{"id":47542,"date":"2014-03-20T04:44:32","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T08:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=47542"},"modified":"2014-03-20T04:44:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T08:44:32","slug":"letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Letter to the editor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have always loved Meadow Park Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida.\u00a0 It has great nostalgia for me as I started Kindergarten at that school the year after it was built.\u00a0 Now all four of my children attend or have attended Meadow Park Elementary School.\u00a0 It is a great school with amazing teachers!\u00a0 I have rarely had any issues as a parent with how my children were treated or with parent\/school communication, until now.<\/p>\n

Things are changing in our society as we stray far, far away from the basics in education, and push \u201cforward\u201d using ideologies I was never exposed to as a child.\u00a0 As an American, I would say I am of average \u2013to above average intelligence, as are my children.\u00a0 I say this, because I worked hard later in life to educate myself as to what is really going on in our country and I use every opportunity to teach my own children as I go.\u00a0 With that being said, Kalei my 11 year old 5th\u00a0grader, and 23 other children learned a little bit about how socialism works and why capitalism must always precede a socialist takeover. \u00a0They also learned it doesn’t matter if you oppose abortion, you will <\/i>support it one way or another.<\/p>\n

\"kalei-bandaloom\"

Kalei<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It all began in 2013 shortly before Christmas break (I call it that; our county calls it \u201cwinter break.\u201d)\u00a0 Several of the girls in this advanced 5th<\/sup> grade class were making \u201cbandaloom\u201d bracelets and had an entrepreneurial idea to do it as a fundraiser.\u00a0 They asked their teacher; Mrs. Finnegan and Mrs. Finnegan took the idea to the Principal of the school, Ms. Mott.\u00a0\u00a0 Ms. Mott said it was fine and parents were told by their children to go out and buy \u201cbandaloom kits\u201d so the kids could make the bracelets and sell them to the whole school. \u00a0When I asked Kalei, she said it might go towards a field trip, since the regular annual 5th\u00a0grade trip was at risk of being cancelled due to funding. \u00a0The whole class was involved as Mrs. Finnegan asked them for ideas of a non-profit organization the class would like to support with the funds they were to raise.\u00a0 After the class gave their ideas and they were written on the board, the teacher advised them they would all vote<\/i> that upcoming Friday.\u00a0 Then the teacher went to talk to the principal.<\/p>\n

\"bandaloom\"<\/p>\n

Not only did the kids not vote on Friday, they were presented with an alternate idea, suggested to the teacher by Ms. Mott, to donate the funds to the United Way.\u00a0 The teacher pulled up the United Way website, showed pictures and videos of tragic scenarios and the children\u2019s hearts were all broken and the American Cancer Society and the Animal Welfare League never had a chance.\u00a0 Those were two of the organizations that the children had suggested which were still written on the board. \u00a0\u00a0Then the children left for Christmas break.<\/p>\n

Upon returning from break, the kids were told that they were now raising money for the United Way.\u00a0 Several wondered, \u201cWhen did we vote on this?\u201d\u00a0 One child asked my daughter and she said to him, \u201cwe never did!\u201d\u00a0 Weeks went by and the kids sold $533 worth of \u201cbandaloom bracelets\u201d to students, teachers, and staff at the school.\u00a0 Ms. Finnegan e-mailed the United Way and told them \u201cwe have money for you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Then information began to trickle out to the parents that there was going to be a big press release with the local media including the principal, teacher and a school board member.\u00a0\u00a0 This is when parents realized what had just happened.\u00a0 Our children were lied to and robbed and for what?\u00a0 To support the United Way!!!<\/p>\n

After speaking to several irate parents and to get my story straight, I confronted the Vice Principal and later got a phone call from Ms. Asena Mott, the principal of the school.\u00a0 She tried to tell me that the class reached a \u201cconsensus\u201d and that there was no need to vote.\u00a0 She also said that she didn\u2019t want to teach the kids about voting because [in the real world, a vote doesn\u2019t even count] or something similar to that statement.\u00a0 She was firm about the kids not<\/i> having an opportunity to vote since she \u201cdidn\u2019t want any hurt feelings.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was appalled at the attitude this woman had towards our own American civics.\u00a0 I informed her that in just two short years the children will be in a Florida mandated civics class and will be learning about it anyway!\u00a0 She responded that she felt that the kids were too young to learn \u201cit\u2019s a dog eat dog world\u201d out there.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d I thought? The kids just learned about erections last week, and they can\u2019t learn about voting?\u00a0 This is crazy!<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just <\/i>about denying the children their right to vote, as I have looked into the United Way.\u00a0 United Way funds Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation.\u00a0\u00a0 I educated my daughter Kalei about this fact and made several futile attempts at conveying our religious beliefs to the principal.\u00a0\u00a0 Time after time she tried to marginalize our concerns and even tried to tell me that my daughter didn\u2019t really <\/i>participate that much in the creation of the bracelets or the sales, when Kalei advised me she was responsible for raising $45-$60 in the three days she helped sell them.\u00a0 When I conveyed that to Ms. Mott, she asked me, \u201cDo you want your money back?\u201d\u00a0 She seemed intent on missing the point. \u00a0She said the money is going to the United Way and that is not going to change. \u00a0I still wonder if the fact that the Superintendent of Schools is also a United Way board member has any relevance here.<\/p>\n

A couple of days after this conversation, Kalei came home and said they had a vote.\u00a0 The United Way won.\u00a0 \u201cReally?\u201d I said.\u00a0 How did it go?\u00a0 She whipped out her notebook with her notes and read to me exactly<\/i> what had happened.\u00a0\u00a0 No other information was given about the other<\/i> organizations the children<\/i> had suggested, and the United Way was put up on the board.\u00a0 The United Way won over the Animal Welfare League 12-10.\u00a0\u00a0 Several children were talking afterwards and said, \u201cWe only voted for the United Way because we knew the teacher had already told them the money was for them.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 They felt powerless and pressured.\u00a0 What a very sad day for children in America.<\/p>\n

Does this sound familiar in our country today?\u00a0 We work hard for our money only to have someone else come in and tell us what they are going to do with it.\u00a0 Not only that, we are forced to support abortion even when we don\u2019t want to!\u00a0 My child learned something alright, she learned that we have to fight for what is right even when our leaders, who we are suppose to trust, use heavy-handed tactics to force us to do the opposite.<\/p>\n

Tina Marie Lawler<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter to the editor: I have always loved Meadow Park Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida.\u00a0 It has great nostalgia for me as I started Kindergarten at that school the year after it was built.\u00a0 Now all four of my children attend or have attended Meadow Park Elementary School.\u00a0 It is a great school with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":47543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2242],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLetter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Letter to the editor: I have always loved Meadow Park Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida.\u00a0 It has great nostalgia for me as I started Kindergarten at that school the year after it was built.\u00a0 Now all four of my children attend or have attended Meadow Park Elementary School.\u00a0 It is a great school with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/bandaloom.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"202\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tina Marie Lawler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tina Marie Lawler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tina Marie Lawler\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/054a6a2e9b3120f8e7350328270a6de3\"},\"headline\":\"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\"},\"wordCount\":1195,\"commentCount\":18,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Letter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\",\"name\":\"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/054a6a2e9b3120f8e7350328270a6de3\",\"name\":\"Tina Marie Lawler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ffe04a2751ef3f6e0491a86fdd7c6ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ffe04a2751ef3f6e0491a86fdd7c6ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tina Marie Lawler\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/tinamarielawler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News","og_description":"Letter to the editor: I have always loved Meadow Park Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida.\u00a0 It has great nostalgia for me as I started Kindergarten at that school the year after it was built.\u00a0 Now all four of my children attend or have attended Meadow Park Elementary School.\u00a0 It is a great school with […]","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":202,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/bandaloom.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tina Marie Lawler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tina Marie Lawler","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/"},"author":{"name":"Tina Marie Lawler","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/054a6a2e9b3120f8e7350328270a6de3"},"headline":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way","datePublished":"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/"},"wordCount":1195,"commentCount":18,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Letter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/","name":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-20T08:44:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-no-voting-allowed-unless-you-vote-for-the-united-way\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Letter: No voting allowed, unless you vote for the United Way"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/054a6a2e9b3120f8e7350328270a6de3","name":"Tina Marie Lawler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ffe04a2751ef3f6e0491a86fdd7c6ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ffe04a2751ef3f6e0491a86fdd7c6ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tina Marie Lawler"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/tinamarielawler\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}