Who’s responsible?

I am sick and tired of being blamed for the “third and not final” failure of the school bond issue to pass the supermajority vote.

Look, folks, its failure starts with Ron Sims and his strong-arm tactics and ends with the inertia of our elected state officials.

Ron Sims rammed the Ridge housing project down Snoqualmie’s throat, did not negotiate with the developers to set aside sufficient land for future schools, and has not partnered with this community to resolve the nightmare that his political ambitions created.

Our elected state officials have had lots of time to introduce and strong-arm through a bill that would in effect hold the housing developers’ feet to the fire, until they cough up enough coins to pay three quarters of the cost to build new schools based on projected enrollment (versus current enrollment). Instead, they introduced a bill to take away our voice when they tried to abolish the supermajority vote.

It all comes down to politics, doesn’t it. Sims, et. al., give favors to the rich to get favors when they run for office: I’ll scratch your back if you invite me to your club and scratch mine.

Joel Aune and parents are blaming the taxpayers for not passing the school bond. I have this to say to them: Folks, you’re barking up the wrong tree. You have had lots of time to organize and to take action against Sims and our elected state officials. But now it’s too late — they’re on recess.

Instead of blaming taxpayers, take responsibility and be accountable for your future. Get off your butts and petition your elected officials to change the law, to make housing developers pay for schools based on future enrollment, and to set aside sufficient land for the schools that will need to be built after they make their millions of dollars and rape our environment.

In other words, it’s on you, parents, not on me. You want schools? Go and get them… from your elected officials.

Sheila Hunter

North Bend

“No” is the right choice

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone who took the time to vote on the recent school bond. For those of us who voted “no,” I would just like to say thank you very much! And for those who choose to remain silent, I am hoping you will show up for the next bond measure and vote “no!”

It was a weighing struggle with me to vote “no,” but in the end I did not just consider the students. There are too many downfalls, should another school of any age group be built in the Valley. In short, the most recent issue is the growth plan scheduled for adding amendments. If the bond had passed, you could bet the farm the growth plan would be adding more additions in the Snoqualmie and North Bend areas, along with the surrounding areas of Fall City.

In consideration of the growth plan, I felt it best to vote “no” for the school bond. I would like to leave to my descendants what’s left of our Valley intact and not suburbia, as we see [it] growing all around us. When I look at the property taxes increasing in large sums every year, I have to wonder just how high it will be when we leave our homes to our children!

The issue of overcrowding at Mount Si will be just that, always an issue, in any school around the world. Our Valley does not have enough students to fill a second high school and without a second high school, many people will not move into the Valley. So it’s obvious a vote for a new high school is also a vote “yes” to an overcrowded society.

I struggled greatly with the issue of education and the bottom line came down to “it doesn’t matter how many students are in a classroom, it is the teacher that makes the difference.” I feel we have great teachers, who can get the job done, no matter how many students are in the classroom. They may need to create a better teaching system or pick up an old college way of teaching for the older grades, but they can do it. Our teachers have taught our children to be resourceful, conservative, inventive, and imaginative. Now it is time for our teachers to show the students how it’s done.

What I would like to see happen is for the class books to be integrated into a computer network system. This would allow the students to leave their books at home and use the computers at school to study. By using the network system, students will no longer have to carry large loads around with them all day in school and they won’t have to worry about forgetting a book at home.

I would just like to thank everyone who voted “no,” I know it was a tough choice, but sometimes “no” is the right choice.

Charlotte Irene Noel

Fall City