{"id":30630,"date":"2021-10-29T08:14:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=30630"},"modified":"2021-10-29T08:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:14:42","slug":"letter-wcasd-voters-beware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=30630","title":{"rendered":"Letter: WCASD voters beware"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Editor,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Who should we trust when voting on Tuesday, November 2nd<\/sup>?\u00a0 If you cannot trust your own political party and its leadership, who can you trust to be truthful, well-intentioned, and\u00a0sincere\u00a0when it comes to the students, teachers, and staff within the West Chester Area School District?<\/p>\n

Last May, I had the unique opportunity to support a Republican school board candidate for re-election at the polls.\u00a0 No matter which side of the proverbial \u201caisle,\u201d I was met with smiles, hugs and pleasant conversation from old friends and neighbors. We spoke about how our families were doing, how time has passed\u00a0by\u00a0so quickly since our time at Hillsdale Elementary\u00a0and Peirce Middle\u00a0Schools,\u00a0and the thought that our kids would soon be joining us to vote in 2022.<\/p>\n

The idyllic setting soon came to an end when a woman, posing as a helpful Republican Party volunteer, was handing out sample Republican ballots and telling voters as they entered the polling location that they should\u00a0vote\u00a0only<\/u>\u00a0for Stacy Whomsley. She continued to mislead voters by telling them that the Republican party was not endorsing Chris McCune even though the sample ballot clearly stated that he was in fact being endorsed by the Republican Party.\u00a0 She told voters that Mr. McCune was not good for the district and that he was supporting the teaching of Critical Race Theory (a false accusation) and that he was \u201cno good\u201d. \u00a0 This went on for hours while\u00a0the Republican Party committee members stood by in silence.\u00a0 I approached her and told her to stop misleading\u00a0and lying to\u00a0voters, but she continued and turned her back to me.<\/p>\n

When asked why she was lying to voters, her response was \u201cI don\u2019t believe in your (Mr. McCune\u2019s) politics\u201d.\u00a0 Key committee members again stood by in silence not coming to the woman\u2019s defense which was not only cowardly but a clear indication that they were in fact encouraging this dishonest, fraudulent behavior.<\/p>\n

As a voter, I have supported the Republican Party for decades, so I do not say this lightly: do not, under any circumstances, trust the Republican Party poll workers or their leader who hides behind his so- called Christian values.\u00a0 I may be na\u00efve to the Republican \u201cway\u201d of endorsing candidates, Dr. Eck, but I am not na\u00efve to what constitutes Christian values and truth.<\/p>\n

So again, I ask, who should we trust?\u00a0 Should we trust neighbors\/friends who have little to no experience with the public school system in West Chester?\u00a0 Do\u00a0we\u00a0trust members of religious groups\u00a0who, though contrary to the group\u2019s mission, are discrediting a\u00a0candidate\u00a0based on hearsay or partial truths?\u00a0 Do\u00a0we\u00a0trust those who have no experience leading a 12,000 student school system, negotiating teacher\u2019s union\u00a0contracts, a $279 million dollar budget\u00a0or can\u00a0productively\u00a0deal with thousands of parents who are vocal about their child\u2019s education?<\/p>\n

Do we trust a candidate who screams and yells insults at a school board meeting or a candidate that \u201ccomplies\u201d with\u00a0her\u00a0local political party\u00a0to gain their support?\u00a0 How about the local media?\u00a0 Should you trust a news outlet that does not give an accurate account of a particular story\u00a0or shows favor to one candidate over another?<\/p>\n

Here is a thought\u2026trust the local teacher\u2019s union and who they support.\u00a0 Trust\u00a0the previous beloved Superintendent of the\u00a0West Chester Area School District\u00a0and who he is supporting. Trust your neighbors and friends who are not basing their voting\u00a0choices\u00a0on hearsay or their annoyance with decisions that have nothing to do with\u00a0the school district.\u00a0 \u00a0Trust the candidate who is not choosing politics over integrity.<\/p>\n

Above all, trust yourself and your ability to research a school board candidate,\u00a0their family values\u00a0and\u00a0who they associate themselves with personally,\u00a0professionally and\u00a0politically.<\/p>\n

Karen Horan<\/strong><\/p>\n

East Bradford\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the Editor, Who should we trust when voting on Tuesday, November 2nd?\u00a0 If you cannot trust your own political party and its leadership, who can you trust to be truthful, well-intentioned, and\u00a0sincere\u00a0when it comes to the students, teachers, and staff within the West Chester Area School District? Last May, I had the unique opportunity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10399,30,3640],"class_list":["post-30630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-election-2021","tag-school-board","tag-west-chester-area-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30631,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30630\/revisions\/30631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}