Secrets, discrimination and irresponsibility

Delaware Valley school board member John Kupillas’ letter in last week’s Courier was a frightening attack on our community and, in particular, its young people. In his letter, Kupillas said the brain of a young adult is too undeveloped to connect with the community, make decisions and think rationally. Maybe he is on to something in calling my brain undeveloped, because I sure can’t figure out why he wrote what he did. I also can’t figure out how the taxpayers are well served by private discussion about the new board member and an unofficial vote that happened at an unadvertised meeting. Is this the democracy that “Taxpayers United” and all of us promote? I can’t figure out how my fresh, graduate’s perspective and unwavering dedication to our schools would do anything but help Kupillas and fellow board members - and the entire community. I can’t figure out how the community will be well served by the appointment of Bernard Marasa, a man who has no experience in education (including no college), who has not been tested by the electorate and who has lived in the district for only four years. Let me make it clear: I believe Marasa is a good person. I posted a quote about him being well respected in our community on my blog at rbfordv.blogspot.com. What’s wrong here is the ridiculous secretive process. What’s wrong here is the preposterous age discrimination from Kupillas. What’s wrong here is the irresponsibility of favoring a candidate who has never been to a board meeting, as far as we know, and simply is in board president Bob Goldsack’s smear club. I agree with Kupillas on this: The school board is not a game. So when six overqualified candidates are ready to sit on the board, my undeveloped brain fails to understand why these silly political “games” are more important than 6,000 students’ education. Ryan Balton Milford