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Show Forget About 'Fiasco Friday9 If you are like me, we are very tired of hearing about the "Fiasco Friday" (the schedule problem) at Panguitch High School and all the related problems that came from that. On Thursday, Sept. 16, we had yet another long session at the School Board meeting where many citizens of Panguitch had the opportunity to voice their opinions. Being able to express our opinions is a great privilege. I especially appreciate hearing opinions that I know are based On truth and facts. Invariably, there will be two sides to an issue, and it is obvious that our community is divided about the "fall-out" from the students walkout - who's to blame, who should have done what, etc. We could debate those issues forever. The fact is that the computer generated schedule is a good idea. The whole idea behind it is a positive thing. Another fact is that there were problems with it, problems that could have been worked out had there been enough input from the principal and teachers at the high school earlier on. The way it was on Monday before school started, it was simply not workable. With the added pressure of replacing a Middle School teacher two days before school was to begin, the com-puterized schedule needed to be revised. The Superintendent Super-intendent told Principal Mr. Ted Chidester and the school counselor, Mr. Scott Hunt, to fix the schedule so that students could be registered on Wednesday. There was no insubordination on Mr. Chidester's part, as has been rumored. He was following directions given to him by the Superintendent. i Now, for the main reason I am writing this letter. It has to do with the many negative and derogatory derog-atory things that have been printed in this paper about the teachers at PHS, namely stating that they "incited" the students to rebel and walk out; "What will their students hear as "truth" in the classroom setting?" "Parents had better be asking what is really going on in the classroom?" Can't you see the mistrust those statements are creating? Our teachers are qualified, caring, giving and loving people. To see them so demoralized by the many negative things that have been said and written is truly upsetting. Our students are bright, intelligent people with keen and alert minds. They are not like sheep who have no thoughts of their own, who only follow blindly any suggestion given them. There is not one person involved in this mess who is not basically a good person. There have been mistakes made on all sides. People have jumped to conclusions con-clusions and made harsh judgments. The schedule problem at the high school has been taken care of. We can try again in the future with computerized schedule. We can make positive changes, given enough time and input from everyone. Now, we need to fix the chasm that has developed in our community. commun-ity. Feelings have been hurt, deeply. deep-ly. Those who have been offended need to communicate with those who have offended them. Apologies Apolo-gies need to be verbalized. Forgiveness For-giveness needs to take place. Fences Fen-ces need to be mended, and if we cannot agree on certain issues, we need to agree to disagree - that's OK. If we can't mend our fences, we just need to jump over them and go on. We need to put all these hurtful feelings behind us and work towards better understanding and communication in the future. We do not need to see any more excellent teachers in tears and ready to quit teaching because of rude and untrue remarks, or because they feel they may be fired. I know the School Board learned some important impor-tant lessons about communication and tactfulness through all of this last night. There is a quote by an unknown author which states: "When the pain is of no more value, the healing heal-ing is instantaneous." There has been enough pain, let us all help the healing begin. Leniece Fischer Panguitch 'Editor's Note: The Garfield County News does not create the news, it simply reports the news. We do, however, stand by our editorial on the events that took place. The newspaper is a proper place for such issues, not the classroom. There are no "tad' people, only good people who sometimes do bad things or make bad choices. Those who take a position on any issue must be willing wil-ling to accept the consequences of the stand they take. We are willing, wil-ling, and we hope that others are, too, because that is the process that is currently taking place for all of us, like it or not. |