053097 Liar Markowitz falsely accuses TOC of supporting the teaching of creationism in science classes

To the Editor:

In his column of May 16, Marc Wollin decries the tenor of the political campaigning that preceded school board elections. He looks back nostalgically on a democratic process where good men and women would exercise their civic responsibility with equanimity, unbesmirched by attack and counterattack. He sees this as the Jeffersonian ideal. In previous years this was pretty much the way school board elections were run and, personally, we too would love to see it return.

But a radical change occurred in school board politics. Mr. Wollin seems either naive and/or lacking an understanding about the nature and origins of the transformation that has occurred in the electioneering for positions on the Bedford Central Board of Education.

Four years ago, at the time when James Markowski first ran for the school board, we saw a new phenomenon take place. Suddenly, many signs and mailings supporting his candidacy appeared. Whereas, previous to that time, little more than $100 was spent by candidates for the school board. Mr. Markowski submitted affidavits reporting that his campaign spent more than $7,000, Mr. Markowski's chief promoter and supporter was the Taxpayers Oversight Committee (TOC).

In the ensuing years, TOC supported candidates for the school board who, while attacking the schools and the teachers, derided the need for students to be taught critical thinking, called-for the elimination of psychologists in our schools and most recently supported the teaching of creationism in science classes. Misleading and vicious attacks came to characterize the campaign literature distributed by TOC and its leaders. In addition to the money, their campaigns utilized the kind of deceitful and duplicitous tactics typical of "big city" politicking, leaving the heads of those who cared about children and education spinning. All this was done under the cloak of a call for lower taxes, which no doubt appealed to many.

One has to ask why so much money and effort was spent by those candidates supported by  TOC. A revealing answer to that question was recently provided by Richard Hallman, the leader of TOC, when he asserted that they were "... one school board election from gaining philosophic control of the Board of Education."

It was in response to these threats to public education in our community that ~we became involved in forming People For Public Education.

To clarify the facts and to support those who saw our schools and public education as a bastion of our community. We were subjected to attacks and innuendoes as a result.

It was often unpleasant and nasty, but in retrospect we would not have done otherwise. For we sincerely believe that without the active opposition of PPE, and now PACE, TOC and their minions would have long ago controlled the Bedford Central Board of Education, with disastrous results for our children and ~our community.

Few citizens are sufficiently aware of the history or close enough to the action to have a good grasp of the issues, and therefore the partisanship and evident polarization of the community is confusing, disturbing and upsetting. We can

understand how this leads many, including Mr. Wollin, to say in effect: "A pox on both your houses," as though the two sides were Tweedledurn and Tweedledee. To remain unsullied and aloof from the "stink" (to quote Mr. Wollin) of the fray would have left the field open and unopposed to those who would shackle the minds of our children and would have led to the deterioration of our schools. The public school system is one of the foundations of our democracy and must be protected and nurtured. We believe that Mr. Jefferson would have wholeheartedly agreed.

Roberta and Marvin Markowitz Pound Ridge