A Lawrence school board proposal to use bond issue money — if voter-approved in April — to build a new Lawrence Alternative High School drew a variety of comments about the school’s function in the district. Here are excerpts from letters to the editor about the school printed in the Lawrence Journal-World:

Oct. 19: “Lawrence needs a vocational school, not a $6 million or $10 million remedial learning center, aka ‘program.'”

Oct. 19: “What? $9.9 million for an alternative high school? Alternative to what? An alternative for 100 kids who ‘can’t’ make it. Please! Let’s start an alternative neighborhood and have all employers have alternative jobs and break rooms. Of course, that is stupid, too.”

Oct. 24: “My youngest son was a National Merit Scholar and received a scholarship to Kansas University. This is a student who might have potentially dropped out of high school if not for LAHS.”

Oct. 24: “Spending $9.9 million for an alternative high school building that can accommodate 125 students is a steal. An alternative high school saves many people from dropping out from Free State or Lawrence high schools.”

Oct. 25: “To promote the idea that everyone learns at the same pace is just plain ignorance; to deny kids beneficial opportunities provided by the alternative high school is just plain cruel.”

Oct. 31: “Any imperfections in (LAHS students’) work do not justifiably invite scorn from small-minded, underinformed, petty agitators, who while endorsing the idea of ‘No child left behind’ quickly add, ‘unless I don’t feel like paying for it.'”