LETTERS: Brentwood jobs cut, no taxpayer savings, and more

Brentwood jobs cut, no taxpayer savings

"Brentwood cuts 8 school positions" made it appear that the Brentwood School District was eliminating positions as a means of saving taxpayer dollars. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I spent 39 years working in Brentwood, the last 12 as superintendent of schools. It nauseates me to see what is being done in the name of "savings." Food services must operate a completely independent budget. If there is any savings in that budget, it cannot be allocated to the general fund and therefore, not reduce taxpayers' costs one penny. Any savings would be applied to the food service budget's fund balance.

Rumors that these positions were eliminated because they were somehow not in compliance with civil service regulations are utter nonsense. Before these positions were created some eight years ago (during my tenure as superintendent), they were vetted through civil service. Dissatisfaction with the program itself is doubtful, since it has operated for more than 20 years without an increase in student lunch prices. Newsday, in a 2008 article, reported Brentwood's lunches were healthier in comparison with other districts, in part due to subsidies the district receives.

Why, then, did a majority of the board of education vote to eliminate these positions? Only by continuing to question will the community know.

Les Black

Eastport

Editor's note: The writer is superintendent of the East Quogue School District.

Stem cell alternatives

In response to "Stem cell answer critical" : Human embryos destroyed in the research process are indeed human, each having a separate and unique DNA imprint from its parents. Surprisingly, an eagle egg has preferred status in this country. It is illegal to destroy a bald or golden eagle egg - the second offense rising to the level of a felony.

Second, all medical advances to date have come from using adult stem cell materials. Zero cures have come from embryonic research.

Bob Sommers

East Islip

Embryonic stem cells are no longer the "gold standard." With the discovery over a year and a half ago of a way to reprogram adult cells into what are known as induced pluripotent stem cells, any need to destroy human life at the embryonic stage to obtain stem cells ceased. Induced pluripotent stem cells appear "biologically identical to embryonic stem cells," as reported by Rob Stein in The Washington Post.

Jerome B. Higgins

Setauket