LETTERS

From the front lines of the tobacco war

I read your article "Smokeless in Pleasant Plains," which is about preventing kids from smoking (see October 1997, page 21). It's a good idea for Illinois communities to fight against smoking, but what more can they do? They've already started fining people selling cigarettes to minors, and they've filed suits against tobacco companies. One thing they could do is raise the cost of cigarettes. The problem with that is that people old enough to smoke would get upset over raised prices. The kids, though, wouldn't be able to afford to buy cigarettes. I know kids who say they'd stop smoking when the price of cigarettes goes up.

Another thing that the communities could do is better educate the parents. Because my dad is a doctor, he teaches me things about smoking. He tells me about all the effects, such as emphysema and lung cancer. These are two more effective ways of getting kids to stop smoking. These ideas should be suggested to Illinois communities.

Eshani Gunawardene
Willowbrook

Checks and balances for school boards needed

Illinois parents should have the right to send their children to neighborhood, city and community- of-interest schools.

Currently school boards can send schoolchildren anywhere within their district, disregarding close proximity of schools, disregarding safety (crossing busy four-lane highways and unguarded railroad crossings), disregarding increased school bus travel time, disregarding petitions by hundreds of parents, disregarding the requests of children, tears of mothers and pleas of fathers.

The people of Illinois have a right to send their children to their community schools. Safety of schoolchildren should be of primary importance, not head count. We have to change the thinking of school boards. They have to plan ahead of growth. We have to change the way we fund schools. We force children from their communities to fill partially vacant schools rather than adding on to existing schools. There seems to be an unwritten regulation stating what maximum head count is at each school.

We have to change school board self-interest and not allow a school board member's subdivision preference over others. School board members should serve the community, not their own subdivisions. They should set examples. We also have to change how school boards report to parents.

How many train-bus accidents will it take until we make safety, not head counts or funding, our school attendance policy?

School districts cannot continue without a system of checks and balances.

Raymond Szydzik
Cary

40 / January 1998 Illinois Issues