Letter to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Friday, October 26, 2012

Thanks for help at Apple Festival

Letter to the Editor:

As the Bloomfield Apple Festival closes the books on 2012 and starts planning on the 2013 Apple Festival, we would like to thank the Greene County community, businesses and citizens for all that they did to assist us in having a successful 2012 Apple Festival. Our committee is small but when the time comes the whole county pulls together to put on this festival. We would like to thank the following sponsors

Sponsors: UDWI REMC; Haywood Printing Company; CSR Computers, Bloomfield State Bank; Lester Jenkins & Sons Funeral Homes; Holtsclaw Sales & Service, Inc.; Family Life Center; Subway; QT's Custom Active Wear; Hasler Oil Company; Greene County General Hospital; LeGrand Art Studio & Gallery; Linton Wal-Mart; Michael Williams, CPA; Sam's Club; Mister Buck's Genuinely Good Pet Food Company; YER Studio; Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce

We would also like to thank the following groups and individuals that helped with the festival: Murray Thompson, Erin Raper, Heidi Seymour, Bloomfield School District, Bloomfield High School NJROTC, Bloomfield High School Band, Bloomfield High School Center Stage, Bloomfield Athletic Department, Joe's Pizza, Friends of the Library (Annual Art Show), Hi-99 Waking Crew, Linton Music Festival/Jared Albright, Landon Groomer, Adam Hacker, Bloomfield Town Council, Bloomfield Street Department, Bloomfield Police Department and Reserves, Greene County Sheriff's Department Reserves, Francis Jewelry Box, Bloomfield Fire Department, Greene County Daily World, Brian Chesnut, John Chesnut, Darla Bent(Apple Baking Contest), Ben Helms/FFA, Delts (Queen Contest), Eastern Star (Baby Contest, Susan Isenogle (Pet Contest), Debbie Cullison (Pet Contest), Wabash Valley (Carlisle) Correctional Center, Hi-Lift Jack Factory, Shuttle Drivers, B&C Disposal, Ivan Sparks, O'Neall Family, Classic Cruisers, Keith Hanauer (Run/Walk), Provo, Greene County Ambulance Service EMT's and Paramedics, Rotary Club, Advantex/Joe Galuoppo, Duke Energy, Steve Campbell, Spirit 95 (95.1 FM), Doug Frye, Marci Frye, Teressa Hitchcock, Resa Woodruff, Karen Abram, Angie Terrell, Sierra New, Tina Chipman, Russ Chipman, Mike McIntosh, Kyle Von Alman, Brennan Hughes, Andrew Templeton, Felicity Graf, Madison Burton, Harlee Sullivan, Haley DeVito, Brandon Thompson, Daelyn Arthur

Thank you!

Bloomfield Apple Festival Board of Directors

Kris Jarman

Teressa Smith

Darla Chesnut

Judy Branstetter

Amber Branstetter

Ginger Sipes

Dan Sichting

Jeff Solliday

Bob Uland

Wyatt LeGrand

George Poe

Supports Sparks

To the Editor:

I am a mother of four children and I am worried about the future of public schools. My 18 year-old recently graduated and is now in the Honors College of IU.

When he was in third grade, he did hands-on science projects studying the water cycle and went on a field trip to learn more. He wrote and illustrated stories and had an Author's Event to share them with the younger children. He played pretend at recesses.

My 8 year-old is having a dramatically different experience. Every day he comes home with a worksheet on which is an example of a test question that he is practicing. Punctuation, fill in the bubble, comprehension of a paragraph -- these are symbolic of the focus of his classroom time. He is assessed constantly. His teacher's job is on the line. As a third grader, he will take another test to see if he is reading well, and if not, he will flunk third grade. It doesn't matter if his teacher knows that perhaps he was not feeling well that day or didn't understand the questions, she will have no choice.

Why have we come to this? Why have we lost local control of our schools?

In the name of "choice," our legislators, governor and state superintendent have taken it away. Simplifying all learning and labeling schools "failures" using standardized test scores goes against educational research, but sure helps the private companies and for-profit charters awaiting state takeover of those schools.

Because the teacher's job and the school's future are tied directly to children's scores, the test becomes the bottom line. There is no time for our kids to find their passions and follow their interests. Our teaching professionals are being told what and how to teach by the state. We spend $46 million a year on testing in Indiana. That money could go to hiring more teachers, programs and services for kids. These special interests are buying our politicians in order to privatize and profit from our schools.

We need representatives who will represent their districts, not blindly follow a party line backed by big money and their interests. Our children are the citizens of tomorrow and they have a constitutional right to a high quality public education. Jeff Sparks will protect your children's future. He is an educator who wants local communities to have local control. Vote for Jeff Sparks.

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer

Bloomington