I must respond to Cathy Carlson’s letter of Nov. 5 in which she stated that Bridges Charter School is “steeped in lefty politics” and will provide “lessons in radical politics.”

For six years I taught at Conejo Elementary School next door to the Bridges lead petitioner, Lori Peters, who taught a course called Mini Society, which taught entrepreneurialism.

Students started their own businesses, bought, sold, borrowed, traded and even employed others in a free market system within the classroom.

The Bridges petitioners and parents who support Bridges believe in nurturing and educating the individual child, not in a onesize-fits-all mass education model. They believe in real world, hands-on learning, critical thinking, creativity, imagination, intellectual risk taking, ingenuity, perseverance, productivity and respect for diversity.

These are all quintessential American values which have made this country strong. These are hardly radical lefty politics.

I believe that if one takes another look at the quotation Ms. Carlson included in her letter, one will see that the sentence was taken from the section labeled “What it Isn’t.”

In this part of the article, Alfie Kohn wasn’t defining progressive education, but rather pointing out popular misconceptions regarding progressive education.

Once again I urge Conejo Valley Unified School District to support the Bridges Charter School charter application. Victoria Dal Pozzo Camarillo