Parents tell why University school should stay open

We're the parents of a firstgrader, and we have a preschooler who will be attending University Elementary School in two years. These are our concerns about the potential closure of University:

We've already had a school close, Horizon Hills, in the neighborhood bounded by Moorpark, Lynn and Olsen roads and Avenida de Las Flores, so we'll be the only neighborhood in Thousand Oaks without an elementary school when we used to have two.

If the district wants to have the greatest impact on diversity, it would make the most sense to take the schools with the highest diversity and spread those students out among two or three schools that have a lower diversity percentage.

That would make three schools more diverse, instead of just one.

If you want to save the most money, it makes more sense to close a school with a lower API score. Otherwise, you're penalizing a school with a high score twice- - first by closing the school and then by forcing those students into a lower-performing school.

This would result in less savings because those parents with students assigned to a lowerperforming school will either want school choice- - which costs more to administer- - or they'll pull their children from the district completely, thus costing the district money.

Walking to school would no longer be safe. No matter what school we're sent to, we'll have to cross busy intersections like Lynn Road, Moorpark Road or Avenida de Las Flores.

These concerns were sent to the school board, and we planned to present them at last week's parent information meeting with the district at University Elementary School.

Please do not close our neighborhood school.

Please save our school. Lori and Kevin Walton Thousand Oaks