To the editor:

Notwithstanding my earlier letter (Jan. 28) decrying the possible closing of schools for budgetary reasons, there is one school which could be closed without any social, psychological, or detrimental effects to students or neighborhoods. This school has the district’s largest elementary enrollment at 833. Students could be transferred into any of 15 elementary schools to balance student-teacher ratios.

The closing of the largest elementary school in Lawrence could save $2 million plus. This building closure would force the closing of Lawrence’s only middle school, transferring 245 seventh- and eighth-graders to other junior high schools.

Lawrence’s only middle school and largest elementary school is the Lawrence Virtual School. USD 497 should close Centennial and redistribute its enrollment. The Kansas State Department of Education has verified that other districts operate successfully under this program model. Most important, their legal and audit departments find this acceptable.

Closing the physical location and eliminating payroll of Lawrence Virtual School would increase enrollment in smaller schools, increase funding by $4M, and cause no increase in custodial, maintenance or operational costs. This change would protect the children of Lawrence and be in their best interest; in fact, it would greatly improve local schools’ fiscal health.

The closing of the Centennial building, already approved in 2003, would provide as much expected savings as closing three or four of the flesh and blood, brick and mortar, neighborhood elementary schools.

Administration has identified $2.5 million in cuts; changing the Virtual School’s delivery system would virtually provide the remainder.

Robert Kidder,

Lawrence