Herald letter from Richland educator blasts 3 recalled school board members | Opinion
Recall reflects district frustration
Born, raised, and educated in Richland, I taught in Richland Schools for 40+ years, in part to say “thank you” for the world-class education and opportunities Richland and its schools provided.
Teaching during COVID-19 was hard. COVID stole precious family members; taxed our emotional, financial, and physical well-being; and drained community medical, social, and educational resources.
Ignoring this shared sacrifice, board members Semi Bird, Audra Byrd, and Kari Williams voted to defy the state mask mandate. This illegal vote didn’t heal and unite our community behind a vision for educating all children. Rather, it sowed distrust, pit caring adults against one another and emboldened vile rhetoric aimed at our most vulnerable students.
Recalling these board members reflects a community appalled and frustrated by divisiveness and the waste of district resources on personal ambitions and polarizing agendas. Richland School District needs leadership that helps folks step back from selfish goals and grievances to say as one community: “How can we work together for a public school education that meets the diverse needs of all Richland’s students?”
Byrd, Bird and Williams clearly lack such leadership, and it hurts deeply to watch them wreak havoc on the schools and community I spent my personal and professional life supporting.
Linda Stairet, Richland
State tax credit aids working poor
Through my work with Yakima Rotary Food Bank and Washington’s Faith Action Network, (a multi-faith advocacy coalition), I especially appreciate faith communities across our region supporting neighbors who need food, transportation and other emergency assistance. We know one unexpected medical bill or another can put an entire young family into a spiral of crisis. So, it’s very important we spread the word about a new Washington state tax credit of up to $1,200 (qualifying families with four children) available across Washington, starting right now.
South-central Washington’s neighbors who don’t know about the credit may end up missing out on this helpful, family-investment support. Neighbors undocumented as immigrant workers, who have been left out of other relief programs, are eligible, as they’re working and paying taxes too. And some neighbors are paying unfair portions of wages into Washington’s taxes, funding schools, roads, etc., to support our region’s collective well-being. Please! Let’s help encourage them to apply for their family’s tax relief!
Washington’s Working Families Tax Credit expands community “emergency charities” to help working, tax-paying folk get annual support — help to avoid more emergencies. Low-to-moderate-income workers across our state need to apply now at www.WorkingFamiliesCredit.wa.gov or find free application assistance at www.WaTaxCredit.org.
Eric Don Anderson, Yakima
Law needed to aid Afghan refugees
After the fall of Kabul, thousands of Afghans who had risked their lives alongside American forces were evacuated to the United States in August 2021. During the withdrawal from Kabul, the Biden administration authorized the use of humanitarian parole to temporarily expedite the entry of 80,000 Afghans to the United States, and this humanitarian parole extends for only two years.
The 80,000 Afghans we evacuated will be subject to deportation starting in August unless Congress acts by adjusting their status. The Afghan Adjustment Act— a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation introduced this past August, astonishingly, did not pass.
Without congressional action, the Afghans we evacuated to the United States may be deported in the coming year. U.S. law currently provides no straightforward path to permanent resettlement or reunification for these Afghans and their families. Many will be shoehorned into immigration processes not designed for their situation.
Please write Rep. Dan Newhouse and Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray to reintroduce the Afghan Adjustment Act to do right by these wartime allies. These people evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. are trying to make a new life in the U.S., while in immigration limbo and their time has run out.
Stan Moon, Richland
