Teaching reading, clean water, immigrants and Francis Scott Key Bridge strike, 'The Ten Commandments' movie

Parents’ focus must be on reading basics

Sometimes it takes the parent of a young child, struggling to learn to read, to understand the fraud that our schools have been perpetrating in the name of teaching reading [“Phonics should be the base of early reading,” Opinion, March 28]. I taught for many years, in an otherwise excellent district, that fell for this deceit.

During my tenure, it was called “whole language.” I called it the hole in our literary arts program.

Spelling? It was practically nonexistent. Phonics? That was way too tedious. So, what happened?

We created a generation of young people who had difficulty learning to read and remain weak readers today.

While you cannot expect success with every child by incorporating phonics and spelling into the language arts program, somehow these very basics of our language need to be systematically incorporated into the curriculum.

It is up to the parents to insist that their districts do not jump on every unproven bandwagon in the name of improving instruction. It is your tax dollars that are going toward not educating your children in their best interest.

— Penny Reich, East Meadow

We need to have the best water possible

All Long Islanders agree about the need for clean water [“Clean-water funding is crucial in state budget,” Opinion, March 24]. Nitrogen pollution from sewage is causing water quality impairments, fish kills and harmful algal blooms. Contaminants poses a significant threat to our drinking water and health. The good news is that we know how to solve these problems, but we need money.

The Clean Water Infrastructure Act has allowed us to expand sewers, replace septic systems, install water treatment to remove toxic chemicals, combat harmful algal blooms and more, all while creating good-paying jobs. New York needs at least $80 billion to upgrade aging wastewater and drinking water infrastructure over 20 years. In 2023, Long Island municipalities and water districts applied for nearly $150 million for shovel-ready projects that have not been funded.

Unfortunately, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed to slash clean water funding from $500 million to $250 million. Thankfully, the State Senate and Assembly restored funding in their respective budgets.

A large coalition of environmental groups, labor unions, water suppliers, wastewater treatment operators, and municipalities are pushing for $600 million in the final budget. This is a modest increase and a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. Clean water is worth it.

— Adrienne Esposito, Farmingdale

The writer, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, chairs the state Clean Water Coalition.

Bridge men deserve praise, not disdain

We now know that hard-working men from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, with wives and children, were filling potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore when it collapsed, plunging six of the workers to their deaths in the Patapsco River [“Victims remembered amid bridge cleanup,” Nation, April 1].

The answer to the immigration problem is not to keep them for months in Mexico, causing many to seek illegal entry, but to have more immigration judges and a faster vetting process.

— Joseph M. Varon, West Hempstead

It is wrong for the media, or anyone else for that matter, to label those of us who want secure borders as being anti-immigration.

Immigrants coming to a growing country, passing through facilities such as Ellis Island, were a far cry in both time and demeanor from today’s chaos.

So, here’s a welcome to those who follow the rules and a stringent no thank you to those who do not.

— Richard M. Frauenglass, Huntington

Classic film is about Passover, not Easter

Jay Bobbin’s TV column on a classic movie was an insult to the Jewish community [“ ‘The Ten Commandments’ continues its Easter tradition,” exploreLI, March 28].

The movie tells the story of Passover, a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the release from the oppression and enslavement of the Hebrew people in Egypt. It’s not about Easter.

The last supper that Jesus celebrated before his death was a Passover seder. This is why Passover and Easter occur around the same time of the year.

This year, Passover takes place three weeks after Easter. Perhaps the movie should have been scheduled to coincide with the Jewish holiday.

— Scott Diamond, Levittown

“The Ten Commandments” isn’t about Easter. It’s an accounting of the Hebrews’ journey from Egypt to freedom as recorded in the Old Testament, which is accepted as the Jewish Bible and the basis for the New Testament that followed.

The exodus was already history in Jesus’ lifetime. Both Passover and Easter celebrations represent rebirth and new beginnings. We all need that now.

— Shari Hecht, West Islip