SUBMITTED BY DAVE PHILLIPS

This is a letter Dave Phillips wrote to Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning. Dunning referred to it in his March 13th column.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bob,

You are off the mark on two counts in your comparison of the Valley Oak and Emerson closure situations. First, the decision to close Valley Oak was vetted, analyzed, discussed, sliced and diced for almost two years--we can disagree about the outcome, but surely we can also agree that the Valley Oak community and public were involved in the decision-making and various alternatives were discussed. In contrast, the possibility of closing Emerson was made public less than three weeks ago, and a decision to close may come as soon as next week. No alternatives were proposed by the district, and virtually no time has been available for public input. This is a sneak attack worthy of the Bush administration. Second, most students from the Valley Oak attendance area will still be an easy walk to their new neighborhood school, and in some cases the new school will be closer. In contrast, a 7th grader from the Emerson attendance area (just 12 months older than that 6th grader at Valley Oak) may have to travel 3 to 4 miles each way to access his/her "neighborhood" school, half way across town, across some of the busiest streets in town and, yes, those infamous railroad tracks that so famously divide us. Nope, I don't care what side of the tracks you call home, the immediate closure of Emerson would be just plain wrong.