Selection of school chief is a farce

Editor:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After reviewing the latest state Board of Education agenda, I do believe that Mr. Linger has lost his "marples!" He has decided to conduct the nationwide search for a new superintendent at a meeting held in the great metropolitan area of Hamlin.

Actually, he now has decided to "consider" a nationwide search, dismiss that thought, consider nominations from the floor, or "other options," return Charles Heinlein to Deputy Superintendent, and Interview "Potential Nominees." Following the "interviews," I assume, based on past actions, he will take the board into closed session, pass out little pieces of paper and ask each member to write the name of their selected nominee. Then he will pressure those who selected someone other than his "chosen one" to change their minds.

Once that is accomplished, the board will return to the public and vote to hire the new superintendent. They will then administer the oath of office to the "chosen one."

This method of selecting the leader of our State Department of Education is so ludicrous that it begs to compete with Jesco White, the Dancing Outlaw or the new TV show "Buckwild," for depicting West Virginians as a bunch of ignorant, easily fooled country bumpkins.

Sen. Manchin, who is so outraged by "Buckwild," should be equally disgusted with this public demonstration of incompetence. Mr. Linger stated he was a businessman. I know of no successful business that would go about hiring a CEO without doing a competitive search, background checks, and a multi-step interview process. To even have "interviews" on the board agenda following "nominations from the floor" shows what a joke he thinks this is. It also reveals a total lack of respect for the people of West Virginia and their children who deserve a more serious undertaking in the selection of the person to be the education leader for our state.

Sadly, Mr. Linger and the other Manchin marionettes continue to show a personal agenda of money, power and control as opposed to public service and responsiveness to the needs of students in West Virginia.

Elizabeth C. Scott

Winfield

Move games out of Civic Center

Editor:

It is time to get the WVU-Marshall Men's and Women's basketball games out of the Charleston Civic Center. To say the Civic Center is dated is a total understatement. I am a True Blue WVU fan, and I am sure that the Marshall University fans would agree that both teams are used to playing in better facilities.

The announcements during the game were inaudible throughout the Civic Center. Not only does it make it impossible to enjoy, it is also a huge safety concern. God forbid that something would happen during the game. There would be no way to follow any directions being made over the PA system. When the dance teams came out to do their performance to music the audio was pathetic. The city of Charleston should be embarrassed.

Until Charleston makes a commitment to bring the Civic Center up-to-date the game should be alternated between Morgantown and Huntington. At $40  a ticket both schools' fans deserve better and expect more.

I would hope that the WVSSAC would follow suit and take the state high school basketball tournament to WVU and MU campuses alternating years. It is time for Charleston to get serious about the Civic Center or start losing revenue.

Brandon Tinney

Hurricane

Story on renewables was distorted, biased

Editor:

Monday's article, "Rise in renewable energy will require more use of fossil fuels" poses a false paradox, and begs the following commentary. First, the climate crisis underway is in deadly earnest, physically dangerous and toxically expensive. Something must and will be done about it, if not in the U.S., then by countries with sufficient "economic dynamism" to get the job done.

Second, and unmentioned in the article, renewables work together. The intermittency of solar and wind compliment one another, minimizing the need for backup over the course of a 24-hour day. Inexpensive technologies like the new MIT liquid metal battery, which can be scaled up to tractor-trailer size, will likely prove available to help with energy storage on the grid. Finally, the U.S.'s historic leadership in scientific innovation, a key driver of its' prosperity, is threatened by foot-dragging on energy innovation. China is well on its way to dominating the market for solar and wind technology the world will be clamoring for as the bad weather continues and worsens. Biased, distorted reporting, exemplified by this article, is a disservice to the newspapers' readership.

Regan Quinn

Charleston