Dear Editor,
A comment in your last publication from a reader that states the Vail School District should NOT respect parent’s wishes is both alarming and wrong. A parent’s rights/authority, over their children, does not stop at the threshold of the school building. It is within the rights of the parent to choose whether or not a medical intervention or medical device (i.e. mask) is placed on their child.
As a nurse, cannot force anyone to undertake a medical intervention, whether that is taking medication, having their temperature taken, applying a bandage, or wearing a mask, without their consent. It is against The American Nurses Association code of Ethics, as stated here:
Provision 1.4–The right to self-determination-Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights, particularly, the right of self-determination. Self-determination, also known as autonomy, is the philosophical basis for informed consent in health care. Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what will be done with their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed judgement; to be assisted with weighing the benefits, burdens and available options in their treatment, including the choice of no treatment; to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, duress, coercion, or penalty…
Each nurse has an obligation to be knowledgeable about the moral and legal rights of all patients to self-determination. The nurse preserves, protects and supports those interests by assessing the patient’s comprehension of both the information presented and the implications of decisions…
Furthermore, the public health measures do not “require” regulations to protect the health and well-being of our community. The public health measures are GUIDANCES and RECOMMENDATIONS.
Yes, children are “required” to have certain vaccines to enter school; parents also have the right to submit a personal exemption for the “required” vaccinations.
As a school nurse, I have witnessed the filthy conditions of these masks; and others want to “require” children to keep them on their faces all day! These filthy masks are equivalent to children wearing soiled underpants all day.
So Thank You Vail School District for giving parents the choice.
Tabitha McCarthy, BSN, RN
Dear Editor,
I thoroughly enjoy the Vail Voice and I think it’s important to have a paper that zeros in and highlights the community in which we live. I’m especially interested in the updates from the elected officials representing Ward Four and the Pima County District.
The Ward Four update from councilwoman Nikki Lee is generally informative, upbeat, and expounds the virtue of diversity. The district update from Supervisor Steve Christy generally sounds more like lecture on his dislike of the Tucson Mayor and The City Council. It’s divisive, mostly negative and hard to continually read because he sounds like he just has an axe to grind and a personal agenda to promote. It must be exhausting to be so angry at all of the time.
I would hope that the Supervisor interacts with the Mayor and the City Council on a more positive note, rather than his mocking, derisive tone, so that perhaps we will start to get his agenda enacted. I find that the more negative and combative he is, the less likely he (we) will be able to succeed.
Gerri Demsey
Dear Editor,
As we move toward finish of the Houghton I-10 exchange there has been a flurry of debate surrounding its design. This has prompted me to add an additional query as to who and how these public projects come to be in the particular fashion they are. For instance, who’s idea for the stupid little white pin wheels (or, are they spoors (fungus) of the next viral challenge) to be visited upon the citizenry of Vail ?
As you move through the metro Tucson area many of the exchanges show impressive approach to rendering these areas with something more than flat concrete walls. These applications speak not only of the creative soul of a city but in some instances lend a world passing by some insight as to the culture this region contains. So, what does the Vail area have to offer and excite that same world on the road ? Little pin wheels (that don’t even spin) or scary viral fungi attacking the under belly of the over pass. Did the folks in the DOT design Dept. run flat out of ideas, turn the lights out and go home. One is left to wonder. As an example, I would offer up that Vail has been designated as the “Prickly Pear Capital of the World”. This botanical of regional presence has much more to say about “here” than what Pin Wheels will ever express, and Vail deserves much better.
Royce Davenport
Dear Editor,
I’m wondering, and I don’t think, if having a parade and party on September 11th is a great idea. This is not a date for celebration of any kind. It’s a somber and reflective date in American history, one that should never be forgotten and certainly not celebrated but revered. We don’t treat December 7th 1941 this way, and shouldn’t glorify an absolute catastrophe in American policy and underestimation of our enemy in this fashion. It’s disrespectful to anyone who lost a loved one on that horrible day, and shows a lack of knowledge and empathy to the victims who still survive. In my opinion, bad taste.
Bob Otstot
Dear Editor,
The 20-year anniversary of the single most horrific attack on our homeland known as 9/11 just recently took place. It is a day of solemn remembrance of the near 3000 innocent Americans murdered that day and the additional lives lost by the heroic rescuers who selflessly put their own lives in great danger to save others. Plus, let’s not forget the thousands of families whose loved one never came home. That day has now become sacred for our country (and it should be sacred) as people all over gather together or privately, to honor the fallen victims of that terror attack.
But, this past 9/11 date was celebrated here in Vail, AZ with a Prickly Pear Jamboree to make money for the Vail Preservation Society. Since they could not have a parade on the 4th of July, they decided to attach this money-maker event to a very solemn day of remembrance for our country. I don’t deny the Vail Preservation Society the right to hold money making events but nothing of this type of festive celebrating should be attached to that sorrowful day. Yes, they did acknowledge the 9/11 event but the point is the two very different types of events should never be joined.
I believe people who witnessed or even heard of this event knew in their hearts it did not go together. Did they really need to cheapen 9/11 with food trucks, kiddie splash zones, and parades? Do we do the same when we commemorate anniversaries of the Pearl Harbor attack? They could have picked any other day for the jamboree. The solemnity of a 9/11 observance should be kept separate from any other joyous event.
Kevin J Turner, Major, USAF (Ret)
Dear Editor,
I’m voting for my daughter.
As many have heard and seen by now, our school district is seeking the community’s YES vote on proposition 487. A YES vote would mean the re-authorization of an override that our district has successfully benefited from, for nearly three decades. While I could spend time writing that my vote is for myself, and the 100+ fellow teachers, whose jobs are funded by said override, it really isn’t.
Yes, the override helps keep my elementary class size at 24, instead of 31 or 44 (my experience in a previous district). Yes, the override means that my students get to go to Art, PE, STEM, Computers, or Music classes, something that didn’t happen during my time in another Tucson district. Yes, the override means that Vail can retain quality teachers, who I am proud to call my colleagues.
Most importantly though, when I vote on the override, I’m voting for my daughter. She’s currently two years old, and will enter the Vail School District as a kindergartner in 2024. If you’re wondering why that matters for an override this November, it’s because without the override, in three years, the funding for all of the things that I enjoy as an educator in Vail, are not a guarantee for my someday kinder kiddo.
I want my daughter to have all of the benefits and supports that current Vail students have. I want her to get a smaller class size, so that she gets more focused attention and can build a solid relationship with her classroom teacher. I want her to have opportunities for creativity and technology outside of her classroom.
However, if Proposition 487 doesn’t pass, then each year over the next three, the override is phased out by one third. Meaning, my daughter will be entering Vail with the first cohort of students in 30 plus years without the override supporting her education, and keeping Vail schools strong. There are plenty of reasons to vote YES on 487. The fact that it means no tax increase, and that educators in Vail get to keep reaping the benefits of the community’s support, are, in my opinion, no-brainers, as a teacher. However, it’s my daughter’s future that makes this override, in my heart, as a mother, invaluable.
Shannon Jelle
