To the editor:

I echo Karl Ramberg’s ideal that we are our schools. When we took my daughter to Cordley for kindergarten roundup 22 years ago, someone wanted to take a Polaroid picture of her. The flash went off, she freaked out, and we decided to check out New York School. A west-side friend had told me it “wasn’t a very good school.” What she meant was that it had 80 percent free-and-reduced lunch students in a poor neighborhood and the building was on the decline.

I ended up being the PTO president for a couple of years and was lucky enough to welcome Sharen Steele to the school when she started her 15 years of being principal. That’s when the transformation began. That’s when the pride seeped back into the halls. That’s when the grants started to flow, the building got serious maintenance attention and a new gym was built. That’s when my kids and grandkids got their New York Nova T-shirts.

Our family and neighborhood history reside in that building. We are New York School. Close some other pile of brick and mortar if you must. Do not mess with OUR neighborhood.