Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 18

B6 Monday, November 14, 1983 tye flaf tfrrf 00ttf ant Established 1764 The Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper in America Michael J. Davies Chairman and Editor Keith L. McGlade Publisher John Zakarian Editorial Page Editor Reid MacCluggage Managing Editor Irving M. Kravsow Associate Editor oi io The Teachers' Report Card Vjffl I TO THE, SOVTHULST WILL ft BACK UHlLN tP-viL-kiy WiXLl THE COT IMS MlTHWm. l.

urn BE. HUtf, 7 .10. A LlTTLt SOMtTWNbV Jlj iF thiv tig "r.l uirif if im; mo mmt it mm mm Youth Home Troubles Neighbors Dick Polman's Oct. 29 column dealt with the issue of the community youth home in the Sigourney Square area of Hartford's Asylum Hill and the Sigourney Square Civic Association's call for its removal "Neighbor liness in Short Supply in Sigourney Polman has mentioned, in earlier community youth home program, There's no question that public school systems would have serious problems if people could see what administrators write about 'each teacher's job performance. Some teachers would be embarrassed.

Some administrators would be tempted to sugar-coat their performance evaluations. Some parents would insist that their children be switched to classes with better-rated teachers. But the state Freedom of Information Commission should not confuse these essentially logistical problems with the principle that the Manchester Journal-Inquirer has raised in asking for access to performance evaluations for teachers in Somers: Should taxpayers be able to learn whether school personnel public employees are doing a good job? People should know. One of the best ways of knowing is through a requirement that the job performance evaluations be disclosed. The newspaper's request to the commission covers all schools employees secretaries and janitors as well as teachers.

That is troublesome. There is no compelling public need to disclose the job evaluations of, say, a typist or a window cleaner. The performance of a teacher or administrator, however, should be subject to the public scrutiny that disclosure of some personnel records would bring. School officials and the teachers' union in Somers claim that such disclosure would violate their right to privacy. Connecticut's freedom of information law allows "personnel or medical files and similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal to be kept secret.

Medical files should not be disclosed, of course. But the professional evaluation of teachers is of public consequence. Teachers influence many students' entire lives. Parents ought to know whether the people to whom they entrust their children deserve their trust. An administrator's evaluation of a teacher's work will help a parent make this judgment.

With these reports the community can also see how well school administrators are doing their jobs. If the evaluation reports are complicated or ambiguous, they can be explained. Democracy loses its foundation when it is assumed that people will be unqualified to evaluate information about public institutions. Despite the administrative problems if evaluations are revealed, there may be other, more serious, problems if incompetent teachers and administrators are protected. If disclosure prompts school officials to trivialize the evaluation process, the public will see the pattern and can demand that processes be changed.

Teacher privacy is an important consideration. Yet the Freedom of Information Commission has a special charge to uphold another goal that cannot be ignored in the Somers case accountability to the public. Our Twain The U.S. Postal Service should heed the advice of the senators from Connecticut, Missouri, California and New York and order a commemorative stamp to honor Mark Twain. Plans are for the stamp to be issued in 1985, when three notable' Twain anniversaries will coincide: the 100th anniversary of the first American publication of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," the 150th anniversary of the author's birth and the 75th of his death.

Although all four states can claim Twain connections, Connecticut's are special. His years of residence in Hartford, 1873 to 1891, seem to have been his happiest and most productive. He certainly did his major work then, producing besides "Huckleberry Finn" "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Life on the Mississippi," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and "Pudd'nhead Wilson." Although some of that writing was done in Elmira, N.Y., Hartford was his home. If the Postal Service stacks all that on its scales, the first-day cancellation may well be at the Hartford post office. This Nation Needs Breeder Reactors believing that youthful offenders can be successfully reassimilated into a normal Many Asylum Hill residents would agree that the concept is a good one, but many find untenable the seemingly endless imposition of failed social experiments in our neighborhood.

We also find grating the hypocrisy of criticism from people like Polman. This criticism generally comes from a predominantly white, middle-class suburb like West Hartford. Those of us who choose to live and work in the city have not sought, and do not seek, homogeneity. The diversity in population on Asylum Hill is remarkable. We are not all urban homesteaders, nor did we all buy up U.I ti without considering such essential factors as usurious interest rates, speculation, and the fact that it takes over a decade to bring a reactor on line.

Nuclear power is today still the cheapest. Every obstacle hindering the development of safe nuclear power contributes to a disastrous weakening of the United States. The Europeans and the Soviets, as well as other nations, are already far ahead of us on nuclear development, including that of breeder reactor technology. The actions of Dodd and Weicker have directly contributed to this weakening. Will we be burning dirty coal and expensive oil in the while other nations are self-sufficient in nuclear energy production? Terrell A.

Hewston Ashford Citizens of Connecticut should take note that Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Lowell P. Weicker have shown their true colors by their recent votes against the Clinch River breeder reactor project in Tennessee. By eliminating our dependence on finite uranium reserves, the building of breeder reactors to supply the fuel needed for the network of nuclear fission reactors would open up vast capabilities of high-density energy production.

Of course then are risks, and of course we must minimize them. Nuclear power is the safest form of energy by far, especially when one realizes the enormous amount of power required to run healthy industries. Any discussion of the economics of nuclear energy generation is invalid el property dirt cheap. Most of us are not even property owners; we are renters. And while we all certainly do not live in luxury housing, neither 'J5 do many of us live in slums.

Like most people, we do our best to get by. And living with a poorly supervised youth home makes getting by so much harder. The home was a good idea that has been tried and hasn't worked. While it may be true that with new and improved supervision the home could succeed, the political reality is that area residents are suspicious, afraid and want A Law To Combat Pac-Man Addiction the home out of the neighborhood. A Question of Taste Since the people of Asylum Hill want the home removed, and since Polman is so strongly in support of the program, perhaps he should offer his neighborhood as the next site of the youth home.

Who would argue that West Hartford is not a nicer place to be reassimilated than is Hartford? Video games can be a lot of fun and provide a few hours of entertainment. But, unfortunately, many teenagers waste countless hours and dollars in video arcades. Now, even very young children are going to arcades. A minimum age law should be en gambling. The one difference is that with video games, everyone always loses.

As I was walking by an arcade the other day, there were young kids outside begging for money. It is tragic. I think we really have to start thinking about this. If not, future genera acted to help cut down on the number of kids who become addicted to video games and habituate the arcades. It may sound a little extreme, but playing these games actually is very similar to directly involved in the process.

Evaluating the design of major downtown buildings is a legitimate, independent city function. There would be no continuity if the city contracted with a separate architect to review each project. A permanent board would lend consistency to the process. More than 200 communities usually smaller cities like Hartford have design review boards. Larger cities employ full-time architects to review building design.

A design review board would focus on the quality of downtown architecture, whereas Hartford's planning commission concentrates on land use throughout the city. Membership in such a board, however, need not be limited to architects, planners and experts in construction. Technical know-how is essential, but an expert's opinion about a building often can be as subjective as a lay person's. The composition of the proposed design review board could be modified, to include input from the public. tions of youth are going to have no goal in life other than getting the highest score in Pac-Man.

Pauline Carlson West Hartford Supporters of a proposed design review board for downtown Hartford have ambitious aims. The five-member advisory panel composed of planning, design and construction professionals is expected to ensure excellence and harmony in the architecture of new buildings constructed downtown. Proponents hope that professionals of national stature would serve, without pay. The proposal is included in the zoning code to be considered by the City Council. Such a board would be one part of a three-step review of major construction downtown.

City staff, the Commission on the City Plan and the design review board each would submit recommendations to the City Council. The council would have final say; Deputy Mayor Rudolph P. Arnold has questioned whether a separate design review board is needed. He would have city staff, the planning commission or the council hire consultants to review projects as needed. He has also suggested that city residents be more Parking Abuse in Hartford Carol Roark 1 Hartford Arts Key to Education Many reports have been issued on the inadequacies of education.

None, however, mentions the lack of emphasis on the teaching of the arts. If young people are not exposed to the arts in public school, many will never again have the opportunity. Education without the arts does not produce a human being who will 3 respect the dignity of other human beings. If the trend is to make more math, science and computer literacy ,3 courses required subjects, then per-11 haps we should consider making art Ji and music requirements also. Remember, it was an educated person who helped to create atomic bomb, Agent Orange and poi-" sonous gas.

In Nazi Germany, chil-dren were poisoned by doctors, killed by nurses, and gas chambers designed by engineers. Leo Tolstoy said: "The highest purpose of art is to make people good by choice." Isn't it about time we choose the arts? Ti Joseph Scherr 11 Somers As a clerk in a retail store on Allyn Street in Hartford, I read with amusement the Nov. 6 article, "Parking Downtown Can Be a Challenge." There is no problem getting a parking spot on the street in downtown Hartford. All you have to do is get to Hartford before 8 a.m. to beat the all-day parking of construction workers, business-college students and retail merchants and their employees.

Though these people are in the minority, their cars quickly fill up the parking spaces. And what happens to these all-day "porkers" parking hogs? Some times a meter maid issues a $5 overtime parking ticket, which often ends up in the gutter at day's end. Protests to the police about the chronic parking abusers is ignored and the problem multiplies. The end result is that customers who want to park and shop are discouraged and never return. Many of these all-day parkers must be on the scof flaw list of delinquent ticket payers.

Why isn't it being enforced? Norman G. Kershaw East Hartford Mayor Koch Picked Well People's Grief in the News 43 From virtually any perspective, New York Mayor Edward I. Koch chose wisely in selecting Benjamin Ward to be the city's next police commissioner. Mr. Ward clearly has the experience needed to run the largest police force in the United States.

He has worked in law enforcement 32 years, including 22 in the New York department, where he began by directing traffic and rose to deputy commissioner. He has been the state commissioner of correctional services, and he is now the city's correction commissioner. The facets of Mr. Ward's personality mentioned by those who know him suggest that his character and style are right for the job. He is called smart, straightforward, responsive, decent, loyal, sensitive and tough.

His priorities are logical, too; while professing intolerance for police brutality, he has said his first concerns are crime prevention and apprehending wrongdoers. A police supervisor must be sensitive to civil rights, but his basic job is maintaining civil order. In" short, Mr. Ward seems virtually tailor-made for the job. And that's aside from the added advantage that he is black.

Mayor Koch denied that race determined his choice. Most New Yorkers, aware of the drumbeat of charges of police brutality against members of minority groups, and the high proportion of such groups in the city, probably would guess that the commissioner-designate's race had more than a little to do with his selection. And perhaps they'd be right But that doesn't detract from Mr. Ward's impressive qualifications, nor does it diminish the likelihood that his race will be a particularly valuable asset. have any compassion? Is it competition in media ratings or the sale of newspapers that drives news people to capture the most bereaved face? Parents never forget.

Everytime taps are played or a flag lowered to half-staff, bad memories go through their minds. Why should people have to relive their grief by seeing others in the news? Have some heart. People's grief should not be the only way to sell newspapers. Sandra Lee Linardos Rocky HiU I am opposed to personal grief plastered on the front page of The Courant (photograph, Nov. 3).

Showing parents standing at their son's military grave is in poor taste. My heart goes out to every parent who has lost a child in Lebanon. The media have no knowledge of what kind of anguish that family is going through. I know from personal experience the loss of my younger sister in the Air Force last year. You are invading the parents' privacy.

Does anyone in the news field The Courant welcomes letters on matters of interest. Letters must be signed and include address and telephone number for verification. We reserve the right to edit and shorten the text. Writers ordinarily will be limited to one published letter every three months. Address: Letters, The Courant, 285 Broad Hartford, Conn.

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