To the editor:

I live inside of the box in the northwest part of town that the school board continues to segregate. The southern border is Peterson Road, the west is Kasold Drive, the east is Iowa Street and the north is Interstate 70.

Children surrounding the box attend West Junior High School, while those inside of the box must attend Central Junior High School.

I have been trying to understand the reasoning behind this and have come to the conclusion that I really don’t know. Is this a plan to see if children at a very important time in their social and emotional development can adjust?

Because the ones in the box have been segregated from their former associations, they no longer have the same interests with children right around their own home. Once they make their bus ride back to the box, they can either try to keep these friendships up as the “outsider” or cut themselves off entirely.

Because they would like to spend time with their classmates and friends, it would be no trouble allowing them to just wander alone across town. I can’t possibly see any harm coming to 12- to 14-year-olds as they travel a few miles alone to visit a friend or return home from an after-school (sponsored) activity.

It has been suggested that this is actually part of a plan of social integration. I would hope that we have come past that. Why don’t we realize just how silly this is and allow these friends and classmates to remain with each other?

Robert Messineo,

Lawrence