Letters: City partnership with YMCA benefits everyone, not just Christians

Dear Editor, In regards to Staten Johnston’s April 12 letter, I
am a charter member of the Centennial Recreation Center and I do
not ever remember having to
”
publicly proclaim membership in a very specific Christian
group
”
any time during the sign-up process or since.
City partnership with YMCA benefits everyone, not just Christians

Dear Editor,

In regards to Staten Johnston’s April 12 letter, I am a charter member of the Centennial Recreation Center and I do not ever remember having to “publicly proclaim membership in a very specific Christian group” any time during the sign-up process or since. I have also never seen any signs at the CRC promising “special privileges or rates to Christian members.” 

My involvement with the YMCA began as a child when I went through the various levels from minnow to flying fish and lifesaving in their swimming program. Later I taught swimming, which was my first paying job, other than babysitting. I was in favor of the city of Morgan Hill’s decision to work in partnership with Mt. Madonna YMCA in the operations of the Centennial Recreation Center and was proud to be a charter member because of my confidence in the partnership. 

Yes, Mr. Johnston, I do realize that the “C” in YMCA is for Christian. The YMCA is a charitable organization (founded in 1850) that promotes the values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility while building spirit, mind and body. This is accomplished through educational, recreational and exercise programs for people of all ages, especially youth, families and senior citizens. YMCAs are open to all, regardless of faith, social class, age or gender.

Linda Ayers Tarvin, Morgan Hill

Any parcel tax needs to be specific about where the money goes

Dear Editor,

I read with interest your editorial of April 15, “At what point are we willing to tax ourselves?,” regarding the recent poll conducted by the Morgan Hill Times which asked if voters would support a local parcel tax to support our schools. Only 38 percent of respondents said they would vote “yes.”

I think the poor response might be due to the broad nature of the question and to the lack of detail in how the money would be spent. An undefined parcel tax for “improved student achievement” is not the same as a parcel tax that would be spent on art and music enrichment, sports and theatre only.

If we are ever going to pass a parcel tax, we will have to narrowly define what we want the money to go toward and draft the proposal so that voters feel confident that the money will be used for true enrichment and not just more of what we have already. I believe voters are afraid of what they perceive to be the bottomless depths of education funding. They cannot see where it goes, they cannot see what is being accomplished. They are always told that more is needed. It is disheartening for voters to see this play out year after year.

Whether or not voters believe that education still has more “places to cut,” I am here to tell Morgan Hill residents from the horse’s mouth that Morgan Hill Unified does not have anymore places to cut. There is no “fat” at the district office level, and school sites are packing more students into every classroom, foregoing maintenance and slashing enrichment activities. We have almost no nurses, almost no counselors. What we do have, every single day, are our students – they show up at the doors, bright-eyed and eager (and they really are bright-eyed and eager) and ready to learn.

I want our town to pass a parcel tax for those students, but it will be one of those great gifts that will surprisingly benefit ourselves as well. There is no mystery why Los Gatos and Palo Alto and Los Altos have high home resale values. Home buyers are attracted by a quality school system. People will pay a premium to live in a town with high quality schools – even in a serious recession.

I have long advocated and truly believe that we can pass a parcel tax in our hometown of Morgan Hill. If we start small (say, $50), define exactly what we will be paying for (art classes, music and band, theatre and sports or similar enrichments) and give voters the chance to cancel it if they don’t like what we are doing (five years to start), I think it can be done.

Voters need to remember, the best thing about parcel taxes is that the money generated is all ours, we don’t have to share it with the state of California or any other entity. It isn’t restricted to certain things as so much of education funding is. We get to decide how it is spent – how many of your tax dollars can you say that about?

C’mon Morgan Hill. We’re the best in so many ways already, let’s add our schools to the list!

Julia Hover-Smoot, former Morgan Hill Unified School District board member, current Santa Clara County Office of Education board member and Morgan Hill resident