Obviously from your opinion on March 12, "We must do more with less spending," you are as sick and tired of the Home Depot and Costco sagas as I am.

I can't think of another reason why such an inflammatory opinion was put in the paper. I envision you sitting in your office trying to figure out the best way to "stir the pot" and get everyone's bile focused on something more meaningful and relevant.

You certainly can't mean your statement, "A good student will thrive whether he's one in 20 or one in 30. The average student will just have to work harder."

A statement that crass and unfeeling is obviously a ploy to get a discussion going over class sizes. Just how many jubilant first-graders can we shoehorn into a classroom and still have some sort of order maintained and learning accomplished?

When you said, "Teachers and administrators will have to work harder, too, and perhaps for less pay. It's the new formula for the private sector, and it should apply to the state's public employees as well," perhaps you're advocating that teachers should be getting paid like our CEOs in the private sector, where success is irrelevant to the size of your bonus and they should get a private jet to take them to school in the morning.

By your statement, "Volunteer contributions and charitable donations have helped close the gap," I'm sure you meant to thank all those in the community that have helped to keep our schools going- - from the companies that donate paper and the bakeries that donate to fundraisers, to the parents and others in the community that volunteer their time, money and supplies to all the schools in the area.

I certainly would like to thank all those parents and businesses that help keep our schools going; without all of you, society would be the loser.

I certainly hope this has helped to open a dialogue on what can and should be done with our public schools. We desperately need this conversation to happen. Viki Jacobsen Newbury Park