Letter to the Editor #3

Printed in the Maryland Independent on Wednesday October 11, 2006.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to several letters to the editor that ran on October 6, 2006. Mr. Brady, on par with other EACC members, once again attempts to mislead readers and alleges a religious voting bloc of Abell, Young, Crawford, and Bailey. However, this science teacher does not provide the readers with any factual data to support his allegation. So, I've taken heed from my own advice and hit the homework books once again.

I have reviewed all minutes and public voting records from the time of my appointment in June of 2004, up to and including September, 19, 2006. I found 293 total votes over those 27 months. I will let the statistics speak for themselves, for they ring loud and clear over the din of the EACC's continual flow of misinformation.

As a board we have cast unanimous votes 117 times. This is a 40% agreement rate for a board that the EACC and the media have attempted to label and portray as divisive.

From 293 total votes, the alleged "religious voting bloc" of Bailey, Crawford, Abell, and Young voted together a whopping 16 times over the course of 27 months. Do the math, and it comes out to a 5% rate.

While doing my homework, the data also revealed two other interesting voting trends. The bloc of Crawford, Wade, Coggins, and Marshall voted together 16 times too, however that has been in the past 6 months alone. Over the same aforementioned 27-month period, Bailey, Wade, Crawford, and Marshall voted together 8 times. This information could lead one to conclude the "split" was never really along so called religious lines, but rather along gender lines.

Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at abell4edu@verizon.net and I will be happy to provide you with the hard, cold data.

In addition, I believe the public will have a difficult time choosing from among so many qualified candidates who are committed to the education of our children. I would be honored to serve with any of them. The candidates each have unique styles and opinions. So I urge you once again, to do your own homework, don't rely on "little apple ballots", or rumors and innuendos in the editorial section of the paper. Instead, choose a candidate whose style and opinions are best for you.

Jennifer Abell