Letters to the Editor 8-6-15

School district reaches out to those displaced by housing problems
Editor: The beginning of the school year is nearly upon us. For many, the new school year represents a fresh start, reuniting with friends and optimistic excitement. However, for many, this year is instead marked by uncertainty due to questions surrounding housing.
The rapid change in the local real estate market and consequences of rising rents and renovations has left many families suddenly having to relocate. And, for many, this may mean moving outside the boundaries of the school district. As a community funded school district financed directly from local property taxes, Healdsburg Unified School District policies do not generally allow for students who reside outside of the district to attend our schools.
However, the policy does allow for the superintendent to allow interdistrict attendance agreements for individual students “under exceptional circumstances.” One could argue that the circumstances some of our students and families currently face are indeed exceptional.
The issues surrounding housing in Healdsburg will take time to be resolved. However, with many of our students facing a tremendous amount of instability today, we are committed to partnering with families to provide educational stability and continuity for their children this school year.
Thus, this topic will be discussed at a future school board meeting. In the meantime, I invite parents who may be forced to move outside the school district to contact the Healdsburg Unified School District Office at 431-3124. If you are considering moving outside the district, please be prepared to petition for an attendance agreement that will require documentation explaining your move, such as an eviction notice or a letter documenting a significant change in rent.
The Healdsburg Unified School District is aware of the issues that many of our students are facing and invites families to work with us to provide educational stability during this difficult time of transition.
Christian Vanden Heuvel
Superintendent, Healdsburg Unified School District
Prayer for relief
Editor: I weep.
I sob.
Nay, I howl and storm in despair.
I erupt in madness.
I grind my molars.
I rend my garments.
I crumple to my knees and, tearing at the desiccated earth, I shriek.
For I have just realized that the 2016 Presidential election campaigning won’t be concluded for well over a year. Fifteen more months of this fecal matter flying all over the place.
Oh my brethren and sistern, let us pray.
Barbara Médaille
Healdsburg
A living wage is the next step
Editor: I consider what has been said in regard to the housing crisis just the beginning, consciousness raising, if you will. The problem is not going away.
The rent crisis is a difficult subject on which to find common ground. Perhaps the present dominant economic model doesn’t allow for other viewpoints. One place in the discussion where we possibly can find common ground is on the question of morality.
Agricultural workers, especially, are the people who have created the amazing wealth which is all around us. Without their hard work, we just have bare soil. In effect, the producers of wealth are compensated the least. In fact, they are largely invisible – living on the margins of our society.
Perhaps the Healdsburg City Council can afford to put their minds and hearts to the issue of a living wage. Yes – $15 – imagine that. A living wage is a step in the right direction of being able to afford a descent place to live. A living wage cannot be separated from affordable housing, but is a critical part of it. It is the least we can do. I count on you.
Heidi Marino
Healdsburg
Don’t lie down
Editor: I applaud Gabriel A. Fraire’s courage and his clear vision and writing in his column published 7-30-2015  – “The Rich Have a Plan.” I agree with him. They have been working that plan since at least the 1980s and it is working. We can see evidence of it in the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Our democracy has been sold and the Citizens United decision simply accelerates the process.
We need a constitutional amendment to say money is not speech and corporations are not people. And we must vigilantly guard against efforts to restrict voting rights. If “We the People” do not rise up and reclaim our democracy, then we can lie down and accept that it has been sold to the highest bidder. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Marian McDonald
Sebastopol