In response to Rep. Peter Doak’s guest editorial regarding the military recruiter bill (“Another View: Military recruiter bill fixed genuine problem in our schools,” June 14), he is doubly wrong.

First, military recruiters, like all military personnel, must work within a chain of command. They should also respect other organizations’ chains of command.

If recruiters had issues with principals, they (or their bosses) should have gone to the superintendents, not to the governor.

If a problem can’t get resolved with a superintendent, it’s time to go to the school board. This protocol solves problems at the lowest level.

Second, state legislation is appropriate for statewide issues.

Repeatedly at legislative hearings, I have heard legislators try to assess the scope of issues to determine whether they warrant state-level action.

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Unnamed recruiters pinpointing two schools about a phantom policy did not rise to that level.

This issue should have been handled with a phone call.

Using a bill to address this local issue was disrespectful of local administrators because it assumed they could not handle the problem (if one truly existed), it wasted legislators’ time and it was grandstanding of the highest order.

Dewey Meteer of Nobleboro is a retired commander in the U.S. Navy.

 


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