A minus 7 wind chill is no ‘real danger’ to Texas schoolkids? You’re out of your mind | Opinion

Quarterbacks from the armchair

These days, educators are numb to criticism from outside. We show up for students, doing our best while blocking out the noise. You have to go beyond the pale to get a reaction from us.

So I have to say: Congratulations, Star-Telegram Editorial Board. You did it. To collectively voice that schools should’ve opened Jan. 16, when it was 9 degrees with a minus 7 wind chill at 8 a.m., is absurd. (Jan. 18, 10A, “DFW schools shouldn’t have closed just over cold temps”)

Your callousness in saying, “It’s not like a few minutes at the bus stop in the cold would be any real danger to children,” defies credulity. Are you pediatricians? Do you have school-age children?

Educators know every minute of a student’s life is a predictor of the day. Shocking cold, gnawing hunger, lack of sleep or lack of electricity are all factors that lead administrators to weigh such decisions with gravity.

Try observing drop-off at any campus. Notice the clothing and accessories the students are wearing — and what’s missing. Do you think the thousands of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches all have adequate cold-weather gear?

Next time the editorial board gets a boneheaded idea about public education, walk the proverbial mile in their shoes — with hat, coat and gloves, of course.

– Ernie Morán, Fort Worth

We still need you, Ron DeSantis

Cynthia Allen’s Jan. 19 column “DeSantis should stick it out. The country may need him” (13A) was spot-on, even if Ron DeSantis did soon drop out of the presidential race.

DeSantis displays a calm that none of the other candidates seems to possess. We certainly don’t need a bombastic president or a person of diminished capacity. We need someone who has good governance in his background and who displays patience and calm. Further, it is time for a generational change as well.

– Angela Benvenuto, Arlington

Why we keep loving Donald Trump

Ryan Rusak seems to think Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley could simply make Donald Trump look really bad, and then go ahead and win the GOP nomination. (Jan. 17, 16A, “Iowa shows cost of DeSantis, Haley not blasting Trump”) But what has America been witnessing for the last several years? The entire corporate media, the deep state, the current Democratic administration and the world’s globalist elites have been attacking Trump, and he is more popular than ever in the Republican Party.

DeSantis or Haley could not withstand a tenth of the attacks Trump has weathered. How can millions of average working-class folks in flyover country who have never been or would ever want to go to New York love a brash real estate developer billionaire from Queens?

It is very simple. It is entertaining to watch liberals spasm with fits of Trump Derangement Syndrome. But mostly, it’s the fact that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

– Scott Clay, Arlington

The simple truth about Ken Paxton

Five stars to the Star-Telegram Editorial Board for calling out Attorney General Ken Paxton for what he is: a crook who has no business occupying the office he holds. (Jan. 21, 4C, “What it takes to get truth out of Paxton: a deposition order”)

What a disgrace.

– Claude LaFerney, North Richland Hills

It might as well be money magic

President Joe Biden is my new superhero. He somehow eliminated $4.9 billion of student loan debt. I encourage him to take that one step further and cement his place in history by magically erasing our $34 trillion of national debt.

– William R. Kenny, Cresson