December 1 – 14, 2012 45www.SanTanSun.com OpinionCommunity Commentary

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Is there a Santa Claus?Virginia O’hanlon was 8 years old when she wrote

a letter to the editor of New york’s “Sun,” and the response printed as an unsigned editorial on Sept. 21, 1897 was later deemed to be the work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church. According to newseum.org, his reply has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

here it is, for your enjoyment and to share with your children:

Shopping locally keeps Chandler economy healthy by CoUnCilMEMbEr riCK HEUMann

Each year about this time, I like to remind residents of the critical need to spend their dollars locally. With the holiday shopping season upon us, it is a good time to refl ect on the many great retailers that call Chandler home. Many of them are our neighbors – people who have taken the risk to run their own business and live the American dream.

Not that long ago, the biggest choice we faced when shopping was “paper or plastic?” Now, competition is tough. Online “e-tailers” and national chains have many advantages over the many unique, local businesses. But ultimately, the decision lies with you and me in how and where we choose to shop.

Several years ago, the City of Chandler launched a campaign called “Invest Wisely, Shop Chandler” to encourage residents to spend their dollars at retail stores and restaurants located within the City limits. The initiative was meant to help our community pull out of the Great Recession, and have largely been successful.

Our local economy is heavily dependent on sales tax revenue generated by transactions that occur within our City boundaries. The revenue from every dollar spent in Chandler helps support core municipal services such as police and fi re protection, parks and recreation programs, new roads, and basic maintenance. dollars spent in Chandler benefi t our community – while online purchases with out-of-state companies do nothing.

I strongly believe that locally owned businesses have vested interests in the region where others do not. They are more likely to invest back into the community through corporate giving, aiding area food banks and other social service agencies that rely tremendously on donations they receive from the private sector to operate.

Many studies show that independent businesses also tend to reinvest more of their dollars in the community by contracting with local suppliers. There is what is called a “multiplier effect” for shopping at community-based stores..For each dollar spent at a local independent store, three times or more gets fi ltered back into the community compared to a dollar spent at a chain business.

Perhaps as importantly, patronizing small businesses builds a greater sense of pride in the community. Residents are likely to stay closer to home if they feel more connected. don’t you enjoy the experience of shopping or dining out better if you are acknowledged by name from a familiar face?

I admit it is easy to be drawn to the attraction of shopping at the last minute at large stores or online. Before you do, check out the sites the City of Chandler and the nonprofi t agency Local First have created to remind residents of the importance of shopping locally. The websites chandleraz.gov/shop and localfi rstaz.com provide business directories and other tools to make informed consumer decisions.

here’s a New year’s Resolution you can start a little early: make a concerted effort to patronize retail stores and restaurants in Chandler. your contributions will help our local business community remain successful while helping to keep our City programs and service levels among the best in the nation.

So shoppers: will that be paper or plastic?

Publisher’s note

Laurie FagenPhoto byLightRainImages.com

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dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.Papa says, “If you see it in the ‘Sun’ it’s so.”Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?”Virginia O’hanlon, 115 West Ninety-Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. he exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fi lls the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! you might as well not believe in fairies! you might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.you may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand

years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Rick Heumann

46 December 1 – 14, 2012 www.SanTanSun.comOpinionCommunity Commentary Letters to the editor

Improve school achievement, no exceptionsby Carol Elias

Parents are always looking for ways to enhance their children’s achievement level in school. Achievement implies growth and eventual mastery of academic skills, the goal of every teacher, for every student, in every subject.

The way to accomplish this is by means of a

teaching technique called “skills grouping,” the practice of placing children of similar academic skill levels together for instruction.

Skill grouping is not new. Not all schools, however, utilize this teaching method. Most utilize the exact same curriculum and textbooks without considering skill level.

Generally, if there are two different ability groups in a typical classroom, they both use the same textbook.

New Vistas has always taught using skill grouping and we have expanded upon it in several important ways. We perform extensive testing to determine how best to specialize the curriculum according to each skill group. Then we use textbooks that reflect each group’s unique levels. This accomplishes several goals important to parents and students alike.

First, students can be more effectively instructed because they accomplish more and move more quickly. Grouping accelerates the time it takes to achieve mastery and allows students the opportunity to excel on nationally normed tests. Some students

go from average to highly advanced ranges on testing.Second, the ceiling to learning is removed.

For example, we have often seen high-achieving students in elementary grades that are ready to learn statistics/probability, geometry and pre-algebra long before those topics are introduced in the typical classroom. If the advanced material is presented, the gifted students will learn it.

Third, it enhances the academic challenge to students. This removes a common complaint of parents that schools only offer materials that assure mastery at the lowest common denominator.

So, why doesn’t every school utilize skill grouping to obtain positive outcomes?

Skill grouping takes a large faculty specially trained to properly execute in each classroom. It also means that different curriculum and textbooks must be purchased and employed by each teacher within the classroom. Additionally, use of skill grouping requires that a battery of assessment testing tools be utilized to determine individual student achievement levels. All of these considerations add up to budgetary constraints and most frequently are determined by entities outside of the classroom entities, such as state legislatures and local school boards.

So if skill grouping becomes the norm, will we see a jump in achievement levels? Without a doubt! We have proven this. Students exposed to this method excel. At New Vistas, most students perform and test two to six years above grade level.

Carol Elias is co-director of New Vistas, a private preschool, primary and elementary school located in Chandler.

Carol Elias

Making miracles Christmas is not just a time for family and friends. It’s

about what we do for others, helping each other. We all need miracles, and if you believe in miracles they can happen.

Maybe that miracle is finding that one person you have been hoping to meet all your life. Or calling an old friend and having him or her over for Christmas. That miracle could be buying groceries for that family in line behind you at a store. Or paying for dinner for that family you don’t know. Christmas is not about what you get or how expensive the gifts are, but about the miracles you make happen.

It’s about opening your heart and really listening to what people say around you. Most of all, if you are an owner of a business, remember the sacrifices that people have made for you and your company. And really appreciate what they have done to make it a special place to work.

A long time ago, I made the mistake of not telling a young woman that she made a real impact in my life and how I felt about her. I regret it to this day.

Remember to make the most of those miracles.

Scott Litaea, 85249

WhAT dO yOu ThINk?Will you vote in the August primary election and /

or the November general election? Why or why not? Send your responses to Letters@SanTanSun.com and include your community name for possible inclusion in a future issue of the SanTan Sun News.