Letters: KC readers discuss vaccine success, school choice and Josh Hawley’s US history
Made it work
My wife, Hazel, and I are a retired couple living in northern Kansas City. On Feb. 5 and again on Feb. 26, we drove to Clinton, Missouri, where we received COVID-19 vaccinations.
We want to thank the people of Clinton. Thanks to the members of the First Baptist Church, the Missouri National Guard, the Henry County Health Department, the Clinton Chamber of Commerce and all the nurses and volunteers.
It was a bit of a drive and a bit of a wait in line, but we wouldn’t have missed it for anything. It was a perfect example of a community recognizing a need and coming together to handle it. Everyone involved was efficient, friendly and helpful.
This is the way America is supposed to work. Thank you.
- David Springer, Kansas City
Let us choose
Black or white, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Green, from Brookside to east of Troost Avenue, there’s one cause that unites us as parents: We want what’s best for our children.
For those with means, choices abound. For most of the rest of us, ZIP code is destiny. For many, that means sending your child to a failing or underperforming school.
As a Kansas Citian, I’ve been fortunate to have options. My son and daughter attend Crossroads Academy, a public, tuition-free charter school, and each is thriving — academically, socially and emotionally.
Under state law, these options are basically available only to families living in Kansas City or St. Louis. That needs to change, especially now that the pandemic has shown the shortcomings of our one-size-fits-all approach to public education.
Expanding charter schools to places like Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Jefferson City, Joplin, Springfield and St. Joseph, not to mention Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit, would give more Missouri parents the flexibility to better decide what educational programs work best for their kids.
Now more than ever, we should be giving families a boost to find the schools that are the right fit for their children.
- Johnnie Calloway, Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri, Kansas City
Greater needs
I read that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson feel slighted with the amounts their states will receive in the federal stimulus package. (March 2, 3A, “Kelly and Parson say stimulus package formula shortchanges Kansas, Missouri”) The story cites the amounts that Kansas and Missouri will get compared with Hawaii, Nevada and California, which receive more because their unemployment rates are so much higher than those of Kansas and Missouri.
But shouldn’t states affected more by COVID-19 get more stimulus money? All three of these states lost huge amounts of tourism, which means jobs, compared with Kansas and Missouri.
I don’t see Hawaii complaining when federal funds go to Kansas after that state suffers from a tornado. Why should this be any different? They suffered more so they need more help.
Maybe Kelly and Parson should put on their big girl and big boy pants and quit whining.
- Lynne P. Clock, Kansas City
Hawley and history
Sen. Josh Hawley says that pointing out the racist white supremacist history of the United States means that we hate America. (March 1, 7A, “No, Josh Hawley: Fighting injustice is not hating the US”) He knows full well about the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which was how the state got admitted to the Union. It made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state in exchange for legislation that prohibited slavery north of the 36 degrees 30 minutes parallel. His home state was founded on slavery.
He tells lies (antifa — anybody actually seen antifa?) about who’s responsible for the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, which in fact Hawley egged on, as seen in his famous fist-salute photo. And that the presidential election was “stolen.” The guy is an unprincipled habitual right-wing lap dog. His bark is louder than his bite. His future is behind him. He will forever be branded as a subversive white bigot. He should resign for his actions and his proclivity for lying.
- Richard Adams, Kansas City
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss vaccine success, school choice and Josh Hawley’s US history."