The Independent-News, Volume 115, Number 47, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 19 April 1990 — Page 4

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- THE INDEPENDENT-NEWS - APRIL It, IWO

| EDITORIALS j

AN IMPORTANT ELECTION On Tuesday, May 8, an important election will be held with the primary for people of our area. The John Glenn School Corporation Board of Trustees has three seats open and all are contested. Selecting good school board members is always important, but this year might just mean a little more as the school corporation is soon to be heading into another building and expanding program. On Wednesday, April 25, at 7:00 p.m., at the John Glenn High School auditorium, the John Glenn Teachers Association and the Walkerton Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a “Meet The Candidates Night”. With all three seats contested, this will be a good chance for voters to meet the candidates they don’t know and get the views of all of them for their plans for the future. In Polk Township, incumbent Nilas Miller is being opposed by Gloria Winger and Terry Shepherd. In Liberty Township, incumbent Pam Craft is being opposed by Daniel Patrick, and in Lincoln Township Bill Millar, the incumbent, is being opposed by Harold “Gene” Knowlton. With recent happenings, it is feared this may turn mto an election of sentiment over one issue. The Richard Kickbush issue is being pursued by Mr. Kickbush through legal channels and this should not be a major factor in the school board election. The board did not vote against an individual in this case, they voted to uphold school policy concerning corporal punishment. That has long been lost in the sentimental shuffle of the event. The most important matter has to be the coming expansion program. The Board is committed to leaving an elementary school in both Walkerton and North Liberty, but other alternatives than just going out and building a new middle school at a price tag of $8.5 million and up, needs to be pursued. Plan now to vote on May Bth, and if you don’t know the candidates and what they stand for, next Wednesday evening will be one chance to get some sort of an idea.

LETHRS [Oil Oft J ■ 1 ——- ——— ' 1

“A Nice Place T« Live?’’ As a long time member of this community, I can’t believe the way this town, that claims to be a nice place to live, has treated a new family in our town. They came here from Utah and settled in this Nice Place to Live because they believed that phrase and wanted such a place to raise their family. When they arrived here they went around to neighbors and introduced themselves and since

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then they have been more than friends to a lot of us. They’ve been more hospitable than most people I've known most of my life. Sue took on a job that most people in the community didn’t wnat to get involved in and brought lots of activities to our school which benefited all our children. Many long and caring hours were spent at this job, taking away from her own family. Now because of events in our school corporation, this family has been threatened, harassed and ridiculed. This doesn’t sound like “A nice place to live” to me; it sounds like a nightmare.

The problems here were not caused by this family. Wake up. Walkerton, these problems are not new ones. It’s been going on for many years. Twenty years ago there was a teacher in our schools who loved to humiliate, degrade and embarrass students in front of the whole class, making them feel an inch tall. Thank goodness he’s choosen another profession. Another teacher wasn’t even a teacher. he was a storyteller. He spent the whole class time telling his life story, unfortunately, he’s still in our system and my children have to have him. Several others liked to intimidate students with their yelling and mean temperment. There’s always the teachers who never wants to help students who are having trouble, instead they are made to feel stupid. We don’t all learn at the same speed. 1 also saw some student pushed into lockers. These aren't good conditions for anyone to learn in and should not be left to go on for so many years. If "Walkerton A Nice Place to Live” treats newcomers this way. I'm sure I wouldn't want to reccomend that anyone come here to live and I'm not sure I like the idea of my children growing up under these conditions and trying to get a good education. A Parent “In Response” "In one hour, six people took away 33 years of his life. One lousy hour and his whole life was changed." A quote from Michelle Mlekodaj concerning Richard Kickbush. Do you think a slap in the face or being man-handled and verbally abused doesn’t change a child's life? Think about it. This is one person, who in less than five seconds (enough time for a slap) changed the lives of three children this year. How many lives have been changed over the last 33 years by this man? Look at the numbers. If this had been a “sports” event, what would the score be? Who are the losers? Wake up people. This is not a popularity contest. This is your children’s future. Richard Kickbush "a man with friends who love and respect him,” does not make Richard Kickbush, a teacher with the ability to deal with children's behavior on a daily basis. Walkerton Resident To all registered voters in Polk. Lincoln. Johnson and Liberty Townships, Walkerton. Tyner and North Liberty. We, in the John Glenn School Corporation area have a really fine school system. We are no longer considered a back-woods little school but one that is highly respected in our area both by the smaller schools and the city schools as well. Our art department, music department, sports programs and academic programs are exceptional in their scope. So much so that new families in adjoinging townships want to build homes in our area so that their children may attend our schools. This did not happen overnight or in a month or even a year. It has been a long time in coming. A lot of good decisions have been made down through the last 10 years which has enabled us to grow into such an outstanding establishment. These decisions were made by intelligent and caring school board members, superintendents and principals and were carried out by our staff of teachers, some of whom are the finest in the state. Now comes the decision to fire a respected teacher in our community. Whether the decision was right or wrong, it was only one decision out of many that the school board was forced to make. I am not making light of this decision because it greatly effects many lives, especially that of Mr. Kick-

bush and his family. I am just reminding you that it was one unpopular decision out of many good ones that have been made in the past by this and previous other school boards. Three members of the board will be running for re-election. All three have served at least four years, helping to make decisions that has enabled our school to grow. On election day, I would not presume to tell you to vote for all three board members just as I would not presume to tell you to vote for all three persons opposing them. I would just suggest that you consider each member individually on his or her own merit. Consider what each has contributed to our system and community and vote each "in" or "out" as an individual and not as a body of three because of one unpopular decision. 1 urge you to go to the polls and vote, but would it be wise to replace ail three experienced board members at one time? A Concerned Citizen Joan Schmeltz I want to have my say about the Kickbush incident. I have been appalled and deeply saddened by some of the letters appearing in this paper. One “WE parent” wTites that in his-her opinion Mr. Kickbush should be fired for making a remark to her daughter that boys can do things better than girls. Come On!? The remark may have been taken out of context. On the other hand, there definitely are some things boys can do better than girls just as there are some things girls can do better than boys. 1 hardly would say that this is justification for firing someone. No wonder the person did not sigh their name. Another person writes to say it is disgusting for cans to be put out in support of Dick Kickbush because "after all. he was a teacher for 34 years and has a business in town as well.” The money being collected is not going into their pockets. It is going into a fund to be used for legal fees which may be used by other teachers in the future. As for the business, anyone owning a business can tell you that for nearly the first ten years any profit made goes right back into the business, to get it established as start-up costs and overhead are so high. A second income is nearly always needed during that time for living expenses alone. It may be as long as fifteen years before a business begins to show a healthy profit. Most probably Mr. Kickbush's teaching salary was helping to support the business which 1 understand is for his son anyway. The cans are entirely appropriate since he now has no means of income. 1 I don’t understand where this "vigilante” mentality is coming from. Don’t you people realize what is going on here? This is no longer an issue over one teacher being fired. It is much more farreaching than that. It is affecting our whole school system. It is a question of l.)Was the matter handled fairly and 2.) Can this incident be repeated with other teachers if allowed to go unchallenged. The answer to the first question is "No” it was not handled fairly. Mr. Kickbush was reprimanded for the first incident which is as it should be. The 2nd and 3rd incidents which his dismissal was based on. don’t even qualify as "incidents.” The 2nd was a child receiveing a "red arm” from Mr. Kickbush escorting him to the office. The 3rd incident was Mr. Kickbush re-inserting the child’s tongue into his mouth. This child’s father testified for Mr. Kickbush at the public hearing and said the child demonstrated to him what Mr. Kickbush did and it was exactly as Mr. Kickbush had stated. Contrary to what "WES Parent” stated in his/her letter, Mr. Kickbush did offer several alternative proposals which includ-

ed the willingness to attend different courses and/or counseling sessions all the way to placing a written resignation on file undated or suspension with or without pay until the end of the year. All proposals were rejected by Mr. Harvey. We’re not even sure if these proposals were shown to the board at that time to consider. This punishment just simply does no fit the crime. A much more appropriate action would have been to transfer him to some other position in the school system where he did not have direct supervision over young children. How can the many years of fine service be overlooked. He did a tremendous job as our athletic director, which I understand he was replaced by two people in that position. Surely, there could have been some other spot he could have served in until retirement. Whether you like Mr. Kickbush or not is not the issue. You must be able to say without a doubt that what was done to him would be fair treatment for any teacher regardless of who it is, if you uphold the school board's decision. If you do not feel that this is fair treatment for any teacher, then you must speak out and challenge their action or the answer to the 2nd question will be “Yes” this could very well happen again. Over the last decade or so our small school has developed into one that we can be proud of. Our children have made great strides in scholastics, sports, the band program. our arts department, the Spell Bowl team. The Aerial just to name a few. Who do you think we have to thank for this? —OUR TEACHERS — many of whom can just abaout write their own tickets. And that's just what will happen if we don't turn this thing around. We are already losing one who has resigned to take a teaching position at Plymouth. I'm afraid this is just the beginning. If we don’t speak out and take a stand now against what Lightfoot. Harvey, and the School Board has done our school system will deteriorate rapidly and who's going to suffer the most? . . .Our children, the very ones we say we are trying to protect. Don't be lured into thinking. "So what? Teachers can always be replaced." Don't you think that all the area schools are watching us? Many teachers from neighboring schools are also appalled by what is happening here and are afraid it could happen at their schools. They're not about to jump into this explosive situation. It will take many, many years to overcome this injustice if we don't stand up now and support our teachers. They deserve it and our children deserve it. We want this school system to flourish, not fade into oblivion. Debbie Klinedinst MOTHER CITES ‘FATAL* CORPORAL PUNISHMENT I address this letter to all residents of Walkerton including those on the board of education. I have been reading about the proposed ban on corporal punishment in your schools and the attempts to block such a ban. I can’t believe that everyone refers only to spanking as corporal punishment. Corporal punishment is defined as action which is utilized with the purpose of inflicting pain or physical discomfort on a person. Parents, please stand up and be heard; don’t allow your childrens’ welfare to be disregarded for the convenience of the teachers. When your child is injured or killed by a teacher’s “punishment." you will have no legal recourse in a criminal court. In April of 1989. corporal punishment was outlawed in the state of Michigan. However, that was too late for my son. who died in December of 1988. when corporal punishment was used on him. Suffering from a (Continued on Page 11)