Rescind plastic bag vote

Rescind plastic bag vote

Re “Get ready to ditch those plastic bags” (Page 1A, Dec. 28): The Sacramento City Council decided to ram through its own plastic bag ban in advance of a statewide vote on the issue. That’s dirty pool.

Although it was a snap for the City Council to effectively disenfranchise its own voters, the action should be properly rescinded to allow for more public input in November. In the meantime, there are many other supermarkets at which to shop outside Sacramento city limits, where one will not be required to pay the money-grabbing minimum of 10 cents per paper bag or have to carry luggage to the supermarket.

Face truth on grad rates

Re “Graduation rates rise, not college readiness” (Page 6A, Dec. 27): Many believe the answer to falling behind is easy: Put students in preschool programs. What they mean is: It is important to remove children from dysfunctional environments and put them in functional environments.

However, recognizing that many economically distressed groups are doing a poor job of raising their children and giving them values that hinder success is so unacceptable that this is never spoken of in the media or educational establishment, or by politicians of any party.

Why can’t we face the fact that students who are brought up in certain environments are set up to fail? Once this is recognized, then everyone can begin to address the issue of how to change the environment to help the students.

It is an ugly truth that some values are more dysfunctional than others. Education alone cannot fix it all.

How to improve reading scores

Re “Area educators struggle to raise reading scores” (Local, Dec. 27): It isn’t often I can read about a serious local problem and offer even a partial, realistic and accessible answer. But local low reading skills are the exception.

Reading Partners (readingpartners.org) is a national program with eight sites in our area that partners adult volunteers with low-income elementary schools. The program is well structured, with all needed training and supplies provided.

The commitment can be as little as an hour a week during the school year to tutor a student in reading. I urge Sacramento Bee readers who have available time to consider volunteering with this excellent program.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Rescind plastic bag vote."