To the Editor:
An open letter to the many people who are not cleaning up after their dogs:
Every day I walk my son to school and I am getting more and more disgusted of the obstacle course we need to walk through all along Avenue A between 22nd Street and around the school grounds of Midtown Community School.
To the people who are allowing their dogs to do their business on and around the Midtown Community School campus: How are we as parents and teachers suppose to teach our kids to respect people’s property while all they do is witness inconsiderate, irresponsible, disrespectful, rude people use their school campus as their animal’s personal restroom? How would you like it if you could not walk your child to school without having to walk over, around or through dog waste? Is this the example you wish to set for these young people? How are they supposed to learn to care about the community they live in when their community is being made a wasteland?
One of the life lessons these kids are taught at Midtown from the first day of pre-k all the way to eighth grade is respect: earn it, deserve it, return it. It is the school’s theme. This is what our children are taught, yet they go outside to a slap in the face with just how disrespectful people are. What about the health factors associated with this problem?
I am writing this as a mother for all the children at Midtown. I teach my son not to throw garbage on the street, to respect other people’s property, to say excuse me, and thank you. The school teaches them that the community is important, responsibility is important, manners are important. But, yet, you feel the need to turn the school into your personal toilet.
I will inform you in case you did not know there are numerous tools that can be bought at the pet store or any grocery store that will assist you in cleaning up after your dog. In the event that grabbing some plastic shopping bags is too difficult for you or if you do not keep them after your weekly grocery trip, there are these little plastic bones that are about three inches long and an inch wide that can be attached to any handle of a dog leash. Inside these bones are rolled up plastic bags and refills can be bought. I suggest that you purchase one.
Please take the minute to clean up after your pet. It is your pet, your responsibility. Please stop using Midtown Community School as your dog’s toilet. Show to them what is taught to them: respect.
MICHELLE SAAVEDRA
Midtown Community School Mom