Hits and Misses
Like their counterparts in other parts of the country, students in Springfield, Ill., are returning to classes soon in a mix of online and in-person instruction. But some parents are upset by a decision by Springfield Public Schools that students must follow a dress code if they are learning from home. Specifically, officials with Springfield Public Schools say that students must not wear pajama pants, slippers or hats while they are on camera. But what difference does it make? And can the district tell students what to wear when they are in the confines of their own homes? We don’t think so. Some parents in Springfield agree. One of those parents, Elizabeth Ballinger, told WCIA-TV, “I made the decision for my kids to be at home, and I don’t really see how any district can come in and say what my kid can’t wear in my home. I think they have enough to worry about as opposed to what my kids are wearing. They need to make sure they’re getting educated.”
There’s a lot of money that flows to colleges and communities as a result of college football, and plenty of players participate in the hope of having lucrative professional careers. But both the Big Ten and Pac-12 athletic conferences made the responsible decision this past week when they pulled the plug on their fall athletic seasons, including football. This means that football behemoths like Penn State, Ohio State and the University of Michigan will not be playing as the leaves fall. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said he and other officials felt they needed to put the health and welfare of students first: “It became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding medical risks to allow our student athletes to compete this fall.”
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 38 Confederate monuments have been toppled or removed across the country since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, with an additional five relocated. The statues of Confederate soldiers at Gettysburg National Military Park will not be coming down, but the National Park Service is putting up interpretive panels with the statues in September that will place the statues in historical context. The panels will be put together with assistance from scholars and members of the African-American community near Gettysburg. According to Jason Martz, a spokesman for the National Park Service, “It’s just an opportunity for us to tell a more holistic story. For us, the Battle of Gettysburg doesn’t start and end on July 1 and 3, 1863. To some degree, it continues to this very day, this very moment.”
Matt Shorraw, the mayor of Monessen, has provided the city with plenty of drama over the last few years, first by basically going AWOL for almost two years, and then by returning to City Council meetings in January and joining with other members of council to fire the city’s solicitor and administrator. Some residents complained that Shorraw and council members Gil Coles and Donald Gregor took action on items at a contentious January reorganizational meeting that were not on the agenda made available to the public, and the officials did not allow public comment. This week, a judge in Westmoreland County agreed, fining Shorraw, Coles and Gregor $500 apiece for violations of the Sunshine Act. Two other suits surrounding the meeting are still pending. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Monessen residents deserve better.