It”s unfortunate that neither Harold Riley nor Lenny Matthews was at the assembly at Minnie Cannon School when principal Tom Hoskins honored his promise to the student body. If they had been there, they would have seen that the positive energy of the whole event was incredible. It wasn”t just a “dress-up” affair as these two letter writers seem to think; Mr. Hoskins honored high test scores and scholastic achievement by presenting bronze, silver, and gold medals to students whose test scores were outstanding. He constantly praised all the students for coming through on their test scores; they knew it was all about their success, and they loved it.
There was no mention of being in drag. Mr. Hoskins had made a promise to wear a dress and have a haircut as a challenge to encourage the students, and it could have been wearing a dress or wearing a clown suit ? but then someone probably would have written in complaining about discriminating against clowns.
Obviously, the two letter writers miss the point entirely. It takes more than teachers and schools for kids to excel. It takes caring families and community. Perhaps these two letter writers would do better to volunteer at their neighborhood schools and do something positive instead of condemning what was a completely positive school event.
Verna Schaffer
Lakeport
