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Racism Charges 'Insults'
Farmington School Dissenters
I was insulted by the slanderous charges
Pamela Buck-Christian made in her
letter of support for Farmington Public
Schools candidate Howard Wallach
("Wallach Has Shown Great Integrity At
FPS," Sept. 29, page 61).
How dare she blast as "racist" all
those — black and white, young and
old, Jewish and Gentile — with legiti-
mate concerns to the backroom sale
of Eagle Elementary to the Islamic
Cultural Association (ICA)? The
Observer newspaper reports the Eagle
deal has "drawn much objection from
community members."
In fact, at a recent candidates' forum,
Angie Smith, the former president of
the local PTA Council who is chal-
lenging Wallach, scoffed at the "racist"
charge as preposterous. A black woman
herself, Ms. Smith objects to the dis-
trict's underhanded sale of Eagle.
Had Ms. Christian, a resident of
North Carolina, been at the school
board meeting, she would've known
that more than 200 concerned residents
(many of them senior citizens) were
forced to wait over three hours, packed
into a suffocatingly hot lobby, for public
comment, and then, half were denied
entry into the board room.
Had she been truly interested, Ms.
Christian would know that by the dis-
trict's own admission, it was "inundat-
ed" with calls from prospective buyers,
but only pursued the ICA bid, telling
other parties Eagle wasn't for sale.
This is a sorry attempt to deflect
attention away from the district's
improprieties, its lack of transparency
and forthrightness (telling the pub-
lic Eagle would be demolished while
secretly dealing with the ICA), its fail-
ure to be guided by sound real estate
practices, and its outright contempt for
taxpayers that foot its bill.
It's time to vote out incumbents Wallach
and Karen Bolsen who, instead of villify-
ing citizens, should open up the entire
record of the Eagle transaction to the
public. Vote for Professor Irving Ginsberg,
Angie Smith and Dr. Murray Kahn to
bring integrity and transparency to FPS.
Philip Mintz
Farmington Hills
Farmington School Board
Did Not Act `Trustworthy'
Just as the FPS Board did at the June
14 public meeting where it never
addressed the legitimate questions
about the procedure used to make the
sale, Pamela Buck-Christian falsely and
despicably labeled questioners as bigots.
The board, presided over by "trust-
worthy" (Christian's words) Howard
Wallach, viciously harangued questioners
rather than answer a single question. The
board, presided over by "trustworthy"
Howard Wallach, never answered why it
negotiated in secret for about six months
with a single party to the exclusion of
all others. The board, presided over by
"trustworthy" Howard Wallach, did not
answer why the sale of Eagle was never
advertised nor publicly disclosed until
after the deal with the Islamic Cultural
Center was done.
The board, presided over by "trustwor-
thy" Howard Wallach, did not answer why
it told interested buyers the school was
being demolished and not for sale (well
documented in board minutes and letters
from developers and real estate agents).
The board, presided over by "trustwor-
thy" Howard Wallach, ordered the crowd,
some using walkers and in wheelchairs,
to wait for almost three hours in a sti-
fling, packed lobby. The board, presided
over by "trustworthy" Howard Wallach,
without provocation, called police, who
shook their heads in disbelief, to guard
against elderly attendees.
Apparently Pamela Buck-Christian was
not at that meeting, so I will send her a
video of it if she wishes. Unfortunately,
I was not able to find her address in
Farmington or Farmington Hills. Could
she be the former board member pres-
ently living in North Carolina?
Irving W. Ginsberg, Ph.D.
Candidate for FPS Board
Farmington Hills
Retain Farmington School's
'Calm Voice Of Reason'
It has been a very rough time to be a
teacher. Everyone from Fox News to
local politicians want to blame us for all
that is wrong with the world. But I don't
understand why I am the enemy?
I put myself through college to earn a
bachelor's degree. I worked on my mas-
ter's degree while my kids were young. I
worked full time, went to school at night
and paid for it out of my own pocket
I had nothing to do with the Wall
Street scandals or the housing bubble,
and my house is now worth half of what
I paid for it; but I still pay the mortgage,
without short sales, foreclosures or
sticking it to the banks and taxpayers.
Is it because I used everything that
I learned to have made my students'
learning process natural and fun and
exciting to the point where the public
believes teaching is easy? Is it because I
treated my students as individuals and
managed to challenge those who read
on a 12th-grade level while differentiat-
ing for kids who read at a second-grade
level, all at the same time.
I retired this past year and am paying
for my health care out of my retirement
pension. And now the state of Michigan
wants to tax this money. While I'm not
happy about this, I will do my part.
But I'm still the enemy. And now
included on this "enemy list" are our
school board members. There is an ele-
ment in our community that claims we
have failing schools and inept teachers,
administrators and those on the board
who manage our district. As I watch the
board meetings on TV-10 and attend
the informative "meet the candidate"
nights, I see some faces that are vaguely
familiar ... faces that tried a while back
to discredit the district and the excellent
job that its staff and supporters accom-
plish. And yet again school monies are
being wasted on appeals to further the
"new cause" of this group.
Throughout all of this, the one con-
stant, calm voice of reason and integrity
has been Howard Wallach. I hope the
Farmington community will join me in
returning him for another term on the
Farmington Public School Board.
Kathleen Seremet
On behalf of the men,
women and children
with disabilities we
serve...
Thank-
You
to the thousands of
generous supporters
Farmington Hills
of JARC's 31st Annual
Plaintiff In FPS Lawsuit
Says, 'Reopen Bidding'
Numerous letters to the editor and Op-Eds
on the Eagle Elementary School sale imply
that those challenging the Farmington
Public School Board are bigots, or worse.
As a plaintiff in the lawsuit, it's abun-
dantly clear that the board has purpose-
fully hidden their unethical, and very well
illegal acts from the public and tries to
legitimize them by hurling the charges
of bigotry and racism at us. Our goal is
simply to right a wrong perpetrated on the
community by the FPS Board by not fol-
lowing its own rules in the sale of Eagle.
One of those interested in the property
was listed in the December FPS Board
meeting minutes as a "parochial school
in Toledo:' That parochial school was
the Jewish yeshivah that subsequently
purchased the B'nai Israel Synagogue
in summer of 2010 from Shaarey Zedek
synagogue for more than a $ lmillion,
consistent with the current sale price of
Eagle Elementary while having about
half of Eagle's acreage.
The school district sent away all poten-
tial buyers, telling them the schools were
not for sale, thus there were no offers!
Now we know that was not the case, and
one interested purchaser was given pref-
erential treatment by the district.
The lawsuit regarding Eagle
Elementary does not request a single
dollar. All we are asking is that the dis-
trict and the board reopen the bidding
process on Eagle, handle it in a robust
and open manner that is consistent with
board bylaws, best practices, and accept-
ing the best proposal. The current pur-
chaser could still be the winner.
Fall Fundraiser RAIN:
Eugene Greenstein
A Tribute to The Beatles.
Now more than ever,
your support helps
JARC remain strong,
turning the cherished
dreams of families and
those we serve into
realities. Together, we
are a remarkable and
unbeatable team!
A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
A- cp.i,a1 thank.. Iry to
Janis and Larry
Shulman Matching
Challenge Gift for their
generous support
Marc
wwwja rc.o rg
Farmington Hills
October 20 s 2011
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