Helping Beartown
TO THE EDITOR: On behalf of the children of the Beartown Ski Team, their parents and the North Country community as a whole, we wish to thank Luck Bros. Inc. for hauling 30 loads of snow from the Crete Center to Beartown Ski Area.
Without their assistance and generosity, there would not be a Beartown Ski Team this season. With these mild temperatures and rain-soaked days, the Beartown Ski Area would most likely have been forced to close indefinitely or cancel skiing for extended periods of time.
By donating their time, manpower, equipment and fuel to the cause of keeping Beartown open, more than 40 young ski teamers, their families and other community members can continue to enjoy Beartown's excellent family skiing environment.
We truly appreciate the help and support from Luck Bros. during this unseasonably warm winter. It would have been easy to say sorry we just don't have the resources to help out, but Luck Bros. did not; instead they placed their community first — and for that, we say thank you.
Jeffery P. Jolicoeur
Plattsburgh
Tutoring impact
TO THE EDITOR: The New York Board of Regents recently approved New York state's application to the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver from key provisions of No Child Left Behind.
This waiver is the wrong decision, neglecting to protect Supplemental Education Services, which provide tutoring for low-income students in under-performing schools.
In New York state, 85,000 low-income children rely on tutoring to boost their opportunities to learn and excel. These are the students — mostly minority, all of whom attend underperforming schools — that we leave on the sidelines of our education system, knowing we are not preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow. Tutoring gives these students the chance to fill in the large gaps we leave in their education.
NCLB got a lot wrong, but its goal of providing a quality education to students regardless of their economic background was exactly right. It was in that spirit that Congress created Supplemental Education Services, directing districts to spend a portion of their Title I funding on tutoring for low-income students trapped in underperforming schools. Now districts can use those funds in a less targeted fashion, relegating low-income students back to the system that failed them before NCLB was ever passed.
There is little doubt that tutoring works and helps close the achievement gap. A March 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Education found that students participating in Supplemental Education Services saw significant math and reading gains compared with similar students who did not participate.
Surely, we all want our children to succeed. That is why Tutor our Children, a coalition committed to ensuring that parents have a choice in the services their children need, embarked on a campaign to maintain funding for tutoring low-income students. It is disappointing to see low-income children left behind once again.
Rabbi Moshe Wiener
Executive director Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island Inc.
