Letter to the editor of the Prince George's Journal, published 28 Feb 2001

You begin your Feb. 23 editorial with the statement: "Our school board is not performing at the level county parents want - there's no argument from us about that."

I disagree! I would argue that the school board IS performing at the level voters want. As you point out later in your editorial, the board "includes a recently re-elected majority." I might add that even the most criticized member was re-elected by a substantial majority.

If the voters were really as unhappy as the press and a few politicians would make us believe, they would have replaced half of the current board in the last election - but they didn't. If the noisy activists, including Del. Rushern Baker, D-22B-Cheverly, were really interested in improving the board and the schools, why didn't they find and endorse a reform slate of better candidates?

Personally, I have virtually no respect for the current board, but I see no reason whatever to believe that replacements appointed through political patronage would be any better. I strongly believe that the real solution must come from within the county.

No state-imposed officials can solve the problems we have. Schools will improve when, and only when, the majority of parents and voters get fed up and elect effective, competent school board members who care about education and can earn the respect of both voters and the school bureaucracy. That may be difficult - democracy is often difficult - but it sure beats the autocratic alternatives proposed by Dels. Baker and James Hubbard, D-23rd-Bowie.

JOHN M. SCROGGINS

Suitland