The Valley Grove School Board lead by their superintendent gave Channel One a big vote of approval. Board president Robert Lewis mocked the petition with 287 names opposing Channel One. He said out of 6,000 residents that was not impressive.
Mr. Lewis was the man who brought Channel One into the school system in the early nineties. Like most school systems board members forgot about Channel One and allowed Channel One’s many abuses to occur without their knowledge.
The vote was stacked against citizens of Valley Grove. Lewis asked a class of students to invite Dr. Paul Folkemer of Channel One to come and help prop up support for Channel One. Folkemer flew in and was picked up at the airport by board members. Then they had coffee and discussed how to keep Channel One in the lives of Valley Grove schoolchildren.
Jim Metrock said, “I have never seen a group of students misused by a private company to this degree. Ten years ago a teacher would have been fired for allowing students to be manipulated by a desperate vendor. This class came up with the most biased questions that benefited Channel One. Where was the principal when this was going on? The reason the principal may have been reluctant to intercede is the teacher who masterminded the pro-Channel One effort is married to a very pro-Channel One board member. What is even more discouraging is this board member is a Methodist minister.”
Apparently the minister was not offended by the violent and sexually-charged entertainment Channel One has promoted to children. He and other board members were little troubled by the materialism that Channel One preaches non-stop to students.
Metrock said, “What I saw was a fabulous community of parents and grandparents that have gotten a board that appears to be controlled by Mr. Lewis who is more concerned about saving face than serving the students. This community could replace Channel One equipment for seven thousand dollars and avoid the controversy that they will have until Channel One is kicked out. I can tell you this, there is not an accountant in Pennsylvania or the nation that would approve a contract that gives so little and takes away so much.”
