Month: October 2021

Free Meals at schools mean a lot

Do the people in Louisa County know that ALL of our school children get free breakfast and free lunches, AND they have carry home food for the weekend? This is available to all students regardless of income. This same program was available over the summer. The schools provide students with free tee shirts also. All of this tells me a lot about the people we elect to the school board and the board of supervisors. I am especially grateful to our superintendent of schools who has made it possible.

So please be mindful when you vote to replace those individuals that are presently serving our county. It wasn’t so many years ago when these services were not offered.

Lewalta Haney
Louisa 

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Made possible by Governor Northam

During this pandemic, I think we have all realized how important having our schools and businesses open is to both the mental and fiscal health of our families and our community. We rely on the school system to not only educate our children, but also for child care.

We have two children in Louisa County Public Schools, run a small business out of our home, and work in a locally owned business in the town of Louisa. Last year was difficult both financially and mentally for our family. Since businesses and schools have opened we are all much happier and our income has quadrupled. This has been made possible by Governor Northam.

Thank you, governor, for taking a strong stand to combat the spread of Covid. If it weren’t for the mask and vaccination mandates, my children would not be in school, and our household would barely be able to make ends meet. Masks and vaccines make a huge difference in combating the spread of Covid. Northam is following the CDC recommendations; he is keeping our families safe and our economy open.

When I look at some of the states without mask mandates, and see many school districts closing as soon as they opened this fall as children became ill, I know that Virginia is doing the right thing. In each case, it has been the governor of the state who has made the difference. We have a choice in this election. We can continue these forward-thinking policies and keep our schools and businesses open by voting for Terry McAuliffe for governor, or we can return to the surging pandemic.

McAuliffe’s opponent, Glenn Youngkin, believes we should continue to mandate vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella. Why not for Covid? His position is contradictory and dangerous. Vaccine mandates work. Similar ones have been used frequently in our country’s history to combat the spread of disease.

We have the ability to protect our children and keep our economy open. Voting for Terry McAuliffe just makes sense.

Thank you,

Sara Macel 
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Education an important factor in Governor’s race

Both of our candidates for governor claim, in their campaign material, to support education. However, on closer look, you can quickly see different ways of “supporting education.”

According to his campaign materials, Glenn Youngkin wants to support education by “funding children, not buildings.” How does this support our public education system? It doesn’t. It takes money away from public schools.

Terry McAuliffe, on the other hand, wants to raise teacher pay and invest in our public schools. He would expand pre-K and make sure every student could get online. He includes expansion of STEM-H and computer science programs in his plans. To accomplish this, McAuliffe will support local school districts in connecting students with needed technology as well as providing necessary training and professional development to educators. His plan is to improve access to effective education for all of Virginia’s children.

You can see that one is supporting public education, and the other is supporting private schools.

Our public education system has been underfunded. Access to technology and the internet remains a barrier for many students. Teachers are underpaid. There are teachers who love their profession, but who cannot afford to continue teaching and support their families. We need to catch up in order to provide the best teachers and the kind of schools we need for our children.

Consider joining me in supporting education for Virginia’s students with a vote for Terry McAuliffe.

Ann Tourangeau
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

Another view of commitment

In the Sept. 23 issue of The Central Virginian, a letter writer asks what commitment means to you. This letter is in reference to the candidates in our upcoming local election. They claim that a candidate must profess their commitment to a national political party in order to demonstrate personal integrity. To me, integrity is shown by commitment to one’s personal values, not those of a group. Committing to a group may require an individual to take actions which do not align with their core beliefs and values.

The author is naively simplistic in describing individuals within each of the two major political parties. Is this person really unfamiliar with the concepts of moderate, conservative and progressive elements within each party? These various groups hold very different views on the issues at hand, and opinions often overlap on some level between different party members on numerous issues. Very few people are at the extreme end range of opinions, but rather hold complex, nuanced views. When people commit to a party above their own judgement, they put themselves at risk of becoming a pawn, and worse. This is not to say you shouldn’t affiliate with a political party if you so choose; just keep an open mind and use your own judgement to vote the way your heart and mind guide you.

The letter writer says that in order to select a candidate for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, one must know their national party affiliation. However, it is only in recent years that candidates in local races identified as Republican or Democrat. What does commitment to a national party mean for somebody who is running for a position in which they will be solving the specific problems of Louisa County? We need people who can work together unencumbered by the divisiveness we see on the national stage.

As citizens, we all have a responsibility to learn about the candidates and the issues, rather than abdicating our power to an organization that produces overly simplified and sometimes inaccurate sound bites. The more options and opinions that are presented to us, the better we can analyze and develop our understanding of the issues. The candidates are participating in forums; they have websites, and they have generally been very available to anyone who wants to know where they stand. Yes, it takes a little more work. However, informed citizens are what it takes to have good government.

Beth Croghan
Louisa 

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.