To the editor:
I read the comments in Sunday's LJW article "Bond issue called divisive." Scott Morgan claims it is "outrageous" to accuse the school board of dividing this town with its proposed bond.
It is outrageous for this school board to close Riverside and move its students to Deerfield and Sunset, rather than moving students in those overcrowded schools to Riverside!
It is outrageous for the school board to close East Heights when it is full, functioning and doing very well as a single-section building!
USD 497 proves that closing small elementaries doesn't save the district big bucks because the last several "presentations" made by its superintendent show a grand savings of roughly $55,000 for closing Grant School.
The outrageous mismanagement in district boundaries to Centennial, with its ever-changing principals, has badly damaged its student population, placing a functioning, accessible building on the chopping block.
This isn't an argument over the need to remodel facilities; this is a stealth agenda to close certain small schools in working class neighborhoods under attack by rental conversions of single-family homes there since 1990.
The present school board is not interested in working with city commissioners and neighborhood associations to turn this around. It instead takes advantage of its own poor management to close small schools and bury its agenda in a bloated renovation bond.
That is "outrageous."
Deborah Snyder,
Lawrence
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