Kids and social media
I write this letter as a concerned parent for today’s children. I attended a very well promoted, thought out, and selected assembly at our high school for parents on the dangers of social media. Our children from 5th–tenth grade attended the assembly earlier in the day. Saugerties has roughly 2,700 students in the district and with such a large number one would think more than 38 parents would have attended! I was then embarrassed to learn that at our school when discussing the topic of sexting kids cheered, hooted and clapped — the assemblies presenter said that was the first time he has ever seen that response — even more ashamed I became to learn that recently a seventh grade girl said to our principal she has a great body she should be allowed to show it off in a text! Wow! Wondering where are her parental controls? I sat there thinking I’m 34 years old that’s not too old– my oldest isn’t that far from her age! The kids do think those of us who have a problem with this behavior or think it’s wrong are uptight. My children range from seven-11 years old and none have a social medial site as I do not either. The Internet creates permanent marks on your forever life— kids, teens, 20-somethings, maybe even you already have things out there that are too late to erase! How many “selfies” do you need or who really cares about your sandwich you had for lunch? We are developing a culture of insecure children-teens-adults that cannot cross a street without their face in a phone!
My youngest is seven he said how come I can’t have an Instagram- I said because you’re seven! Well mom…so and so has one and his mom is a teacher and she knows if it’s good or bad not you! Ha- That was a cute conversation!
So to all you so and so parents the law is simple your child should be at least 13 years old to enroll in social media sites! While 13 I personally feel is still too young as we seen with our seventh grader it’s a safeguard for a reason and a law! Ironically laws are things we should teach our child to uphold, along with respecting their bodies, and each other! Instead we teach our kids that they are entitled to a $600 iPhone and $300 boots, the value of hard work, morals, ethics, respect for laws and authority go right out the window! It’s easier to shove an iPad in your kid’s face than it is to teach them how to behave in public! Sad really! Maybe next time more of the parents will show. I do wonder why kids need cell phones anyway? I didn’t have one, I’m sure you didn’t either. I wish my husband and I went back to landlines. Honestly none of us are that important that we need to be reached 24/7!
And for those of the parents that say no to Facebook, Instagram teach your children respect, interact with your kids and say no to the latest keeping up with the Jones fad just know you’re not alone and for that you are (we can all hope) raising a well-rounded human being!
Angie Minew
Saugerties
Angie Minew is a member of the Saugerties Board of Education.
Common Core is misguided
I am writing this in response to an email that was sent out by George Heidcamp, the president of the Saugerties School Board, which included a statement issued by the superintendent of schools, Seth Turner, about the nature of standardized testing in New York State (Common Core) being used to determine the composition of performance pools and at-risk school districts which can have an adverse affect on school funding as allocated by the state of New York.
The state of New York through the executive branch is using a dictatorial approach toward the school districts through these assessments and associative requirements. There are far too many variables that can affect the overall educational process which can enhance or impede the progress of teachers and students towards meeting such stated and measured objectives as mandated and decreed downward by the state. And on that note, Common Core is a disaster, and it is analogous to a cancer in the locker room on a professional sports team. The practice of the standardized tests associated with Common Core is being used to measure student performance and progress, teacher performance, and the state of New York is tying in funding and the categorization of performance labeling/pools into the results from Common Core test results. This process has everyone at odds with one another, as the parents are unhappy with these tests, the teachers are unhappy with these tests, and the School Board and administrators like Mr. Turner are falsely being blamed for the structure of the process.
When will the voters get smart and elect politicians who have the guts to stand up for what is right? The Pearson Educational Testing Company has figured out a way to make billions of dollars off of the stupidity and laziness of elected officials across the United States, and I find it offensive how elected officials can fall prey to the sleazy sales and lobbying efforts of foreign-owned companies like Pearson through which billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted! The structure of the New York State educational system was better, simpler and far more effective when there was a three-tier structure of learning; Regents, Non-Regents and Remedial. Not everyone has intellectual proclivities that are best suited for college, and that is another area where this country falls short, as we should be more like Germany where the vocational aspect of the educational system is more heavily emphasized. In 1996, when New York State forced all students to become Regents, the immediate results were stunning, as there were increased drop-out rates and an increase in the number of students who stayed in high school for an extra 1-3 years in order to graduate. Sometimes government is more effective when they stop trying to reinvent the wheel all of the time, and the structure of the educational system in New York State is a prime example of this.
Politicians in the United States are always trying to copy something that is being done in Europe, and unfortunately, they have a tendency to copy things which are not effectively advantageous for the best interests of the United States. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was enacted as a response to the uniform European Currency, and as a result, the exchange rate and valuation of American currency dropped relative to the Canadian Dollar and millions of jobs have been lost in the United States. High-end manufacturing jobs have gone to Canada because in Canada, the government provides health insurance, while low-end manufacturing jobs have gone to Mexico where there is little or no insurance and much lower wages are paid out. And with respect to Common Core, this is just a pathetic attempt by politicians in Washington and elsewhere to force a standardized testing system upon the administrators, teachers and students with the aim of making American Students more “globally competitive.” These politicians need to wake up and realize that the structure of our society is the main contributing factor towards poor performance in the classroom and that it is not based upon the standardized testing and assessment methodologies that are being used in the United States!
Chris Allen
Ulster County Legislature, District 2
Actions speak louder than party
I have been a citizen activist for the last 15 years in Ulster County. I have attended hundreds of legislative meetings and served on a several county boards and commissions.
Not once in those 15 years can I remember a state senator or assembly member sending any of their staff to find out if they could be of help in rectifying a local problem. That is until now.
Senator Amedore’s, district coordinator, Heidi Haynes, has been representing him at the Ulster County Coalition Against Narcotics committee. As he is the Chair of NY Senate’s Alcohol and Substance abuse committee and Co-Chair of the Heroin Task Force this is no idle gesture.
For those that are unaware of it, there has been a major resurgence of heroin use across our state. In part due to the over prescribing of pain killers, the government cracking down on it, and the subsequent flight of those addicted to pills into heroin.
I wish to applaud Senator Amedore’s effort and commend him for his aid in helping our county deal with this epidemic. I am not a Republican, but next election, he’ll get my vote.
Thomas Kadgen
UCAN Member, Shokan
Monitoring the merger
Recently, two concerned groups, Health Care STAT and MergerWatch, met with David Scarpino, CEO of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, to clarify details about the proposed affiliation between Westchester Medical Center (WMC) and HealthAlliance. We also wanted to secure assurances that the plan, at worst, would not negatively affect women’s reproductive services and, at best, would improve the delivery of services to all members of our community, particularly Medicaid and Medicare recipients.
We are also aware that Westchester Medical Center is in negotiation with the Bon Secours system, and because it is a Catholic health system, we wanted assurances that it will not force all providers within the WMC umbrella to bend to their restrictive care caused by religious edicts. Health Care STAT already worked hard to ensure that this community had access to comprehensive reproductive health care and we want to make sure those services are not at risk of being lost again.
We were given assurances by David Scarpino that the HealthAlliance hospital would remain secular, the quality of all health care delivery would improve, and that Catholic restrictions have no chance of coming to HealthAlliance. Health Care STAT will continue to monitor this affiliation to ensure that quality health care remains and even improves at HealthAlliance. In addition, our community deserves transparency, as far as this transition goes. Apparently there will be no requirement for public input because a Certificate of Need is not required. Perhaps a public forum is in order. The hospitals owe this to the community.
Jo Shuman, RN
Member, Health Care STAT, Cottekill
Join the family! 
