Opinion | D.C.’s truancy problem won’t get better without involved parents (2024)

Richard Moore, Washington

The April 11 news article “Ohio GOP governor sells public health by focusing on kids” has an important undertone. Investing in children’s health is our most powerful lever to create a healthier society and stronger economy. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) says, “It’s hard to sell stuff on the basis of public health.” I know the feeling. As a pediatric surgeon and CEO of a children’s health system, I fight the uphill battle of selling public health every day.

I believe Mr. DeWine has got it right. In this country, we mistakenly equate health with medical care. Medical care is an important but relatively small part of health. The governor’s health agenda is built around children, as it should be. It includes safety, good nutrition, freedom from violence, early education and more. All these factors are major determinants of health, and all can be markedly affected by small investments during childhood.

Beyond improving our population’s health, this agenda’s economic benefits are enough to appeal to both sides of the aisle. Studies show that spending a dollar now to set a child up for lifelong health yields shockingly high returns to taxpayers and the broader economy for years, decades and even generations to come. Mr. DeWine is correct in saying, “Everyone wants to see kids do better.” I couldn’t agree more. It is time to prioritize public health by investing in our children.

R. Lawrence Moss, Jacksonville, Fla.

The writer is president and chief executive of Nemours Children’s Health.

NatureScore reinforces that urban nature is absolutely critical to the health of cities and their inhabitants. We saw this vividly during the pandemic beginning in 2020, when urban dwellers relied on green spaces as a rare source of beautiful and socially distanced outdoor respite.

Climate change gives us the clear imperative — and opportunity — to prioritize nature in the urban planning of U.S. cities. What does this look like? A study from the Global Center for Clean Air Research finds that the unique infrastructure of botanical gardens has a measurable cooling effect on city air temperatures. This emphasizes the importance of plants, including trees, in greening our cities. By restoring and conserving a diverse array of plant life, especially in dense urban environments, we create much more livable cities for people, wildlife and future generations.

No less valuable are the communities that green spaces cultivate. Urban farms and community gardens are a powerful way to plant social connections, while also spreading nature within cities.

We urge all city leaders and urban planners to support well-managed urban conservation projects and green spaces. As the percentage of Americans living in cities rises sharply, doing so has the potential to be transformational.

Jennifer Bernstein, New York

The writer is president and CEO of the New York Botanical Garden.

Before we condemn Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa to purgatory for violating Mexico’s sovereignty by storming its embassy in Quito to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas, let’s look at what Mr. Dorfman did not say in his piece. Mr. Dorfman compares this action with his own experience of escaping a certain death at the hands of oppressive military dictator Augusto Pinochet by finding refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Santiago, Chile, in 1973.

But Mr. Dorfman was truly vulnerable, and his refugee status saved his life. Mr. Glas, on the other hand, was convicted twice for corruption, receiving prison sentences of six and eight years. In one case, he was convicted of taking millions of dollars from a Brazilian construction company and, in the other, he was found guilty for his role in a scheme that collected bribes for public procurement.

To further question whether Mr. Glas was even worthy of asylum, he was released from prison early in a controversial ruling by Judge Emerson Curipallo. Judge Curipallo is now in custody pending an investigation into his alleged role in a bribery scheme involving favorable rulings for a drug lord and others.

Mr. Dorfman cites the importance of respecting the 20th-century refugee protections that are included in a series of agreements and laws. Are these protections designed for convicted criminals? If so, where then does the search for asylum by bad people end?

Maybe it’s time to revisit these agreements and laws to ensure that those most vulnerable are protected in their time of need while not giving protection to convicted criminals such as Mr. Glas.

Curtis Schaeffer, Falls Church

Without reservation, I support Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. I agree entirely that Israel is of central political and historical importance to the United States. This said, I take issue with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) when he states that “Israel’s a much closer ally, is a much more core American national security interest” than Ukraine.

Mr. Vance is dead wrong. When Israel is attacked, we must surely support it with the weapons and materiel needed to secure their self-defense. To my knowledge, however, we are not bound by treaty to place troops in Israel, nor to make war directly against another nation on Israel’s behalf. The same cannot be said of Europe.

Russia has made clear that it aspires eventually to reconquer those European countries once comprising the Soviet empire. Ukraine stands in the way of that aspiration. Some countries of the old U.S.S.R. are now our NATO allies, whom we are formally required to defend in the event of attack. Should Ukraine fall, and history be a guide, Russia would gain borders with its former vassal states and then could pick its spots to begin snatching territory from NATO’s easternmost members. In this case, more U.S. troops would have to be deployed to Europe at incalculable risk to us and the entire world.

In a real sense, the United States is already fighting its war with Russia. Ukrainian citizens, however, are doing the fighting for us; their lives and their blood, not ours, are lost. What do we gain for the money and equipment supplied to NATO or to Ukraine? We gain the privilege of watching a war fought on European ground, at massive cost to its people and not so much to ours — in my view, a pretty good bargain.

Mr. Vance and his some of his Republican colleagues in Congress seem to be advocating for Russia, in effect making arguments for the Russian cause. My response: It is neither fair nor accurate to compare the gravity and enormity of our obligation to NATO (or Ukraine) with our close ties to Israel or, please, to connect any of this with our problems at the border with Mexico.

Bill Coe, Washington

In the April 9 Prompt 2024 newsletter, “Why is it so hard to find a winning third-party candidate?,” Alexi McCammond and her colleagues made several meritorious points. However, it is important to note that third-party and independent candidates must contend with various built-in roadblocks from state sore-loser and disaffiliation laws to debate rules controlled by the two-party duopoly and designed to stifle competition.

Additionally, in the case of No Labels’ recent attempt to recruit a “unity ticket,” potential candidates were fearful of playing the role of spoiler and tipping the election to Donald Trump. Enactment by each state of a unified, nonpartisan/open primary system in conjunction with ranked-choice voting (RCV) as practiced in Alaska would render moot that major criticism of the No Labels ballot access effort. RCV shuts down the spoiler argument by eliminating the candidate with the least number of votes round by round until a majority of votes is obtained by one candidate. Such a reform offers a long-term solution to reduce polarization in our politics, and serves fairness as opposed to disenfranchisem*nt by allowing independent/unaffiliated voters to participate in state-funded primaries. No Labels and other like-minded groups can work together to advocate such reforms and need not win an election to win the day.

Kenneth F. Cerullo, Mahwah, N.J.

The writer is a delegate for the No Labels movement.