Some school weather delays are unwarranted

When will the Pittsburgh Public Schools realize that it is their responsibility to educate the children of Pittsburgh? Announcing a twohour delay any time the temperatures are below 20 degrees is ridiculous.

The first two school days of 2018 I can understand, when the temperature was in the low single digits in the morning. But on Thursday, the temperature was a balmy 17 degrees with little wind and, at worst, very light snow. Why did the district delay school? Do school officials realize that we are in the northern part of the country and this is normal for winter?

With the cancellation of school Friday, there will be more than eight hours of instruction lost in the first week of the year. I suggest that the Pittsburgh schools cancel the four remaining early-dismissal Fridays for the rest of the school year to make up the instruction time lost to these ridiculous two-hour delays. ANDREW MOR

Squirrel Hill

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asked petitioners in the lawsuit challenging the state’s gerrymandered voting districts. “Have you experienced problems voting?” If petitioners can and do vote, they are not denied their constitutional rights, according to this line of reasoning.

The questioning used by the Legislature’s counsel is deceptive. The presumption is that if petitioners can and do vote, then regardless of the way their district is drawn, it’s not interfering with their right to vote, and they are unaffected. This is false logic. In the Soviet Union people could vote, but that didn’t mean their voices were heard or that their representatives were accountable to them. The physical act of voting is only part of the picture and is not enough when representatives do not act in good faith to represent their electorate.

I have worked in developing countries and observed U.S. foreign assistance in institution-building to help a country transition to democracy. If a country proposes to set up an election system that favors a political party or religious or ethnic group, the U.S. cries foul because it does not make for competitive elections. Why not extend that to American elections? The U.S. talks a good line in its support of democracy abroad, but a Soviet-era saying sums up the hypocrisy: My eyes don’t see what my ears hear.

Gerrymandering is vote rigging. “Legal” doesn’t make it legitimate. A Commonwealth Court judge has given his opinion (Dec. 29, “Judge: Pa. Map Partisan, But Not Unlawful”). The case now goes to the state Supreme Court, which has scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 17. JULIE ZAVON Squirrel Hill