LETTERS: April 19, 2009

April 19, 2009 12:21 am

— Reader: Teachers shouldn’t have to ‘donate’ their time

State Superintendent of Education Tony Bennett is continuing his long-standing vendetta against teachers as he seeks to force Indiana teachers to work for free.
If professional development will not be counted as part of the 180 instructional days, then the teachers should either receive three extra days of pay for attending the six half days of professional development or boycott the professional development altogether.
An employer cannot force employees to work off-the-clock to attend professional development, and teachers should not “donate” their time to attend professional development. Virtually all companies in the private sector pay employees in full for attending professional development.
The glaring stupidity of the administration of the New Albany-Floyd County Schools is shown by the failure to consider a four-day school week as an alternative to laying off teachers.
— Chris Nance, New Albany

Let’s petition Congress for healthy school lunches

What’s more dangerous — a cigarette or a fattening school lunch like the ones many kids eat five days a week? According to a new study, it may be a tie. Researchers found that obese teenagers, like heavy smokers, were twice as likely to die early compared with normal weight nonsmokers. As a dietitian, I think it’s critical that we encourage youth to stay away from unhealthy, high-calorie foods, in addition to cigarettes.
Healthy school lunches — including fruits, vegetables and low-fat vegetarian meals — could help improve students’ health and decrease their risk of obesity and other chronic diseases. Yet, most school cafeterias continue to serve processed meat and cheese products and other foods too high in fat and cholesterol.
Schools want to serve better food, but they need help from the government. Let’s ask Congress to help schools offer healthier options in the lunch room, where so many students learn lifelong eating habits. Sign the petition at HealthySchoolLunch.org.
— Kathryn Strong, M.S., R.D., staff dietitian, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, D.C.

There is a better idea for Spring St.

I have determined that two-way traffic on Spring Street is dangerous for drivers — and most of all pedestrians — bad for businesses, will not reduce speeds, and doesn’t support Mayor Doug England’s and his supporters’ arguments for the change. I will never write a criticism without providing an alternative solution.
Spring Street, as we all know, is downtown New Albany’s only direct link with Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and, most of all, Louisville. Information provided by Develop New Albany states that more than 2,000 workers commute daily to Louisville. Mayor England wants to make it more difficult for anybody to commute through New Albany’s only direct connection. Instead of making Spring Street a greater burden to New Albany residents and visitors, let’s expand on what we already have and make Spring Street one-way starting from Silver Street all the way to Springhill Road. Then, turn south one-way to connect to Main Street and make Main Street one-way back to Silver. In my opinion, this is a better plan. The small town of Ellettsville did this very same thing with Ind. 46 that runs though their city. Google map it and see. Here is why this plan can work for New Albany.
First, Jeffersonville and Louisville a few years back invested millions on making Second Street Bridge more accessible. Second Street Bridge has a direct connection to Brown Station Way and it leads directly to New Albany. Instead of choking down this route, let’s embrace what others are doing by making Spring Street one-way all the way through New Albany. Our city would be cooperating with other cities’ plans.
Secondly, by separating the direction of traffic, westbound on Spring Street and eastbound on Main, we will reduce the amount of traffic by half, making Spring Street and Main Street less noisy for residents, safer for drivers and pedestrians, and more efficient.
Third, this would be better for businesses because we would make it easier for visitors from Clark County and Louisville to come and go. Even Develop New Albany makes the case that New Albany is not getting enough visiting business.
Fourth, there has been talk about opening the westside of downtown and the eastside of Main Street near Loop Island up for development. Implementing this plan would support this redevelopment and New Albany would progress, not regress.
Finally, I am not opposed to making secondary streets all two-way, but I feel it is a bad idea to turn Spring Street to two-way. I feel I have given reasons for my opinion, now make Mayor England and supporters show their evidence. If anyone agrees, please call the New Albany City Council and the mayor’s office and complain until a better solution is implemented.
— Jameson Bledsoe, New Albany