To the editor:

T. John Rosen (Public Forum, March 21) took Adrian Melott to task for opposing the school bond proposal. Rosen stated that the bond issue is completely irrelevant to school closings.

To the contrary, anyone paying attention to the issue will note that it is precisely about school closings. Building a new South Junior High School will lead to the closing of Central Junior High School within five years.

The enrollment of Lawrence public schools is falling and has been for the last 10 years. The enrollment of the central city schools is declining even faster than the whole. Spending $24 million to rebuild South when there are no new homes possible in the area served by the school will inevitably draw students away from Central.

Within five years Central, like Cordley, Centennial, New York and East Heights will be closed. This is a simple matter of demographics and money. By that time, we will wake up and wonder what happened to the center of Lawrence and why the downtown is dying. But by then it will be too late.

It is not too late to stop this trend now. If you wish to preserve Lawrence, vote “no” on the bond issue. A “yes” vote will mean that the center of Lawrence will die.

Arly Allen,

Lawrence