The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
By Bill Connell, Somerset
I find it enjoyable to observe, assess, and comment. Sometimes, it’s for fun, sometimes it’s to challenge someone, or just to play devil’s advocate and tip over the apple cart. Surprisingly though, I have had nothing to say about current events. I have been avoiding adding one more opinion. Most of the time opinions come from a personal issue or political agenda, not from a step back and look at the whole picture.
Two examples come to mind. The person who advocated charter schools on Facebook in a discussion of public schools planning the logistics to reopen. This is tasteless bad form. The other, is a person who asked on Mayor Kramer’s Zoom forum how green energy can help boost the economy, right at the height of pandemic. This is called plying your agenda at a weak point.
By the way, good job Mayor Kramer and your cohorts for keeping the focus on public health and safety.
All that said, I do have a couple opinions. I am a big fan of enthusiasm. It really does make a difference. I have been in negative situations and it can drag on you in a very insidious way. That is why I am very hesitant to criticize police officers. There is a line of course (staying on point here), but every day they put on the uniform something could happen to them. By nature, it requires a strong personality, but I would say monitoring and protecting their mental health is a good place to start.
As far as racism, you really need to travel across the Delaware to understand how special Franklin is. My view is enhanced or clouded (you can pick) by being part of the volunteer engine of Franklin. Change is made by getting out and working side by side, not by expressing opinions on Facebook. Franklin is not perfect but it’s working on it.
Then there is going back to school. It might be wrong to compare it to planning the D-Day invasion, but it does have a considerable amount of moving parts. Anybody looking for a perfect plan should move back to Honali. The school district has a responsibility to come up with a reasonable plan. Its sounds like Franklin is doing that.
The point that needs to be made is the people the district is trying to help will make or break the plan. That ranges from wearing masks, washing hands, reminding your kids of their responsibility and taking kids off their overnight video-gaming schedule to make class. I do think we need normal soon as a people, but God only knows if September is the correct time.
