Gay Pride letter offensive

Barrett McGrath’s letter (April 12) is more of an embarrassment to the people of Los Altos than the city council’s actual decision to ban a particular group’s “day.”

First of all, his attempt to draw a parallel between rising building costs and the endorsement of basic human rights is utterly ridiculous, not to mention offensive.

I am curious what “negative influences” of San Francisco Mr. McGrath and his family are trying to distance themselves from. Certainly it is not the rich culture, museums, symphony, ballet and restaurants of one of the greatest cities in the country. Furthermore, I think you have mistaken the “extreme left-wing element” that has infiltrated the high school for it being the year 2006 in one of most liberal areas of the country.

I feel sorry for the students of Los Altos High School, the victims in all of this, who tried to initiate a Gay Pride Day in the city they live in. To these courageous teenagers, I offer the same advice as Mr. McGrat Distance yourselves from the negative influences of Los Altos. There are millions of people out there waiting to support you. You don’t need the approval of a “village” to stand up and be proud of who you are.

Will Hansen

Los Altos

Reacting to the vocal few

I am a former member of the Los Altos Hills Public Education Committee. I didn’t agree with their position; my opinion was ridiculed and I eventually stated “personal reasons” for resigning from the committee.

The reality is, during those meetings I never heard anyone claim they needed to form a new school district because their child wasn’t getting a good education.

It is NOT in the best interest of the children. It is NOT representative of all the residents of Los Altos Hills. It is representative of the handful of folks who have been the most vocal.

The people of south Los Altos Hills haven’t been outspoken because it seemed obvious that this idea is fiscally irresponsible, and since the Los Altos Hills City Council was elected to represent ALL the residents, they should have come to this conclusion on their own.

I am writing to represent the families whose children go to Loyola, Blach and Mountain View High School who will be affected by the proposed Hills district. We are happy with our schools. I, for one, will not send my children to a school within any new district.

This whole debate is costing the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars that should be used for programs that continue to be cut. It has been going on far too long.

There is a saying - cut your losses and move on. We as a community need to do that.

Peggy Benenato (Rutner)

Los Altos Hills

Why the move to private schools?

Superintendent Tim Justus says that the Los Altos School District will “lose” millions of dollars if Los Altos Hills redistricts.

He should also point out that it will “lose” kids and that as long as LASD is a revenue-limit district, state funds will be used to ensure that LASD receives the same dollars per student that it has had. Justus’ worry is tantamount to admitting that LASD has been accepting, for many years, a disproportionate amount of money from LAH. This has enabled it to edge toward Basic Aid status, in which it will receive funding in excess of the state’s per-student guarantee.

Why has Los Altos Hills’ share of LASD’s budget been out of whack with the number of Hills kids in LASD schools? As Los Altos Hills schools have closed, more kids, now 40 percent, have gone to private schools. That should be a source of shame to LASD (and Palo Alto district) administrators.

In 2003, I spoke with Marilyn Miller, superintendent of Hillsborough schools. She was proud that less than 1 percent of kids in her district attended private schools. Rather than continually telling parents that they should be proud that LASD schools are the best in the worst state, administrators should try for 1 percent private-school attendance (or even 10 percent, which is the average in California). Then LASD administrators could proudly claim to be satisfying the needs of its whole community.

Nancy Kelem

Los Altos Hills

Reopening Bullis not the answer

I don’t doubt that some individual Los Altos School District board members are now truly sorry the district closed Bullis-Purissima School, as they stated at the Los Altos Hills City Council meeting on March 23. But promising to renovate and reopen Bullis misses the point of our recommendation to redistrict: It’s not just about Bullis anymore. Bullis was simply the last straw.

For more than 30 years as the districts have sold, leased or closed our schools to raise millions of dollars for themselves, they have robbed our town of its community, its school-centered neighborhoods, its soul. We once had four public schools in our town; now we have none.

We can’t depend on the districts to return our schools to us or to erase a dividing line that only benefits themselves. We can only do those things ourselves - and redistricting is the only way to achieve these things. LASD’s simply reopening Bullis, which is for only half the town and can be just as quickly closed again, is not the answer.

Kathleen Justice-Moore

Los Altos Hills

Public Education Committee

Get over Bullis hurdle

At their last meeting, Los Altos Hills City Council members passed a motion to send to the county Board of Education an application to form a new K-8 school district which would have the boundaries of the town. The council was endorsing a recommendation by its Public Education Committee that the best way to return public education to the hills was to form its own district.

While a certain excitement can be generated by considering a new district with control of the schools in the hills, it seems to me that the quickest, least expensive and least damaging way to return public education to the hills is to reopen Bullis school under the auspices of the Los Altos School District. I believe this can be done and, perhaps, at the same time accommodate the needs and desires of the Bullis Charter School. It will, however, require empathy and leadership on the part of all parties. I hope we can soon get over the Bullis hurdle and turn our efforts and resources to the education of the children of our community.

David Struthers

Los Altos Hills

Thanks for quake preparedness notices

Thanks for promoting our upcoming earthquake preparedness classes. In addition to classes offered at your local Red Cross chapter house, our volunteers can bring the training right to Los Altos. We want our communities to be prepared for the “big one.” We tailor our presentations to meet the needs of the audience and amount of time available.

We are eager to present to neighborhood groups, faith communities, service clubs, parent groups - any group interested in self-sufficiency.

Call volunteer leader Becca Blitz to arrange presentations for your families, neighborhoods, business or other community groups 688-0449. In addition to life-saving information and training, we can bring disaster relief supplies for sale or for order. To order supplies visit our Web site www.paarc.org.

Take responsibility. Get prepared. Your local Red Cross wants to help.

Trish Bubenik

Executive Director

Palo Alto Area Red Cross