For years, the teachers at Meadows Elementary have spent their own time pursuing an integrated artsbased teaching program that's beneficial to children of all needs.

Pursuit of this curriculum has yielded amazing results. The hope was that the district would make Meadows a magnet school so that they could expand this program with benefits to a wider audience of students.

Then came the problem of declining enrollment. To the Meadows community, the solution was simple- - make Meadows a magnet school.

This program, already in development, would attract outofdistrict children and increase enrollment.

Instead, Meadows was closed.

When the magnet was no longer an option, the decision was made to pursue MATES (Meadows Art and Technology Elementary School), a tuitionfree charter school based on the teaching program described above.

The people behind MATES have spent thousands of hours continuing the curriculum development and promotion of this program. This isn't some whim that was acted on just to keep a campus. It's the extension of a dream that began years ago.

By law, a conversion charter school is entitled to its current site. Instead of following this law, the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board of Education has decided MATES will share the campus at Glenwood.

Has anyone asked the Glenwood families how they feel about having more than 400 kids crammed onto their campus?

How much money will be spent on portables? These portables may solve the classroom shortage, but what about recess, lunch, after-school programs and traffic?

Currently MATES has attracted more than 400 interested students. At least 60 of those are from out-of-district. If the school board had made Meadows a magnet, the district would have gained $300,000 in average daily attendance revenue (ADA).

The declining enrollment problem would have been alleviated within the first year.

Regardless of site, MATES will open in the fall and will have a wonderful arts and technology program. The teachers who developed this vision deserve to see it come to fruition, and our community will benefit from another public school option. Debbie Hedges Thousand Oaks