The River Reporter Online - Letters to the Editor

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The River Reporter welcomes letters on all subjects from its readers. They must be signed and include the correspondent's phone number. The correspondent's name and town will appear at the bottom of each letter; titles and affiliations will not, unless the correspondent is writing on behalf of a group.

Letters are printed as they are received, or at the discretion of the editor, and without correction to grammar or spelling. It is requested they be limited to 500 words; correspondents may be asked to cut longer letters. Deadline is 1:00 p.m. on Monday.

I read the obituary for T. Willard “Will” DeSantis in this week’s The River Reporter. I felt that more needed to be said to mark Will’s passing. Will taught Industrial Arts at Narrowsburg Central School for over 30 years, touching the lives of hundreds of students. I had the privilege of teaching with Will from 1972 until he retired in 1984.

Will was an excellent teacher, with an encyclopedic grasp on both the theoretical and practical aspects of his subject. He set high standards for himself and his students, and would enthusiastically mentor any students who showed interest. There are many productive citizens who could testify about the positive effect Will had on their education and their lives. Will made extra-curricular activities, such as the yearbook and photography club, important educational experiences for participating students. Many community members enjoyed his adult education classes in woodworking and other crafts. Will generously donated his time to do many things needed in a school, from directing lighting for school productions to the construction of holiday decorations for the front lawn. Will also served the community for many years as a member of the Tusten Planning and Zoning Boards.

Will was a valuable and trusted mentor for many younger teachers. He could always be counted on for sage advice on both professional and individual matters. Additionally, Will was a pioneer in fighting for collective bargaining, greatly improving the lives of teachers who came after him.

I must admit my initial feelings toward Will were mixed. As a young teacher, I found Will’s personality to be bit nettlesome. He seemed to talk too long at faculty meetings, delving into seemingly arcane detail while exploring multiple facets of the issue at hand. His insistence on procedure and doing things the right way seemed rigid, cranky, and bit old-fashioned. He could be caustic and blunt. However, just like a maturing young man discovering that the father he considered to be an idiot when he was a teenager had become suddenly wise, I found myself having an ever-increasing respect for Will. Possessed of a keen and analytic mind, he could look at a problem from many points of view. He had a principled disdain of shortcuts and decisions based upon mere expedience. Like it or not, Will always would insist upon the right choice for the right reasons. Will DeSantis was a man of keen intelligence, tempered with unwavering integrity, honesty and principle. We all would have done better to have paid more attention.

I will miss Will. As years go by, I have an even greater admiration for this modest but gifted man who contributed so much to Narrowsburg Central School and to the greater community. Like many others, I feel that my life is better for having known him. Will’s memory calls all of us to give our best, stand up for what is right, and do it with intelligence and reason.

In the Sullivan County Democrats’ March 2 Counterpoint, “DV’s Busing Needs Improvement” the blame is on the wrong person. Les Krum is head of transportation, but Superintendent Johndrow has the final say. Mr. Krum can only suggest that they close school. When Les suggested they cancel last year’s varsity DV girl’s basketball game in Roscoe because it was snowing about one inch an hour, the game was played because of Superintendent Johndrow. The bus before leaving Roscoe had to put chains on because of six inches of snow.

The day in question shows this information. The Town of Hancock had their sand truck in a ditch. Town of Fremont had a sand truck up side down. Both townships are in Sullivan West School District. That tells how the roads were for school to be open. On this day, three bus drivers didn’t make their full run. The bus driver can, and should, decide whether the roads are safe and if chains are needed. It is the bus driver’s responsibility (and parents) to ensure the safety of the students, and most of the time students are supposed to stay on the bus.

On the other hand, if BOCES closes, then Sullivan West closes even if the roads are bare. Why? Are we merging with Liberty next? To use snow days up this way and not have them when you need them unfairly takes vacation time from students and teachers.

The new merged district will bring this about even more as school can’t be closed for a handful of students that live in the sticks. Back roads in the northern part of the district have bad road conditions, while other students live in a warmer climate and have no trouble getting to school. With 204 square miles of school district they can’t worry about a few students. Just wait until double busing starts and students have to get on the bus earlier! Hancock must sand other roads first before they can start sanding DV bus routes, usually not before 7:00 a.m. Usually Fremont starts about 5:00 a.m.; pickup for first students will be between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m. That means the roads will hold more surprises for the bus drivers and our children.

Do we need a major wreck before something is done? Why doesn’t Superintendent Johndrow take a ride on these excellent roads in his “north country” before the buses leave for their first stop?

Remember: Les cannot close the school. Only Superintendent Johndrow has the responsibility and the password needed to close school.

Governor Pataki’s recent attempt to put a cap on wasteful school construction projects is a good idea that has considerable support in western Sullivan County. Contrary to what some people in the media are saying, the idea isn’t dead yet and is currently being discussed behind closed doors in Albany.

For that reason, I am distributing a petition throughout the Sullivan West school district in support of the Governor’s proposal as it applies to us.

The petition says the following. “We the undersigned voters in the newly formed Sullivan West Central School District agree with Governor George Pataki’s 2001-2002 budget proposal that any school district building project not approved by the State Education Department by January 15, 2001 be placed on a priority list.

“We further state that the Sullivan West high school building project should not be a priority item and should be placed at the bottom of the list since we were falsely promised 95 percent state aid for the project by Sullivan County BOCES and the State Education Department before the merger, and have since discovered we are only going to receive 67 percent state aid or less.

“This project as now planned will cause huge unanticipated tax increases for Sullivan West residents, as well as economic and social hardships for the communities of Jeffersonville, Callicoon and Narrowsburg in particular, and result in a new high school being built on a site known to contain buried toxic construction and demolition debris.

“We suggest the $49 million project is a waste of state taxpayers’ money that could be better spent on neglected inner city schools with real problems. Repairs for our own existing schools could be done efficiently for less than a third of that amount, and do not require that we build an unneeded extravagant new high school at this time.”

If you want to help get signatures, call me at 887-5061. You can return completed petition forms to me at Box 11, Fremont Center, NY 12736. I will see to it that copies are sent to the Governor, the Board of Regents and the leadership of the State Legislature.

It is also important that you immediately write your assemblyman and state senator about the financial disaster this building project will result in for all our property owners thanks to the broken state aid promises of BOCES Superintendent Martin Handler. Governor Pataki’s proposal is a way out for all of us.

Perhaps nobody is paying attention except for those wanting to get a “piece of the action.” Let’s examine our computers and chat boxers, O.K.?

So why not go to today’s attention getter and go to the chatters to read this loss, to read “you’re a beauty,” or how much value the chatters may place on the needs and wants of society’s newest loner?

The linkage between a mother and child is almost unbreakable, but can be broken more easily with a lost father, a male parent, that is “out of sight, out of mind,” on a daily basis.

Our child abuse laws need revamping, but we cannot do so unless we write all our political subdivisions from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans.