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Don’t let parents decide on school safety issue

How dare officials leave school attendance up to parents! Either the threats have been neutralized or deemed unfounded, or they have not. I can’t imagine the horror of one parent sending a child to school and something happening, while another keeps their child home. The responsibility of school security and attendance must be determined by the authorities who have the most information, and not placed back on parents. The wishy-washy approach to attendance exudes a lack of confidence in the decision to reopen the schools. —Dee Armstrong, Bigfork

Disappointed in story about coach quitting — and reactions

I am appalled at how biased the article was written about the resignation of Whitefish High School Volleyball Coach Jackie Fuller. Without investigating all of the facts, David Lesnick’s article portrays the senior players as “losers,” and “snowflakes” with “helicopter parents” as evidenced in the cyber-bullying comments that ensued.

Shame on those adults who commented without knowing the whole truth, assuming these students are “snowflakes” with “too many participation awards” playing “daddyball.” I know these students, and their parents. They are far from what has been described. The parents are professionals, combat veterans, and contributing citizens of our community. The teenagers are hard-working, honor students, athletes, volunteers and leaders. They have experienced abuse at the hands of a coach who loved on them one minute, and then “fat-shamed” them the next, as just one minuscule example of her behavior over the last year.

As complaints grew from the young ladies who stayed, and from 13 other players who chose not to return to the team this season because of the abuse, parents met with Jackie last year to work it out. The athletic director was notified and yet there was never an audit of the closed practices. Jackie Fuller quit. Those players didn’t. They tried to work it out. She chose to leave. She’s the adult. Her comments are immature and petty and reveal her to be exactly what the students had issue with.

To blame her resignation on three seniors, who had the courage to stand up for the team against her abuse, is shameful. For the reporter who wrote this article, I see how “fake news” is such a headliner these days. Biased reporting with abhorrent “hide-behind-the-keyboard” commentary from clueless cyber-bullies who don’t know all of the facts. Same story we are seeing throughout America. DIL, be fair. —Susan Riopel, Whitefish

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Inter Lake story about Jackie Fuller resigning did not use any of the terms quoted in the preceding letter. They were all comments posted on the story by readers. The reporter asked Fuller why she resigned, and she said, “Three individuals (seniors) who did not like my coaching style wanted me to compromise with them, the team and everybody else I guess. They wanted me to be kinder, wanted me not to yell so much, talk to them one-on-one after they messed up instead of in front of the whole team. They wanted me to change as a coach, leader and a person and I can’t do that.” That is not biased reporting or “fake news.” Those were the coach’s exact words explaining why she resigned.)

Letters on coach quitting were worlds apart

Your two letters printed under the title “Both sides of the Net” on page C9 of the Sept. 3 Daily Inter Lake made me wonder if you expected us readers to pick a winner.

Without weighing in on the issues of the volleyball coach’s resignation, I can easily say that the letter from Mr. Catina was far superior. While voicing his opinions, he stuck to the facts, was supportive of the students, and applauded the school administrators.

Mr. Garvey, on the other hand, used sarcasm, name-calling, mimicking, profanity, and threats (“the janitor’s closet” — really?) to try to make his point. Is this the kind of “reality” we want to teach our young folks? Perhaps if we would teach (by example) to be more concerned about the feelings of others, our world would be a much more positive and productive place, and we wouldn’t worry about our own “hurt feelings.” That’s the kind of upbringing I would want for my children and grandchildren. —Don Beller, Kalispell

Schools should not take over for parents

Are we a conservative community? You would probably doubt it when the school board debated transgender bathrooms last year.

Yesterday I was “directed” to sign an after-school form by my eighth-grader. I was shocked to see this wording: “I, the undersigned (as the parent or guardian of the participant, a minor), hereby authorize the staff of the 21st Century After School Program volunteers, coaches, trainer, supervisors, instructors and drivers as my agents, to consent to medical, surgical or dental examinations and/or treatment.”

While I would like to think that the school wouldn’t send my child with a driver to an abortion clinic for an abortion or to a clinic for vaccines I might disapprove of, there is nothing in that consent that would prohibit it. This kind of blanket consent is completely unnecessary, and it is beyond reprehensible that a teacher would suggest that it must be signed. In our case, I threw out the first one, only to get a second one. Only after I personally visited the office did the school assure me that this particular consent was voluntary and would not affect any normal after-school activities like sports.

How many parents have already signed that form? Exactly what is the 21st Century After School Program anyways? Is it related to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers run by the U.S. Department of Education? Why doesn’t the school website make any mention of it? Why didn’t school administrators remove that language long before the final version of that form was printed? Do other forms have similar language embedded in them?

Yes, parents are responsible for their children, but our communities and schools shouldn’t be placing landmines and booby traps along the path as we raise them. —Robert Welzel, Kalispell

Reduced-cost lunch is lesson in ‘Entitlement 101’

After reading about the new school year of our Flathead Valley schools I noticed most of the schools give low-cost breakfast and lunch to the children of low-income families. 30 cents and 40 cents and even some schools free meals.

Call it “Entitlement 101.” The kids are learning at a very young age. Whatever happened to breakfast at home and brown bagging? —Felix Dupuy, Whitefish

More support for volleyball players

Letter writer Jim Garvey should have checked the facts before saying that Whitefish High School team captains for volleyball were snowflakes. They acted maturely and it is appreciated. —Rayne Beach, Whitefish