Acorn's editorial accepted the school district's excuses

The opinion piece in the March 13 T.O. Acorn, "Decision on school closures comes none too early," said the drop in enrollment is a perfectly valid reason for school closures.

Why, why, why is enrollment dropping? I've been trying unsuccessfully to obtain birthrate data for residents in Conejo Valley Unified School District area, but it appears that birthrate is surprisingly stable and is only a small factor.

Is enrollment dropping because people aren't satisfied with the schools and are opting for home schooling or private schools? Who knows?

Perhaps, for the long term, it is possible to do something to reduce the enrollment drop.

Why close schools? To save money of course. Since money is the problem, has there been a serious attempt to find money? How much money is needed? What percentage of the total budget is required? What percentage of the current administration budget would have to be cut in order to keep the schools open? Is the community willing to commit money to help keep them open? Perhaps, for the short term, it is possible to solve the money problem.

None of this appears to be important to the Acorn. It's simply a matter of enrollment is decreasing, so close schools.

I feel that school closing is a perfectly valid reason for targeting Board of Education members who may be seeking reelection in November, and a perfectly valid reason for suggesting that Superintendent Mario Contini resign.

I don't believe they've done enough to solve the problem.

It is a very tough problem, but they're not slaves, and any time the job gets to be too tough, they can resign.

The March 13 opinion in the Thousand Oaks Acorn is simplistic and extremely disappointing. Don Hunn Thousand Oaks