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Monday, June 03, 2002

Welfare reform has not been successful in relieving poverty

I am replying to the May 30 article "Higher Education Pays Off," in which local officials attribute a 20 percent decline in family poverty to the "success" of welfare-to-work programs. We should certainly be glad that fewer families live in poverty. But our officials cannot assume that welfare reform is responsible for this improvement (indeed, the same article points instead to the strong economy of the late 1990s), and they should not imply that welfare reform has lifted all -- or even most -- former recipients out of poverty.

Because the median wage of welfare leavers is about $7 an hour, about half of welfare leavers who work remain in poverty. Most former recipients work in service or clerical jobs that have little to no room for advancement; two-thirds work in jobs without health insurance. Extreme poverty, or living below 50 percent of the poverty line (about $7,000 for a family of three), has increased among former welfare recipients.

About one-half of former recipients report they sometimes or often run out of food for their families. Even high-income married mothers struggle to balance family and work responsibilities; how do we expect low-income single mothers to work and care for their children when their salaries are often too low to cover child-care costs?

In order for welfare reform to be a "success," welfare recipients need education and training so they can get good jobs, meaningful work supports like long-term child care, and jobs that pay enough to pull their families out of poverty. The "living wage" that Allegheny County Council and Pittsburgh City Council recently rejected would have been a crucial step toward this latter goal, but local politicians sold low-income working families down the river.

All workers need jobs that allow them to provide for their families; welfare reform has certainly not been a "success" in this endeavor.

KAREN CHRISTOPHER
Squirrel Hill

Board demographics

The question is not whether we need an appointed school board. We do. We pay about $1,400 a year in school taxes for every $100,000 of assessed property value, regardless of whether we have children in public school, which most Pittsburgh property owners do not. After the reassessments, that is an enormous increase for most homeowners.

Yet despite the increased cost, the quality of public education has fallen. Simply look at Reizenstein Middle School. But most disturbing is that high-cost, low-quality education is driving wealthier homeowners with children to the suburbs, where they have access both to better schools and lower millage rates. This leaves poorer families with an even greater burden since lower property values will demand higher tax rates.

So the real question is not whether we should appoint our school board directors but how we should appoint them to give taxpayers a competent board of directors.

I suggest we begin by determining the demographics of those attending the public schools and appoint our school board accordingly. For example, if 80 percent of parents with students in the public schools are Democrats, then 80 percent of board members also should be Democrats. If 65 percent of those attending the public schools are African American, then 65 percent of the board of directors should be African American.

There also must be some minimum educational standards for school board members. The fact that so many school board directors now have less education than the teachers they direct is somewhat absurd.

Finally, the appointments should be done by a school-director-appointment board composed of representatives from each local college and university with a school of education. We in Pittsburgh are extraordinarily lucky to have the kinds of colleges and universities we have. Not to look to them for help when we clearly need it is simply wasteful.

The school directors appointed by this intercollegiate board would then have to be approved by the mayor and City Council to assure the most competent city school board directors were chosen. It is only reasonable that some of the most competent educators in America should be involved in appointing our city school board directors.

JIM CARMINE
Regent Square

Not all teach test subjects

This letter is not to condemn or to defend the outcome of the Pennsylvania teacher testing; it is, however, to elaborate on the presented facts. The introductory phrase of the article "Teacher Test Results Pressure Universities" (May 25) states: "How well Pennsylvania school teachers know the subjects they teach seems to depend on the colleges where they were trained."

The writer, I am sorry to say, broke one of the rules of writing: overgeneralization. There were teachers who do not teach the content of which they were tested. One example may be a foreign language teacher who might have been teaching French for more than 20 years. The fact that this teacher might have scored low in the statistical section in the mathematics test does not testify that this teacher is a poor teacher; he or she might be a great French teacher.

Another factor that might have been discriminated in the overgeneralized phrase of this article is that this French teacher whom I used as a hypothetical example might have poor computer skills. After all, about three decades ago, the overhead transparency projectors were at the top of the high-tech equipment for most educators. The fact that this teacher did not perform well on the test due to having trouble with the computerized test does not testify that this teacher is a poor teacher on the subject he or she teaches.

Please, next time, try to criticize with foundation and try to be part of the solution.

NANCY VIEIRA STERNIAK
Harrison City

Editor's note: At the middle and high school levels, only those who teach math- or science-related subjects were required to take the math test.

A stranger's gift

Three years ago, toward the end of May, someone in your area lost a loved one from this earth. Three years ago on May 22, because of the compassion and loving kindness of a stranger, my brother received the life-saving gift of a kidney transplant. His life and, as his family, our lives have been so greatly blessed by this gift.

My brother has had no rejection problems at all. He is able to work and travel without the restrictions of a dialysis machine. He is such a wonderful person -- kind and gentle, caring about others and trying to live a Christian life in all ways.

If you read this and it applies to you, please know that you are not alone in remembering your loved one. We thank God every day for the indescribable gift he gave, and we remember him, too.

ERNESTINE THOMAS
Columbus, Ohio

The next time, call me

I thoroughly enjoyed Jeffrey Cohan's article and Steve Mellon's photos of the Pirates day game last week ("Sunny Day at Ballpark Beats Day at Office Any Time," May 31). I just wanted to remind my dad, Terry Mahoney, my Uncle Pete, my brother, Bud, and my cousins, Pete, Mike and Stephen -- who were mentioned in the story -- that women are businesspeople, too.

And as they all well know, I too enjoy a hot, sunny day, watching baseball and drinking a beer or two. Next time, I expect an invitation!

MAUREEN MAHONEY HILL
Blawnox

Thoughtful discussion

Thank you for the essay by Ann Rodgers-Melnick ("A Human Problem," May 26). It was the most thoughtful and informative discussion of the priest/sex-abuse scandal that I have read or heard these long months.

JOSEPH M. MATESA
Plum

Felt like I was there

Wow! What a picture! Annie O'Neill should be commended on her front-page photo "Fire and Foam" (May 23) of an overturned gasoline tanker. I felt as though I were standing in the picture. It's one of the best I've seen in a long time. Great job!

JULIE HARTZ
South Fayette

Why can't the nation muster a response to this insurance crisis?

The May 22 article "Lack of Health Insurance Leads to Early Deaths, Report Says" states that the Institute of Medicine released a report May 21 that 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they lack health insurance coverage.

When 3,000 Americans died prematurely on the infamous Sept. 11, the government response was quick and decisive. It quickly declared war on those responsible. Billions of dollars were immediately allotted to combat such despicable acts and preventive measures were taken, with the applause of all Americans and indeed the world.

No war has been declared, not a single dollar has been spent, no preventative measures have been taken to combat the infamous reality that 18,000 Americans die prematurely every single year because financially they cannot afford health insurance. Perhaps such deaths go unnoticed because they do not happen in one location at once. They happen at random in the vast landscape of America.

Were they to happen at once, in one location, the public outcry would compel the government to take quick action as it admirably did on Sept. 11.

BRUNO DELSIGNORE
Whitehall