Editor’s Note
In our last edition we published a letter but accidently cut off the name of the author. That letter was from Bob Breidensteiner.
Mike
Sports Editor
First Capitol News
I want to let you know how much I appreciate your work as sports editor at
the First Capitol News. I appreciate your reporting and you have done very
well in your coverage of high school sports and the Missouri River
Otters. Your coverage of the St. Charles West Warriors in their state
tournament run was the best coverage I have read, compared to even the main
sports section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I agree that Mike Hollander
is one of the best basketball coaches in St. Charles and he definitely deserves recognition. He continues to stay in town and coach basketball, compared to another coaching legend (Gene Bartow) who went from St. Charles High School to coach at UCLA and later University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB).
Please keep up the excellent work.
Louis J. Launer
To First Capitol News
Best Publication St. Charles
Dear Mr. Brockmeyer:
We enjoy reading the paper very much. It is nice to see that someone tells it like it is.
The Truth is something that some of our higher City officials seem to have forgotten. Thank you for keeping our citizens informed.
It is nice to see that some of our Council people are trying to look after the citizens and stop all the waste, not just rubber stamp what the Mayor wants. Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Jerry Dinges
Dear Editor:
We would like to address some concerns about the safety of our children in the St. Charles City School district. The purpose of this letter is to help parents understand that there are other options. If you feel the district is not listening to you. There are differences in the way individual schools handle the same problems even though we have a District Student Code of Conduct book, a guide for everyone to follow.
We have heard several stories from parents who are having difficulties getting help dealing with harassment and abuse issues regarding students in the district. It seems that our students’ welfare is not the #1 priority of the district. The state of Missouri has set up a program that will help parents, students, and staff, if situations arise that need more help or resources than the school districts can offer. The program is called Missouri Violence Protection Hot Line and every school in Missouri has been provided with signs to post, which include the phone number, although some schools choose not to post this information. If you feel you need additional help, please call the agency at 1-866-748-7047, They have explained that they want to be contacted and get involved in issues that are not being dealt with at the school/district levels. Also, as a side note, if a student with an IEP (Individualized Education Program) in place is to be disciplined for violations the district may have to deal with the incidents differently than those without an IEP. If this is the case, ask questions, so the IEP isn’t “protecting” a child from consequences.
Looking at the high school level we have some very clear differences between the two schools. If you walk into St. Charles High you will see that every student is wearing a picture ID and if they are in the halls during class time they have a pass. Then, if you have walked in without a staff ID badge around your neck, you will be met immediately by a staff member asking if they can help you and direct you to where you need to go - this system indeed provides safety to our children guaranteeing that not just “anyone” can wander aimlessly around the school.
On the other hand, if you walk into St. Charles West, you have the freedom to roam the halls at your leisure. Also, since the students are not required to wear ID tags other problems are evident. This in particular frightens us because it seems no one, not parents, not teachers, not staff, have any control over who comes and goes in the school.
It would seem that two high schools within the same district would have similar, if not identical, ways of identifying and protecting our students. Since we have had the opportunity to view discipline incidents at both high schools, it is interesting to look at the Missouri Department of elementary and Secondary Education Core Data sheets that show the number of incidents in all Missouri schools. You willnote that St. Charles High shows a higher number of reported incidents over the last three years than St. Charles West. Funny, isn’t it? The school that reports more incidents is the one that also follows and enforces the Student Code of Conduct more consistently. If St. Charles West actually had a better policy to identify and discipline students, the incident numbers may rise and look less appealing but our children would be safer and better for it.
Since the safety of our children should be a major concern to the school district, we implore other parents to question why not every school has to follow the same district policies that have been written specifically to protect our children and take the guesswork out of how incidents should be handled.
Concerned Parents of the St. Charles School District.
Editor,
It is absolutely amazing that the one person who felt the need to accuse the council of name calling is none other than Pat Lang. (St. Charles Post letter to the editor 3/9/05)
For those of you who don’t know, Mrs. Lang is a member of the St. Charles Planning and Zoning Commission. In May of 2004, our neighborhood group appeared before the P&Z to oppose a rezoning. We presented our arguments clearly and concisely. Mrs. Lang repeatedly asked questions or made comments which made it clear she preferred the zoning change to be approved.
Fortunately for us, the proposition had failed. Before the microphones could be turned off Pat Lang was clearly heard to say, “I’ve never heard a bigger bunch of lies in my life”. It was not edited out of the subsequent rebroadcasts of the meeting. A day or two later, in a follow up story in the Post she calls my wife a liar.
Obviously, Pat Lang is uniquely unqualified to accuse anyone of name calling. More importantly, Mrs. Lang should be removed from the P&Z commission. Anyone who openly berates honest citizens while exercising their free democratic rights has no business being in government.
In true hypocritical fashion, I suspect that Mrs. Lang sees nothing wrong with her own comments. After all, this is the same woman who in 2001 was nearly successful in getting an ordinance through City Council to silence the St. Charles Borromeo Church bells. She had just purchased a home across the street and the bells, (which had been ringing for over one hundred years) bothered her.
Finally, since Mrs. Lang obviously missed this point, it was the interim police chief that called the Councilperson a name not the other way around. That police chief was asked to resign the next day. Mrs. Lang should be asked to resign too.
Chuck Marley
