The below was published in local papers of the West Windsor Plainsboro school district.
The letter caused such a storm that the wwpinfo site took down their electronic link due to a flood of comments entered against the letter.
Our local friends on Facebook who read the paper version of the letter all decried the sentiments expressed in the letter but all did agree that the authors had a right to their opinion.
I wrote to the editor of wwpinfo and he indicated that he will be publishing a follow-up in the next release Jan 18th, explaining the rationale for running the letter.
My take?
The authors of the letter have the right to express their opinions. We all reading the letter have the right to express our opinions in support or to refute the opinion.
The authors appear to be contending that a meeting of the Gay Straight Alliance held on a Saturday has somehow had an effect on the New Jersey Monthly’s 2012 school ratings.
A quick look at the methodology doesn’t seem to back that claim: http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/2012-top-high-schools-methodology.html
The authors make the claim homosexual men live on average 20 years less than heterosexual men.
From every source I could find on Google this seems to be based on flawed research and there is no evidence to support the statement.
The authors further described that topics inimical to people of various orthodox faiths not be espoused using our hard-earned tax dollars.
This argument is flawed in that the authors believe that they should be able to decide what topics should and should not be on display in the school building because they pay taxes. Because they believe they are somehow in the majority with their beliefs on homosexuality. Can you imagine if the selfsame argument was made against holding African American club attendance in the school?
In the end the community has been confronted with a letter of opinion that appears to be in the minority. I believe our best response would be a measured well written discussion without inserting hate speech in retaliation.
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Recently the Gay Straight Alliance meeting was held at High School South. It is a prime example of one of the major reasons that High School South has seen such a precipitous decline in its annual rankings (as shown in New Jersey Monthly’s 2012 ratings). This, while our already high property taxes continue to climb.
First we will stipulate, as all decent people should, that any form of bullying for any reason is always to be condemned. However, for the lavishly paid Superintendent Victoria Kniewel and her lackey, Principal Dennis Lepold, to hold and extol the virtues of this event is the height of supercilious social engineering. It is also in contravention to the religious and moral teachings of many orthodox faith traditions in this town.
When incontrovertible evidence has demonstrated that homosexual men live on average 20 years less than heterosexual men, one wonders why Kniewel and Lepold would be so supportive of the recruitment of children into a demonstrably dangerous lifestyle choice. As practicing Roman Catholics we are not asking that our religious/moral beliefs be taught in the schools — only that topics inimical to people of various orthodox faiths not be espoused using our hard-earned tax dollars.
In light of the failure of Kniewel and Lepold to keep High School South in the state’s top rankings, they should both seriously consider resigning their posts. We will not hold our breath for that, but in any case all concerned citizens who care about traditional values and the squandering of our tax money should barrage them with phone calls and E-mails to protest their lack of respect and antipathy toward our values.
Paul and Mediatrix Milazzo
Click to access WestWindsor_1219.pdf
http://cj.sunne.ws/files/2012/12/WestWindsor_1128.pdf – contains the article on the GSA meeting.
Writer: Kniewel, Lepold squander tax dollars
Your front page article in the Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 issue on the Gay Straight Alliance meeting held at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South is symptomatic of one of the primary reasons that West Windsor Plainsboro High School South has seen such a precipitous decline in its annual rankings (as shown in New Jersey Monthly magazine’s 2012 ratings.) This, we might add, while our already high property taxes continue to march inexorably higher.
First we will stipulate, as all decent people should, that any form of bullying for any reason is always to be condemned. However, for the very lavishly paid Superintendent of Schools Victoria Kniewel and her lackey Principal Dennis Lepold to hold and extol the virtues of this event is the height of supercilious social engineering. It is also in contravention to the religious and moral teachings of many people of various orthodox faith traditions in this town. When incontrovertible evidence has also demonstrated that homosexual men live, on average, 20 years less than heterosexual men, one wonders why Kniewel and Lepold would be so supportive of the recruitment of children in to a demonstrably dangerous lifestyle choice. As practicing Roman Catholic Christians we are not asking that our religious/moral beliefs be taught in the schools – but only that topics inimical to all people of orthodox faith traditions of various kinds not be espoused using our hard-earned tax dollars. In light of the failure of Kniewel and Lepold to keep West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in the state’s top rankings they should both seriously consider resigning their posts. We will not hold our breath for that but in any case all concerned citizens of this town who care about traditional values and the squandering of our tax money should barrage the two aforementioned “educators” with phone calls and emails to protest their lack of respect and antipathy toward our values.
Paul and Mediatrix Milazzo
Tim Hitchings 