DV school policies

To the editor: I applaud the Pike County Courier’s reports on the issues surrounding recent graffiti incidents at the Delaware Valley Elementary School and how school officials did and continue to handle the situation. It is nice to know there is finally a Pike County newspaper which considers it newsworthy when police are called to a school and once notified investigates further. In addition, the Courier is allowing the public to use its’ pages as a forum for open dialogue by publishing “Letters to the Editor” which both agree and disagree with the schools response. The goal in writing my initial letter to the Courier and the other local paper, which neither printed it nor investigated further, was to do what the school failed to do, keep the lines of communication with parents open. As is evident in the recent letters published, there are differing views as to what children should know and when they should know it. In this case, I personally wouldn’t be comfortable telling a 9 year old to “look it up” and leave it at that. A definition in itself is not completely interpretive or lucid to a child. We cannot homogenize children and think because they are in the same school building they are all on the same physical or mental level. Until this year sixth grade was not in the elementary school building. It is ultimately the parents’ right to decide. I will close by reiterating my stance; It is time to remove the locks from the bathrooms. Access to restrooms is not a privilege but a fundamental human right. By limiting full access, according to leading health care professionals, they are putting children’s health at risk. If a child has an urgent need, they should not be required to search out someone with a key. The Web site http://www.nospank.net/frbw.htm gives an idea of the seriousness of this policy. Any pain caused a child in a deliberate way is a form of corporal punishment, illegal in Pennsylvania schools. It is amazing how we as adults can deny children the same rights we demand and often take for granted. But hey, they’re just kids, right? Brian Paulison Milford