Dear Editor,
I would like to express my Kudos to your paper for the integrity that you displayed in the November issue of your paper. I had submitted a negative review about an article from the Rabbi’s Corner of the October issue that spelled God with a hyphen in place of the “o”. I interpreted this as disrespect to God, whereas I later learned that it is spelled that way in reverence to Him. I sincerely apologize for my mistake, and am very impressed that you printed such an unflattering review of your paper. It is obvious that you do not cherry pick the letters included in your paper, and for that you deserve much credit. I don’t believe other papers would have published it.
Ernest Fox
Dear Editor,
What brought me to school board meetings was wanting to get kids back in school instead of remote learning and inconsistent covid mitigation measures. After attending meetings and reading public documents, I learned Vail received covid relief grants, ESSER and PLUS UP. Grant money has strings, in this case, implementation of concepts and language new to most of us: Social Emotional Learning, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and gender theory.
SEL and DEI are often used synonymously with Critical Race Theory in school settings because they’re familiar and nonthreatening to parents and educators. Without understanding the “new” definitions, educators and parents can easily draw the conclusion: “there is nothing to see here.”
Some teachers at VUSD high schools require students to indicate gender on name tags, documents, classroom surveys.
A middle school displays a flag symbolizing bisexuality. A classroom has a “nonapologetic queer” poster unapologetically displayed.
When some teachers email students, they include pronouns with their signature, normalizing this practice.
Students can now use any bathroom/locker room regardless of gender, an obviously risky practice.
A teacher requested students refer to her not as Ms., Mrs., or Mr., preferred term is “Mx.” preferred pronouns are them/they. How are students to make sense of this? They have been taught there are plural and singular pronouns. Language has meaning! Students are being told to ignore this important distinction.
High Schools have clubs: Genders & Sexuality Alliance or Diversity Alliance.
Students are encouraged to become transgender “allies.” Don’t we want students who “are respectful” and “care about each other”?
A purchased online subscription for all grades and subjects includes the topic, Black Lives Matter. Kindergarten through third grades focus on ‘activism’. Kindergarten activists?
A parent questioned an inappropriate sex education curriculum which was found to be unapproved. The curriculum was removed after several weeks of instruction.
Many VUSD teachers are alarmed at sexuality and race being slipped into curriculum and activities.
Funded by millions in Covid money, this trend is a push involving our children without parental notice. Teachers use Vail’s Beyond Textbooks lessons prepared by Arizona teachers and partner states. Online subscriptions are used regularly. Parents cannot preview materials.
I requested a curriculum audit to evaluate lessons for evidence of SEL, CRT, and gender theory. Parents, please be aware, ask questions, support an audit. If this is the direction of VUSD, we should know so we can make important education choices for our children.
Peggy Gibson
Dear Editor,
One of the nice things about the Vail Voice used to be the column that featured the new construction going on in the area. The new buildings and businesses were an interesting read. The past few issues that column seems to be missing. Certainly makes the Vail Voice less interesting.
Dave Dzurick, DM
Dear Editor,
After reading Frank Hannibal’s letter in your publication, I wanted to also encourage the same informed decision making about vaccinating for covid. His article went into much detail. The sad part is that if you Google the doctor he quotes, Peter McCullough, it says it all. This doctor has been on fox news and his statements have been labelled as false and misleading by Reuters fact check team. This is the second misleading covid article I have read in the Vail voice.
As a resident of this community and one who spent 17 days on a ventilator with covid, I would hope we all would care more about each other than to continue to spread misinformation.
Connie Amspaugh
