Letters: Update on Capo Unified: Cut sports to balance budget
So the teachers and the administrators of Capistrano Unified School District cannot agree on the cuts needed to balance their budget ["More CSUD picketing expected," Local, April 26]. I think a new option needs to be put on the table and openly discussed: After years of cuts to music and art programs, it's time the athletic teams are cut – entirely. Where in the mission and priorities of a public school district are the football, basketball, volleyball, etc. teams positioned? They certainly don't add to academic excellence, and may in fact lower scores when players miss classes for practice and away games.
If parents and players want to have a team, let them raise the money and fund it separately from the district. The time has come for schools to put education ahead of athletics.
Opher Banarie
Laguna Niguel
The 'abandonment' issue
Not everyone is supporting the teachers' decision to strike. Under normal circumstances, my children (ages 7 and 9) feel safe and secure at their school. The principal assured parents they would provide a "safe environment" during the strike. I don't doubt that my children would be physically safe, but rather am concerned about emotional safety. They may feel abandoned by their teachers who are standing at the entrance to the school, and uneasy at seeing the virtual ghost town that the interior of the school became last week.
My children have not attended school since April 22. I have sympathy for the parents who don't have the option of keeping their kids home. Parents who work outside the home and don't have babysitting available are being forced to put their kids in the middle of a bad situation. Daily routines that take place during a regular school day give young children a sense of security. Sending them to school during this time would not be a "positive learning experience" as the School Board suggested.
I understand that the teachers want a guarantee that pay cuts are not permanent. I hope that the Board concedes to put that verbiage in the contract.
But I hope the teachers keep in mind that nearly every hard-working citizen I know has taken a pay cut compared to previous years, and there are no guarantees for any of us that our earnings will be restored.
To the Teachers: I urge you to go back to work. The children need you in the classrooms. You are the only