I am appalled that a former chairwoman of the Amherst Select Board used her letter to the editor (“Students must be well-informed to lobby,” June 9) to publicly shame sixth-grade students for their civic engagement.
In 2014, the letter writer earned an award from the League of Women Voters of Amherst for promoting civic engagement in the community. Instead, in 2017, she has used one quotation to characterize civic efforts as “cute,” and say that students “need to be better informed than they seem to be.”
If the writer has a perspective and concern about hunting, then she should do as the sixth-graders did and communicate with Rep. Solomon Goldstein-Rose herself. I applaud Fort River students’ efforts to engage with legislators given this clearly challenging climate in Amherst for citizens to speak out in the public space.
Keep going, students. You have my support.
Amy Ryan
Amherst
