School board should ignore emotional parents

As a concerned parent of elementary schoolchildren in Conejo Valley Unified School District, I've been following the proposal to close two schools in our district. I watched the board meeting shown on cable TV, and I've read the data available to me on the CVUSD website.

I received a phone call from the school district stating that the process for identifying two schools for closure in fall 2009 had been suspended. I found this both very interesting and very disturbing.

The school my children attend is on the final list of eight. While I'm not happy about it, I haven't complained because I felt that the facilities goals committee members were doing a good job of keeping things fair and sticking to the facts. Yes, I will be affected if my children have to change schools. If the process is fair and open, and based on quantifiable facts, I can accept their decision.

I understand that parents from some of the schools on the top eight list have been making quite a fuss, including threatening to file a lawsuit against the district and getting the media involved. I'm hoping the noise of those parents won't change the list or the criteria used to determine the list.

Changing based on a vocal and threatening minority would make things unfair. My children are just as special and important as the children of the screaming parents at the other schools. If the money has to be cut and schools lost because of lack of enrollment, so be it. However, let's keep the process fair and above board.

I'd like to know why the process has been halted. I think the public has a right to know- - is it because of the noisy parents?

One more point I'd like to address is that special education classes weigh so heavily on the decision process. Any time you single out one group, you're discriminating against the other groups.

What about GATE kids? Maybe they should get special consideration. What about the middle of the road, middle class children getting decent grades? Are they not special and deserving as well? I don't understand why a special ed program couldn't be moved with the rest of all of our special children.

Let's keep the process fair and objective, not distorted by threats and media attention. Let's keep it fair for all of our children in Conejo Valley Unified School District.

And parents: Don't think you can change the outcome with threats and emotional outbursts. Deborah Tomlinson Thousand Oaks