Long Division

Rank smell: To the individual who withheld his or her name in their letter (“Numbers Racket,” Letters, April 21): Don’t let the facts get in the way.

Kansas City, Missouri (expenditures per pupil $8,622, child poverty rate 23.4 percent), is not spending three times as much as Blue Valley ($7,020, 1.7 percent), or any other Johnson County district, for that matter. In addition, there are no legitimate “national rankings” per se that put Blue Valley among the “best” districts in the country nor ratings that put KCMO in the bottom 25 percent. Among large school districts nationally, we can say that Blue Valley has among the lowest poverty rates. That’s about it. But that’s precisely why Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, for that matter, need substantially more support for their students. Not less, as the Kansas Legislature would have it. You can’t just make these things up. There are actual numbers available out there.

Bruce D. Baker

Associate Professor

University of Kansas

Dilated pupils: Regarding “Funny Math”: As a teacher in the Kansas City, Kansas, School District, I was outraged by the narrow-minded, Johnson County attitude of Sen. John Vratil. For example, he was quoted as saying “it costs more to provide an education in those areas,” referring to counties with a higher cost of living. Just because some children lead more privileged lives in terms of wealth, how does that make it more expensive to educate them? Isn’t every child supposed to receive a fair and equitable education?

Second, Mr. Vratil argued that it costs more to convince a teacher to work in a Johnson County school district. WHAT?! First of all, the supply of teachers wanting to work in a more privileged district far outweighs the demand, whereas it is the exact opposite situation in KCK, where the district has had to start programs that hire people with noneducation degrees just to fill all of the job openings that it has. In the age of No Child Left Behind (and don’t even get me started on the inequality of that law), the expectations for teachers in urban schools have been raised astronomically. Our students are expected to perform at the same levels as those students in Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission and Olathe, without taking into account that our students are two to three years behind those students before even reaching kindergarten.

Krista Hannebaum

Olathe

Gold Standard

Black diamond: Nadia Pflaum’s “Johnson County Bling” (April 14) did a good job on getting the details from the trio concerning its gold-tooth business. However, I feel the article capitalized on one type of thinking from a whole community. The black community continues to be enslaved by thought processes that are glorified in this article. Wake up, black people; it’s your ignorance that is being put in the limelight.

Instead of trying to “outdo each other with more diamonds in your mouth to show off prosperity,” like Tyler said, why not invest some of that money so that one day you’ll actually have something to fall back on? Why not show off your prosperity by buying a home, getting a utility bill in your own name, purchasing reliable transportation, putting money on the books of your incarcerated loved one, or donating money to better YOUR community? Adrian Gray is quoted as saying, “Here in KC, we like gold and diamonds.” Who is “we”? It’s not me. It’s not those I associate with. It’s not my co-workers. It’s not my church members. It’s not my banker or my real estate representative.

Also, Crawford should realize that he is a “tool” for Szilvasy and Tyler. Without Crawford’s face, there perhaps wouldn’t be the clientele at Corner House Jewelers. And Crawford should know he wouldn’t stand a chance in JoCo without the pair.

Name Withheld by Request

Booooo: As a usual fan of the Pitch, I thought your cover story about black men getting gold and diamond teeth was sickening. It seems if it’s a black thang, it’s a cool thang! If black men start a fad consisting of chopping off their pinkie fingers, I’ll bet the Pitch will have a cover story raving about how cooool it is.

Do you have any idea how phony this “Everything Black Must Be Cool” makes you whiteys at the Pitch look? The real hardship I see in my own community being made worse by fools blowing their family’s money on such an embarrassing fad is bad enough. Having it glorified by oh-so-unhip white folks in gentrified downtown is the last straw. If it’s black, it’s cooooooo! Y’all are foooos.

David Johnson

Kansas City, Missouri

Minority Whip

Beat reporting: The article by Jen Chen on the dominatrix was extremely disturbing to me (Night Ranger, February 17). I have been in the fetish lifestyle for about 13 years — the last three as a professional dominant — and in my opinion, this girl Elena doesn’t have a clue.

Her portrayal of the fetish lifestyle and the professional dominatrix business was misleading and stereotypical. Basically, she doesn’t seem to have a real good handle on it. Her descriptions were totally unsafe, and some of her sessions sound dangerous and stupid to me.

She has the typical mentality that we hear so often from former strippers: “I can strip, so I can beat someone.” We call them strippers with whips, a bit of fluff that has no clue. And, unfortunately, a bit of fluff that will end up hurting someone. She was an extremely POOR representative for not only the fetish lifestyle but also professional domination.

I’ve invested countless hours in education and safety workshops for the simple reason that safety should always come first. Elena, I believe, is the type of person who gives the fetish community a bad name.

Name Withheld by Request