Sunday Midday Briefs

Closing Valley Oak School will Disadvantage Children Already Disadvantaged

Undoubtedly, one of my favorite columns to read in the Enterprise comes from Jann Murray-Garcia and Jonathan London.

Dr. Murray-Garcia this week writes about the potential closing of Valley Oak, a subject we touched on a few weeks ago that stirred a great deal of controversy. I think Dr. Murray-Garcia does an excellent job of summing up my feelings on the subject.

She writes: "While we recognize that it is not the intent of the Davis school board, the residents of Davis or the Mace Ranch residents to hurt these children..."

This is exactly how I feel. However, my column somehow gave the sense that there was blame placed on the parents in Mace Ranch, when that was not the intention at all.

She continues: "We have to face squarely and honestly that we will likely exacerbate the disadvantage current Valley Oak students face if their neighborhood school is closed."

This was our chief concern--the welfare of the children who go to Valley Oak school.

She asks: "How can we argue against closing Valley Oak without pitting the good people of Davis' neighborhoods against one another?"

This is the toughest question of them all--for if you accept that there are finite resources and that the school district has too many schools for too few pupils, then how do we reconcile these problems?

Finally, she sums it up: "We don't pretend to have the right answer to this difficult problem. But we do know our solution should not result in further disenfranchising those least able to bear those short- and long-term consequences."

Exactly. This issue needs to be raised within this community precisely because the answer is difficult and yet the problem is clear.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting