Letters: Public Schools, Health Care, Weird Winter

NEAL CONAN, host:

It's Tuesday, the day we read from your e-mails. A week ago Monday we talked with the CEO of the Chicago public schools about the progress that city has made since the mayor took control of the school system. Joseph Willis(ph) is a veteran teacher and thinks the decision-makers should be in the classroom.

Teachers are the only people that know what will improve learning, he wrote. Turn the schools over to the classroom teachers and hold them accountable. Give us the resources that are needed, and then get out of the way. Whatever political entity controls the schools is more about the politics than about the learning. I would never tell a businessperson how to do their job. If we want better education in America, we need to provide outstanding resources and turn over control to the teachers.

After our show last week on mandatory health coverage, a number of you e-mailed in support of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to insure every resident of California, including Maggie Costa(ph) from Modesto.

I was thrilled to hear the plan. As a teacher, I am astounded at all the health problems that students bring to school. No longer will a lack of insurance prevent parents from seeking medical attention. Goodbye, bronchitis, poor vision and worse.

But Bill, another listener from the Golden State sees problems with the plan. I own a small retail business in Sacramento with five employees. If I expand to another location I trigger the plan's 4 percent fee. I've asked my workers, all under 30, how much they would pay for insurance, and I hear $25 to $40 a month. Even if I match that, there are no policies available at that price.

The weather was on everybody's mind last week after two blizzards pounded the U.S. plains and 70 degree temperatures made it feel more like spring than winter in much of the Midwest and along the East Coast.

We checked in with business owners to find out how the weird weather affected their bottom line, including Seven Brothers Ice Cream in Maryland, where January sales were on track to triple.

Laura(ph), a listener in Talk Etna, Alaska, wrote to tell us she doesn't need warm weather to enjoy a scoop of ice cream. It is minus 25 degrees here today, and there is lots of snow. I love ice cream, and I eat it all winter despite the temperature, and so do all my friends. Alaska tops the rest of the country on purchasing ice cream per capita, so bring on the cold, the snow and the ice cream.

Not every listener saw good humor in the warm weather and extra ice cream cones. Cherry(ph) in San Francisco e-mailed her concern. Ask your callers what they'd do if this weather happened every winter from now on.

And finally, a clarification. During our coverage of the clergy sex-abuse scandal five years after news of the cover-up broke, one of our guests referred to a case in Fresno, California. He said a priest there was accused of molesting a boy in a civil trial and was found guilty.

Of course, civil trials determine liability, not guilt, and in this case the jury decided nine to three that the priest had molested the boy but deadlocked on whether the diocese knew about it. The judge declared a mistrial and scheduled a new trial for April. The diocese stands by the accused priest.

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