To the editor:

Thank you for publishing Fred Scheller’s letter supporting the Lawrence Alternative High School.

Mr. Scheller may not know this, but we are now undergoing a reversal of educational philosophy in Lawrence.

When the issue was debated 15 years ago, the city decided that smaller schools were better for our children. Large schools, like Lawrence High School, were too big to function well. We needed to divide LHS and have two smaller high schools. Small schools, the argument went, could provide more attention to each child. Smaller schools were better schools.

In the last few years, this education philosophy has been reversed. Now the mantra is: “Bigger schools are better schools.”

Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if this new philosophy is the correct one.

The real reason for closing the Alternative High School is that it costs too much money. The administration plans to save $750,000 by closing this school. The students at the alternative school will be better served by going to larger schools like LHS.

Perhaps the administration would like to save $12 million and close down Free State High School as well. That would be a real savings. And then all of our students could attend an even bigger, better Lawrence High.

Or perhaps the administration has forgotten that education is not about factory efficiency. It is about personalized attention to the needs of our students.

Arly Allen,

Lawrence