To the editor:

First, I have no ax to grind against the Mehlville School District.

Quite the contrary, my wife and I are very pleased with the education our kids are receiving. We see firsthand the hard work and dedication the teachers and staff put in to make this possible.

Why the administration at Mehlville keeps shooting itself in the foot is hard to understand. This latest edition, no longer letting the Call Newspapers distribute 25 to 50 papers per school, is comical.

The Post-Dispatch is part of the curriculum at Mehlville schools and the Call isn’t?

Patrick Wallace, school/community relations director, states, “There is advertising in the Call — that is advertising that is going in front of the students …” but “the advertising in the Post-Dispatch — it’s used in the classroom in a curriculum manner.”

That’s as lame as it comes, but sadly not surprising. At least have the guts to tell the Call that since they are critical of administration decisions at times — usually for good reasons — Mehlville schools won’t let them distribute their paper on school property any longer.

Then Mr. Wallace goes on to say he won’t tell the Call who told him to enforce board policy KI. Why the big secret?

Then when Mr. Wallace was asked if he knew whether the Mehlville School District participated in the Newspapers in Education Week, he replied, “I don’t know.”

He also didn’t know the Call had been distributed a number of years already in Mehlville schools. Sounds to me like the administration has the wrong person trying to answer questions asked by the Call.

If the administration truly is worried about advertising in their schools, I suggest they get rid of the vending machines with all the advertising on them and on Pizza Day have all the pizzas delivered in plain white boxes with no advertising on them.

But then again, this really isn’t about advertising, is it?

I’ve got an idea: Try following the Sunshine Law the way it was intended and encourage, not discourage, public comment at board meetings. You may be surprised how my view of the administration would change and I’m just guessing quite a few others.

Kevin Schaper

Oakville