There are still good people. Shoveling last week’s snow load, my wife and I did the long driveway and the long walk on Friday. The “plow drift” at the mailbox was too much. Today I went out to deal with the 3-foot-tall “cement” in front of the box. I assumed it would take an hour or two. As I was a bit of the way into one end of it, a car pulled into the road and turned around in a driveway. The driver stopped and asked if I wanted help. Breathing hard, I opened my mouth vaguely. He said “yes,” pulled a shovel from his car and slaughtered the bank. I have not been near anyone this generous in years. I hope he lives and prospers.
Stan Phaneuf
Newbury
Paul Keane’s commentary (“Gumption can be the great equalizer,” Feb. 3) struck a chord with me. When I was entering high school, a guidance counselor pronounced me and many of my friends “terminal students,” as if we were suffering from a dreaded disease. We were placed in the general track in the large suburban high school we attended. I suppose that’s why many of us joined the military after graduation.
The general course of studies was designed for those students whose education would, undoubtedly, end after graduation: no foreign language, no math other than arithmetic, nothing to expand our thinking or provide us with those essentials we might need if we decided to pursue an academic path. As I now know, for most of us, our “education” was just beginning after high school.
My four brothers, who were electricians and bricklayers, often wondered, as they mentored apprentices in their trades, whether their apprentices had the mental and physical “material” to achieve journeyman status in their craft. The difference was they kept working with them as opposed to pronouncing them unfit before trying.
Bob McCarthy
Lebanon
Of all the ills affecting our society, one of the most harmful is our growing inclination to demonize our political opponents. In his column for the Valley News (“What to do about tainted money,” Feb. 6), Randall Balmer criticizes Catholic groups for taking money from “far-right” organizations, which he associates with “some of the most radicalized extremists on the right.” He includes in those “far-right” categories the Cato Institute and the Federalist Society. Whether or not one supports Cato’s emphasis on individual freedom, or the Federalist Society’s approach to legal interpretation, casting one’s political opponents as being beyond the pale adds poison to our unhealthy political discourse. What our community needs is more people explaining the moral and wise underpinnings of views from across the broad political spectrum — so we can understand, value and even learn from those with whom we disagree.
Daryl Press
Hanover
There are several spaces at Hanover Street School that are in dire need of our attention. As a community, we are being called to a bond vote in March to take care of our schools and address the space crisis at HSS.
Our nurse’s office is an oversized closet. Picture this: You walk in off the main hallway and there is a chair for a waiting area directly next to the nurse’s desk space and the student service area. There is no space for privacy for a child who is sick and only room for one student at a time. The renovation project will provide our students with a waiting area, a designated nurse’s office space and a larger private space for consultation.
Our computer/technology paraeducator also works out of a closet and pushes into classrooms on a cart. The computer lab no longer exists because it had to be converted to additional learning space last year. The renovation project’s addition to the Library/Media Center will function as a better option for her and give students access to the 3D printer, which she has been using a great deal across all grade levels.
The space for remedial math services is far less than adequate. Our math specialist has made the most of the former storage room on the second floor to be able to work with individual or small groups of students in the small space between storage shelves. If the renovations are approved, the new math space will be a much more inviting space that is more conducive to learning and will relocate to the main floor so our younger learners will not have to use the stairs.
The vital services provided by our educators and support staff are being crammed into every nook and cranny of our small school. The renovations are not lavish. They need to happen now. Hanover Street School is bursting at the seams, and our community needs to recognize the call for help.
Jennifer Callahan
Lebanon