Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘Democratic Stars Stand With Ferrer’
I was amused, again, by the hyperbole issued from Senator Clinton, this time, as reported in The New York Sun by Jill Gardiner [“Democratic Stars Stand With Ferrer, Who Is Seemingly Overshadowed,” New York, October 18, 2005].
As reported, Mrs. Clinton referred to Mr. Spitzer as the “best attorney general that our state has ever had. …” Being a recent carpetbagger to “our state,” obviously, she could not have been aware of Attorney General Lefkowitz, the “people’s lawyer,” a term thereafter co-opted by his successor, Robert Abrams.
We long-time New Yorkers recall how accessible Lefkowitz was to his individual “clients” who, on the bus or on the street would greet him simply as “Louie.” And, he never forgot a face or a name.
His office, in which I served for 12 years as an assistant attorney general, was marked by a genuine and sincere manifesto to protect the consumers as well as the state agencies he was statutorily designated to defend. He never sought higher office and therefore devoted his energy and his life to his position.
His staff members were meritoriously chosen regardless of their party affiliation. Thus, his office was devoted to the people, not to press releases, headline or jurisdiction grabbing.
Louie was, in fact, the best attorney general of this state, so, Hillary, once again you have it wrong.
JOEL LEWITTES
Manhattan
‘Ferrer Seizes on Test Scores’
Findings of a Progress Report on New York City School Reform recently released by the Partnership for New York City contradict conclusions drawn by some in The New York Sun story, “Ferrer Seizes on Test Scores To Question Bloomberg’s Claims on School Results” [Julia Levy, Page 1, October 20, 2005]. The results of a single test cannot invalidate the broad based improvement in student performance that has been achieved in the last three years.
Two different test instruments are bound to yield slightly different results. Your piece, which focused on recently released scores for a sample of New York State students who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, assumes that the NAEP results can be easily compared to the scores of all city students on recent city and state tests. According to experts we consulted, that’s mixing apples and oranges.
Educators, parents and researchers are likely to learn more about gains and problems in student achievement from a sober, nonpartisan analysis of results for the same test administered over a number of years. In the Partnership report, researchers from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education warned against over-interpreting any one test instrument. As the Steinhardt researchers pointed out, assessing progress and problems in student performance requires an in-depth review of multiple indicators, including graduation rates, school climate and others salient factors.
Steinhardt researchers found a general pattern of improvement in the city’s public schools across multiple indicators. For example, the number of city schools classified as failing (Schools under Registration Review) declined from 97 in the 2000-01 school year to 35 in the 2004-05 school year. The researchers also found that substantial efficiency gains were achieved in the areas of school spending, teacher credentialing and school construction.
Mayoral control has created the conditions for this general pattern of improvement, which parents, students and all New Yorkers should find encouraging. At this early stage, there is no certainty that our tests or other performance measures are perfect. But the signs are positive enough to keep moving forward. It would be a shame if election-year barbs derailed the school reform movement that appears so promising.
KATHRYN S. WYLDE
President and CEO
Partnership for New York City
‘Mention Wars, Not America’
The anti-Americanism that Andrew Roberts took issue with in his excellent review of A.N. Wilson’s new book, “After the Victorians,” is a now familiar component of European liberalism [“Mention the Wars, Don’t Mention America,” Arts & Letters, October 19, 2005].
But Wilson’s particularly virulent strand stems not from any objective analysis of American policy in the post-war period but from conversations he had with his chum Diana Mosley, who loathed everything about Americans and doubtless indoctrinated poor Wilson in the “America Is To Blame For Everything” philosophy that he put in his book.
I hope he gave her a proper acknowledgement.
EDWARD SHORT
Manhattan
‘Police Round Up Bicycles’
Even though I am a regular cyclist, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments of your reader Steven P. Scalici that sidewalks (and subway staircases) are places of pedestrian circulation, not bike storage [“Police Round Up Bicycles,” Letters, October 20, 2005].
Consider also the city streets: On many blocks, two-thirds of the roadway is devoted to car storage, and it is rare to see as many moving cars on a street as it is cars parked for two or even three nights.
We bicyclists sometimes chant “take back the streets” – let’s make that include the “free parking” card given to a tiny minority of city residents.
CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Manhattan
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