At-large seat

I heartily endorse Don Wheeler for an at-large seat on the South Bend Community School Corp. Board of Trustees. Wheeler is exactly what our school corporation needs: committed, responsible, thorough, thoughtful and independent. With a kindergartner of his own, he also has a personal stake in the long-term success of our school system.

I have had children in the South Bend schools for the last 20 years, and I continue to be appalled by the school board's inability to address the problems that plague our schools and hamper our children's achievement and success. We need school board members who can move beyond internecine squabbles and imagined personal slights. We need school board members who can identify and focus on the most important problems our schools face, investigate these problems thoroughly and rationally, work together to solve them, plan creatively for the future, and work in harmony with the school corporation administration.

Electing Don Wheeler to the SBCSC school board will be a first step in achieving these goals.

Fern Hamlin
South Bend

from the South Bend Tribune - October 24, 2008