Engaging in revisionist history
The recent letters to the editor from Tom Bodnovich, the former president of the Trinity Area School Board, and Rebecca Simpson, who echoed Bodnovich’s criticisms of the school district, are examples of revisionist history.
Both condemned the current school board, while harkening back to the solid decisions of board’s past, including the one in which Bodnovich was a member for several years. Bodnovich spent his letter trumpeting that board’s accomplishments while lamenting the current board’s complete dismantling of those gains.
Lest we forget, Bodnovich’s board’s first decision was to open the positions of many people who had served the district for many years. In a time of shrinking state financial support, his board not only didn’t raise taxes, but actually cut them, reducing a once-healthy fund reserve to dangerous levels. His board hired a superintendent whose name unfortunately appeared more often in the police blotter than educational journals and forced the board to pay him to leave. Not surprisingly, the lawsuits came fast and furious, forcing even more funds be used to settle them.
Perhaps most importantly, the morale of a dedicated and proud staff, of which I was one, sank as they watched the proud Trinity name dragged through the headlines on a seemingly daily basis.
Bodnovich and Simpson are certainly entitled to their opinions. However, they are not entitled to their own facts.
Tom Trettel
South Strabane
Trettel is a former English teacher at Trinity High School.