The Daily Times "Delmar to Move 5th-graders" Article

March 16th, I gave a public comment at the Delmar School District Board of Education meeting about the moving of Delmar Elementary’s 5th grade from the Wicomico County School District to Delmar Middle School, which is in the Delmar School District in Sussex County, Delaware. Unfortunately, the Daily Times quoted me as saying, "I was prepared to fight tooth and nail to have my kids sent to Salisbury, but I have come to realize that this really is the best decision given the circumstance", in bold print above the fold and as part of their lead article. The two problems with this quote are that I did not say I would fight to send my kids to a Salisbury school and the portion of the quote beginning with the word "but" was not said directly after the first part. These are two different quotes taken from a two minute public comment and mashed together as if they were stated fluidly.


I attended Delmar schools from kindergarten until my graduation in 1991, then moved away for college. I moved back to the area in 2005 and met my wife soon thereafter. She already owned a home near Hobbs Road in Wicomico County. I convinced her that we needed to purchase home in Delmar not only to re-join the tight knit community I knew as a kid, but so my child, who was 8 at the time, and future children could attend Delmar schools. Why would I do this if "I was prepared to fight tooth and nail to have my kids sent to Salisbury"? We more than doubled our debt to move to Delmar in part to insure our children the top notch education and family atmosphere their schools provide.


The article does correctly state that I was a member of Dr. Fredericksen’s (whose name they misspell) re-districting committee. I was selected for this committee after I sent emails to every member of the Wicomico County Board of Education opposing an op/ed I read in the Daily Times last fall, which put forth the possibility of re-districting Delmar Elementary and busing our kids to a Salisbury school. I believe Dr. Fredericksen wanted divergent views and robust debate in the committee and my firm stance was welcomed. Before the committee could re-draw any lines in the district we spent several weeks learning about transportation costs, special needs children, poverty level, racial diversity, special permissions, the magnet program and many other items.


The paperwork we received more than filled a large three ring binder and the meetings were dense in information and long on conversation. During those months of learning we were told there were no funds to build or even expand the elementary school. Given this, I believed with all my heart that the prospect of moving Delmar children from Delmar Elementary to another school in Salisbury was very likely. The Delmar Elementary school was the most over capacity and therefore, warranted the most attention. Many times I came home after the meetings telling my wife that I was going to have a huge fight on my hands when it came time to re-draw borders. Though I hoped to persuade others to keep as many Delmar children in Delmar, I prepared myself to be the lone dissenter in a plan that would move our children, to be the one vote in a 29-1 approval of re-districting. It was stressful and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
Then something changed in the meetings. After a lot of talk about the Bi-State Agreement and the overcrowding at Delmar Elementary, Dr. Fredericksen steered us away from the topic. We worked on moving other lines in the district and I just assumed Dr. Fredericksen was saving the worst fight for last. A few meetings later Dr. Ring, the Delmar School District Superintendent who also attended many of the committee meetings, told us about the plan to move the 5th grade. I was immensely relieved.


When I read the newspaper this morning I was irate. I couldn’t understand how anyone could have listened to my two minutes and misquoted me so erroneously. I immediately called the managing editor of the Daily Times, Erick Sahler. He didn’t answer so I left a voice mail. I also emailed another writer for the paper. A few hours later the writer of the article called and apologized. He seemed sincere, but when I told him that the people who live on the Maryland side of Delmar, like I do, already have a choice to send their children to Salisbury schools, he said he was not aware of this. Had he known this it would have made his misquote look as incongruent to him as it did to everyone else, especially since I have a 7th grader at Delmar Middle School. After speaking with him for a few moments, I accepted his apology. He had the online edition of the article changed both at the Daily Times website and the New Journal’s and said a correction will run tomorrow.


My take away from this feels oddly similar to a fender-bender car accident I was in many years ago. The person hit me and didn’t mean to, but his intention did nothing to mitigate the damage to my car, which had to go to the shop for several days. I was a single parent and working as a temp at a warehouse at the time. I lost my job because I couldn’t get to work. Again, the guy that hit my car did not intend any of this to happen, but it did. Likewise, I believe the writer of this article misquoted me honestly, but this does not mitigate the people who will read this article and believe that I was fighting to have their children sent to Salisbury elementary schools. In a town where we cherish our community, our kids, small town life and our school system this misquote has the potential to damage my reputation amongst those I do not know, especially parents. I only hope and pray that I will have the opportunity to discuss this with as many of them as possible.

Cheers,
Tom "Bunky" Luffman, Jr.