The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Letters to the Editor
PUBLISHED: June 26, 2008
To the Editor: As I write this "first ever for me" letter to the editor graduation has come and gone and the underclassmen are home for the summer. I am at my desk working on the final paper-pushing that is so much a part of the job of a high school principal these days. In about two weeks I will officially close my office door and walk away from 36 years as a professional educator in the public schools.
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I am writing to say "Thank You!" to the entire Chelsea community for the past 19 years and specifically thanks for all the extreme kindness expressed to me in the past few months as my retirement approached. For everyone who organized, contributed to or attended the "Ron is finally graduating open house" held on May 28 I am so grateful. It was a wonderful evening for my wife Marilyn and me.
Looking back I wish to also thank the Chelsea Music Boosters who allowed part of the Faculty and Friends Concert to be a tribute to my time in education. Thanks to everyone involved in that surprise.
The students have likewise been wonderful in saying their "goodbyes." Ovations at concerts, underclass awards, Class Night and Commencement were heartwarming and humbling to say the least. In addition, I wish to thank parents and community members for their many cards, gifts, phone calls and conversations in which so many of you expressed your appreciation for my efforts. Also, the businesses who gave up their sign space to show appreciation have gone beyond what anyone would expect. Finally, "The Chelsea Standard" has been more than generous covering these events.
Through the years in both the good times and the hard times, I have always felt tremendous support from the Chelsea community as I strived to do the best I could in making Chelsea High School a great place for students to learn and staff to work. This outpouring of appreciation has been wonderful although a little embarrassing at times.
While many people have been expressing their thanks in multiple ways including those mentioned above, I would be remiss if I did not express my thanks for the opportunity that Chelsea has provided me. Being the principal of Chelsea High School has a been a wonderful job.
I have been blessed with outstanding board of education members and superintendents who allowed me the freedom to do the job as I saw fit. I have worked with many outstanding colleagues including fellow administrators, classroom teachers and all of the other most important support staff members. Most importantly I have enjoyed working in a community that supported education both in and out of the classroom and that provided thousands of great students to work with and for during these past 19 years. As I leave, more than anything I will miss the daily interaction with the students of Chelsea High School who are truly a remarkable group of individuals.
To close let me quote from my own letter to parents in the last edition of the CHS newsletter, The Bulldog Bark. "I will leave grateful to a God who gave me skills that allowed me to enjoy a level of success doing what I consider to be one of the most honorable and satisfying jobs in our world - teaching young people. I often have said that no one should be in this business unless 'they love kids.' For me, these thirty-six years have been a true 'labor of love' and so I say thank you to everyone who has supported me, encouraged me, prayed for me, criticized me and loved me. Please do the same for every educator who follows me!"
Thanks for everything, Ron Mead/Mr. Mead
To the Editor: In the May 29th Dexter Leader "Letters to the Editor," a writer second-handedly stated, "the 'Leadership for Scio' group will try to take it (Scio Township) back to the 19th Century." If by the 19th Century he means returning to the respected values that made our country great: smaller government (along with slashing $90,000/year of our own salaries to fund additional deputies and better police and fire coverage), protecting our history by saving Gordon Hall and the Delhi Bridge, and aggressively promoting a green future, then, thank you.
We accept your compliment because we believe there is something honorable in practicing fiscal responsibility while simultaneously defending the beauty of Scio Township and bettering the environment.
We understand these values. We understand you want your tax dollars to be spent on police and fire services and not on elected officials' salaries. We understand we work for you and not the other way around. We understand you want change. We are change you can believe in.
Spaulding Clark, Gordon Darr, Dick DeLong, Jean Ledwith King and Dorothy Lynn Phillips
To the Editor: The June 19 edition of the Chelsea Standard featured a lead editorial titled "What recession? Surprise! Bush expansion rolls on" by Dan Calabrese. I don't question the author's recession numbers. I do find his conclusions insulting to poor and middle class Americans who have found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
For over a decade we've seen real incomes for the vast majority of Americans drop while the richest few at the top have collected the benefits of economic expansion. For 2005, the last year for which complete data is available, incomes for the bottom 90 percent of Americans dropped while the gains went mostly to the top 1 percent. For that top 1 percent their average income rose 14 percent to $1.1 million per person. The top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans.
So, Mr. Calabrese, with gas above $4, record mortgage foreclosures, layoffs, rising unemployment, buyouts, soaring health care costs and jobs sent overseas, I don't buy into your perspective of the wonderful "Bush expansion". You add to the insult by blaming journalists that don't like George Bush for pushing gloomy predictions. We don't need journalists to tell us we're hurting and we don't need your attempts to marginalize that hurt.
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