Editor:

District 1 School Board Member Rhonda Lennon has received a good deal of flack lately from a few disgruntled parents about her vote in support of relocating the Davidson International Baccalaureate program. I think it’s time for her critics to pipe down and back off.

I’m not going to rehash the cases for or against the decision, except to say that over the months this controversy went on, all the arguments I heard for keeping the program in Davidson were either self-serving and/or failed to take into account the board’s financial situation and fairness to students in the North Mecklenburg community as a whole. The arguments against moving the program, such as they were, amounted simply to variations on a very narrow theme.

Yet, Lennon is being criticized now because, despite the fact she made her reasoning clear, she didn’t sacrifice even more of her time listening to these generally unreasonable and impolitely made arguments over and over and over again.

Please.

How many of you would have put up with that? Other than those of you kidding yourselves, very few, I’d wager.

I’m not a worshipper at the altar of all things Lennon. In fact, I’ve had some differences of opinion with her in the past. But I respect her thoughtfulness, her motivations and her need for a personal life. Yes, it is vital that elected officials be open to communications from constituents, but I don’t think any of the job descriptions require that the official respond to repeated appeals using the same arguments.

– Joe Melton, Huntersville