Pinney's opinions no threat to anyone

Apparently Leslie Pinney doesn't mind eating lunch alone. It may be because her lunchbox is stuffed full of encouraging notes from her supporters. I have found in many conversations that Leslie is easy to like - polite, with an easy smile, hardworking, eloquent, informed and an attentive listener (listening to you, the taxpayer).

It seems the current Board president, Lenore Bragaw is not as good a listener. In the recent Daily Herald article she expressed either surprise or irritation that the issue of values and choices keeps coming up in District 214 schools. It "irks" her that there is still residue left three years after the "book blowup" that occurred in 2006.

If she's surprised, she's not listening to taxpaying voters in the district. If she's irritated, she's also not listening to voters. The board should be listening to the concerns of ALL voters. Calling opposing viewpoints "contentious" is itself contentious and will not make the concerns go away. Nor does painting Leslie as a nut address the issue. As a matter of fact, it was the Daily Herald itself that chose to characterize Leslie as a "book banner" in a lead article several years ago. This was irresponsible journalism and only gave bait to those who disliked her.

Neither she nor her supporters have ever advocated banning books, and for anyone to continue using this tired and untrue phrase is, well, tiring. Choices are made between "a" and "b" every day in schools and parents simply want to see wise, informed choices across the board (no pun intended) by the leadership.

JFK said, "The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion." May diversity of opinion make us stronger as we address issues, not weaker because we shrink from honest, transparent public debate ... on any topic.

Roberta Evensen

Arlington Heights