Letters to the Editor for March 2

Here are today’s Letters to the Editors…

Submitted by Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) of Levittown:

Decades Long Struggle for Voting Rights – What Washington can learn from the life and death of Philadelphia’s Octavius Catto

On New Year’s Day 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that “all persons held as slaves… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

With this sweeping action, the first Republican president cemented the ongoing Civil War as one over the self-evident truth that all men are created equal under the law and, in doing so, inspired a generation of civil rights leaders.

As we move on from Black History Month, we must at all times remember and honor the legacy of civil rights pioneers like Octavius V. Catto and recommit ourselves to the values and truths for which they struggled.

Catto, a Philadelphia educator and community leader, took up the cause of equal rights with fervor. Born a free black man in South Carolina, he moved his family north to Pennsylvania – a state that had abolished slavery following the Revolutionary War and was home to abolitionist ‘Radical Republicans’ like Rep. Thaddeus Stevens.

Working with the great Fredrick Douglas and others leading up to, and in the early years of the war, Catto advocated for abolition, equal rights for all citizens and helped form a recruitment committee to enlist Philadelphia’s black men for the Union army and the fight for emancipation.

In July of 1863, seven months after Lincoln’s proclamation, the Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania, and at Gettysburg reached the high-water mark of their northern offensive.  At word of the invasion and the governor’s call for volunteers, Catto sprung to raise a company of black volunteers to support the Union army. He once again joined Douglas and, along with the Philadelphia Union League, recruited hundreds of area men to serve in the United States Colored Troops.

Following the war, Catto worked tirelessly to advance the late President Lincoln’s goal of equality for all. His fight for the desegregation of city trolleys – one which saw him refuse to leave a trolley car after objections over his race – could be seen as a precursor to Rosa Parks’ famous civil disobedience on a Montgomery, Alabama bus nearly 100 years later. And in 1870, he would passionately advocate for the ratification of the 15th amendment expanding voting rights – the same year he was commissioned a Major in the 5^th Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard, the highest ranking Black officer in the army at the time.

On Election Day 1871, amidst racial mob violence, Catto was shot and killed on South Street near his own home while going to change into his uniform and muster his troops to help defend voters in his community from intimidation and violence. A martyr’s death for a man whose life was dedicated to the ideas of freedom and equality, regardless of skin color. He was just 32 years old.

While Catto’s death was a tragedy, his patriotic spirit and inspiring story continue to provide an example of a life well-lived and lessons that reach far beyond the City of Brotherly Love. Each year, Catto’s service and sacrifice is remembered with the presentation of the Major Octavius V. Catto Medal Award at the Union League recognizing soldiers and airmen of the Pennsylvania National Guard for “exemplifying professionalism, a sincere devotion to duty, volunteerism to the community, and for encouraging respect for individual diversity.”

Today, as a Congressman holding the same seat once held by Rep. Stevens and a member of the party of Lincoln, I am committed to advancing the cause of equality and promoting all efforts to increase access to the American dream for all – including that quintessential American act of voting.

In 1965, the landmark Voting Rights Act was signed into law, ensuring access to the ballot box for millions of Americans, in part, by requiring certain jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before amending their voting laws.

Now, nearly 50 years later our country, while not perfect, has changed. Citing this change, the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act which was based on decades old data. The Court declared the Congress must update the data and formula used to determine which jurisdictions require pre-clearance. In response, I joined a bipartisan group in Congress to introduce the Voting Rights Amendment Act [H.R. 885] which modernizes and strengthens the Voting Rights Act in a way that is constitutional and based on current conditions.

Protecting the right to free and fair elections is a fitting tribute to those African-American leaders who came before us, including the great American, Major Octavius V. Catto of Philadelphia.

 

Submitted by Neshaminy School Board member Ron Rudy of Middletown:

As a Neshaminy board member and part of the Ad-Hoc committee investigating consolidation options, I am compelled to respond to a recent editorial by a fellow board member outlining the board majority plans.

Their plan is a convoluted scheme that involves closing three elementary schools, moving the fifth graders to the middle schools and the construction of a 900 student facility at the Tawanka elementary site in Lower Southampton. The district also plans to carry out limited renovations on two elementary schools along with a middle school. This is to be accomplished with a $54 million bond. Supporters of this plan assure us a rosy scenario predicting a $1.9 million operating savings. Existing bonds will be refinanced enabling the district to borrow more money.

They state the financial benefits of their plan will help the district cope with looming additional pension obligations. All of this is to be accomplished without raising taxes. Unfortunately, when most things sound too good to be true, they usually are. The devil is in the details and this board routinely omits those that cast a negative light on their plan.

First and foremost, the recent opinion claims they’re presenting “educationally sound solutions”, yet they omitted their educationally bankrupt plan to move the 5th grade to the middle schools. Not mentioned is the closure of Everitt, a neighborhood school located in the heart of Levittown within walking distance of its student population.

Also troubling is the intended closure of Oliver Heckman Elementary, the only elementary school in Langhorne, an area of 800 elementary students and relocating these students to a new mega school in Feasterville. Heckman’s students which draw from as far as the Newtown Bypass would be bussed down dangerous Brownsville road to the Tawanka site. Joining these students would be students from Lower Southampton Elementary, another school being shuttered by this plan.

The $1.9 million operating savings claimed depend on a mega school that is expected to operate with one principal for over 800 students, the addition of one part time custodian to service double an area presently requiring 3 full and 2 part timers and with transportation cost yet to be determined.

Also omitted from their cost savings is the service of the $54 million bond they already approved. This will cost the taxpayers an additional $108 million over 23 years averaging $4.7 million annually to the budget, most of it the last 10 years, when our pension obligations will max out.

All three major components of their plans – the elimination of neighborhood schools, 5th graders in the middle schools, and a mega school – do not have the support of most educational experts or the overwhelming majority of the Neshaminy community.

Despite district claims, I can’t think of a more disruptive, educationally damaging, fiscally questionable scheme.

I have a different plan.

Despite the prior claims of underutilization in the elementary schools that has fueled the consolidation debate, the advent of full day kindergarden has produced a dramatic student spike. This spike has lowered the elementary underutilization number to only 138 students and actually is now projected to be slightly over-utilized by 2018. Beyond the disruption it would be foolish to consider closing any of our neighborhood elementary schools. The real surprise recently added to this debate has been the 1,344 empty seats discovered in the 3 middle schools that could be addressed by the closure of one of them as opposed to shuffling 5th graders into all 3 of them. This idea was rejected by the board citing their geographic locations in each of the district’s 3 regions yet they have no qualms shuttling 800 elementary students out of Langhorne.

A middle school closure would produce a similar savings to the boards consolidation plans while keeping the 5th graders in the neighborhood schools where they belong. The district could simply go forward with the same limited renovations to the three elementary schools slated to be closed. It has been determined that this will cost the district $20.2 million. This would bring a total cost to the district of $41 million as opposed to the district’s present $54 million plan. As stated, this would accomplish the same outcomes as the present plan at a lower cost and with far less disruption.

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