By CHRISTINE BERNSTEIN
Candidate For Re-election
Los Alamos School Board

I am Christine Bernstein, running for School Board. Not running against a person.

I am asking for civility in this campaign.

I published a Letter to the Editor and was met with a lot of assumptions made about intentions, thoughts, feelings and actions that were untrue.

I have an ask for this community:

I ask that we model the behavior we would want in our kids.

I ask that we ask ourselves, “Do I know this is true for a fact?” before stating it as if it were.

I ask you to contact me and ask me.

And even better, I ask you to meet me face to face and discuss issues, rather than make mean disparaging comments behind my back or from the safety of your computer.

Lastly, I want to thank Morrie Pongratz. Running against him was a great challenge. He is a pillar of this community and has worked years with our youth and developed sustainable programs to support youth in the community. I have the utmost respect for this man and how he campaigned 4 years ago. And thank you for sitting and talking with me briefly during the campaign.

Thank you Morrie for being a kind and upstanding citizen. I realized only recently how civil that campaign was. The worst thing written four years ago was a letter from David Izraelevitz in support of Morrie that had insinuations that I was not capable of certain tasks. There were no personal unfounded attacks on me or my character. After reading the LTE, I spoke with Mr. Izraelevitz face to face. It was a slightly tense, yet civil conversation. And in retrospect, I want to thank David Izraelevitz for having the courage to speak with me, to voice his opinions and support for Morrie honestly and respectfully. No hard feelings here, David.

We do not all have to agree. Our kids are watching. If we want safe and civil schools, then we need to have a safe and civil community. Let’s practice that.