To the editor:

A former resident of Lawrence, all four of my children attended New York School in the late 1990s. New York had just been updated with a new gym/cafeteria, media center, playground and handicapped access. New York is a neighborhood school and we loved it!

There is a comfortable, family feeling that the students and families belong there. This makes all the difference in learning, personal accountability, family participation and communication.

Closing other schools and adding their populations to New York or Cordley would be quite detrimental, not only to the incoming children, but also to neighborhood students. This is a real harm for young children. The small school, neighborhood atmosphere is priceless. It cannot be replicated these days with huge residential developments.

By combining New York and East Heights, both with a high number of minority students, the board will create one large school for minority students in the district, thereby creating a potential of racial segregation in the Lawrence school system. This cannot be tolerated and most certainly will be challenged in court. Parents spoke out against this in 1999.

The neighborhoods will suffer from lack of a nearby school for the youngest, most vulnerable learners. Once those schools are closed, they will never be reopened. Don’t give the eastside families the disproportionate burden in attempting to make budget cuts.

Lindy Grell,

Brainerd, Minn.