by law) that needed to be filled from that small pool of subs. Insurmountable staff shortages -- this was the true catalyst behind our “cave.”

The initial survey the school division sent to parents indicated that about 500 students intended to sign up for the virtual track -- but when the registrations started coming in -- the actual number was closer to 3,000 (And there are still more than 2,000 students that haven’t signed up for anything. We have no idea what their plans are. They might be switching to home-school, they might be switching to private school -- or they might show up at the bus stop expecting to go to school on the morning of Aug. 24).

Thirty-seven teachers were approved for the virtual track -- which required vetting and medical documentation -- but that pool of teachers (five) didn’t contain enough special education teachers to handle the number of students requiring services (395). That pool of teachers didn’t contain any ESL teachers, but there were 136 ESL students that signed up for virtual education.

And that pool did not allow for any classes outside of the core classes. In essence, the kids that chose virtual were getting the absolute bare minimum (and, in many cases, less than that). Why couldn’t we just pull them from the in-person pool of teachers? Because we had significant gaps there too -- pulling teachers from in-person teaching (5,600 students) and putting them into the gaps in virtual would have left the classrooms over-crowded and unable to accomplish the social distancing that we promised to both parents and staff (and were mandated by the state to implement).

We went into this pandemic with staffing gaps. Those gaps didn’t get better -- they got magnified. The sub pool varies between degreed and non-degreed personnel -- that also presents a problem. Not every position is plug and play. Taking a sub that either isn’t degreed or has a degree in English (for example) and plugging them into a long-term sub position teaching middle or high school math (for example) does not equal a good outcome for anybody.

Teachers (and subs) are not simply warm bodies that occupy a necessary space. Putting a non- degreed sub into a longer-term position (more than a day or two) when a teacher gets quarantined will also not benefit anybody. We approved an increase in sub pay during the last board meeting in an attempt to bring us more in range with our neighboring counties and to try to attract more subs, but the numbers didn’t change.

Our human resources team has been reaching out farther and farther in their recruitment efforts -- we do not have a line of people beating down our door wanting to enter the world of education. Our staff did everything they possibly could to make both tracks work -- but as the balance beam continued to tilt away from our goal, all we would have ended up doing if we had continued down the road we were on is doing both models badly, and most likely having to shut down and go virtual within a month.

Some of the ideas on how to make this situation work that I have heard are good ideas -- and we are working with Sean Polster from the Town of Warrenton Town Council and members of the Board of Supervisors to try to implement learning pods throughout the county to accommodate the kids of essential workers, the kids without Internet and the at-risk kids.

The Boys and Girls Club has been instrumental in Sean’s pilot -- which, once the bugs are worked out and a process is defined, can be implemented across the county as long as we can establish those partnerships with other entities. But this isn’t something the school division can take on by itself, given the state and federal rules and regulations we have to abide by -- we can’t just go and bring people in off the street (no matter how well-meaning those people are) and put them in a classroom.

We (school board members) can work with other local government entities, civic and church organizations, to leverage space (allowing for the recommended social distancing) and their vetting process to ensure anybody that is trusted with our children is a safe person. The last thing any of us wants is to subject our kids to an unscrupulous person that uses a chaotic situation to slip in, undetected, and cause harm.

There is no rat, there is no conspiracy -- there is a chronically under-funded education system (not by the local government -- but by the state and federal government) that finally could not meet all of the requirements, unfunded mandates and handling of the gaping holes in our social services system that have been constantly piled onto it with no additional funds or resources.

This situation has also identified gaping holes in our public infrastructure, broadband -- the schools didn’t create this hole. This hole has existed for years -- the closing of schools just highlighted how epically bad the hole is. The real story here is that the virtualization of ours schools has highlighted just how many things the schools and its teachers have become responsible for that fall far, far beyond the confines of “education.”

STEPHANIE LITTER-REBER

Lee District Fauquier County School Board