Stephens shouldn't vote because of conflict of interest

We're proud Glenwood parents. Like other parents facing closure of their neighborhood schools, we too want to save our school. It's unfortunate that so many feel that our school should close because it's a "low-testing school."

Test scores don't matter as long as the parent is involved in their child's education and the child is doing well. Those students struggling with test scores are learning a second language and their test scores shouldn't reflect on our teachers.

Regarding the closure of Meadows, has anyone considered that more than 100 students attending Meadows are "school choice" students? Most of these students, whose parents don't want their children attending "low API-testing" schools have now caused our community to segregate.

Why should more than 390 students from Glenwood, who live within Glenwood's district, be forced to attend schools two to three miles away because of these 100 or more school-choice students who don't live in the Meadows district and don't want to attend their neighborhood school?

It's not low test scores keeping these families away from our low API schools, it's mixing their children with children of a different ethnicity. Are we going to have segregation in middle and high schools as well?

Sadly, allowing school choice in the past has caused segregation in our community, and now the school board has to scramble to fix it, and many parents don't like it.

Bigotry is alive and well in this community; it became evident at the meeting last Tuesday. What lesson is this teaching our children? Children are not born bigots; they learn it from home.

As for board member Tim Stephens, he was clearly biased toward Meadows, and it was extremely evident. Since he was a principal at that school, there's clearly a conflict of interest, and he shouldn't be allowed to voice his opinion. His comments on Tuesday night were obviously aimed at protecting Meadows. Matt and Sylvia McKnight Thousand Oaks