Letters to the Editor

Marcia Cohn-Lyle mistakes a number of facts in the Daily Journal's July 1 story on the signatories of the Foster City High School charter petition. The following are directly relevant for your readers.

1. Petition signatories are not required to answer a survey or "verify" their signatures. In fact, as of June 30, 36 surveys had been returned, well above the 25 percent you quote Cohn-Lyle as saying in your story. By any standard, this is a phenomenal return for a mailed survey. Most surveys are considered a success at a 2 percent return.

The foundation sent out 105 letters the same week as the district's survey; three were returned as undeliverable. The district has received five returned as undeliverable and re-mailed three of those because they appeared to have the wrong address.

In fact, 85 percent or more of the signatories are personally known to the founders and have had ongoing discussions and access to the petition as it was being developed. Our signatories are resolute in their desire to support this school effort.

2. Just as any other citizen, Cohn-Lyle is free to speculate on our future attendance, but it is just speculation. To extrapolate negative innuendo out of said speculation is pointless. It is completely irrelevant to her deliberations about whether the charter statutory requirements have been met. Unlike existing public schools, no parent or student will be compelled to attend the school. The situations with Aurora High School and San Carlos High School, not chartered by the high school district and where sites were in doubt up to days before opening, are not comparable with our situation. We have had a wonderful working relationship with Superintendent Sam Johnson and Associate Superintendent Bob Arnold.

Peter Hanley, another SMUHSD board trustee is one of our founders. We believe San Carlos High and Foster City High will complement each other in this grassroots effort to take California secondary education achievement out of the bottom 10 percent of our 50 states and prepare our kids for the workplace and post secondary education.

3. We believe we have fully complied with California's charter law and certainly have made extraordinary efforts to do so, including numerous periodic meetings with the district's staff. Suggestions that we have not, especially when presented first to a newspaper and without any factual data to support them, are most inappropriate.

4. We continue to be perplexed that some in the high school district community seem to be seeking to find fault with the efforts of 30 dedicated volunteers who have committed evenings and weekends to improving public education in this area.

Nearly 1,000 citizens from throughout the district have asked to be placed on our mailing list. How can this kind of grassroots effort to prepare our children for their future be a bad thing for public education? Our detractors would do well to stop and think about what they are opposing.

Peter Hayden

President, Foster City High School Foundation

$32 solution

Editor,

Citizens for a Better Burlingame support the Burlingame School Crossing Guard program. They have created a "$32 Solution" program in cooperation with the school district to raise the additional $32,000 needed to fully fund the crossing guard program. The program has now received more than $5,000.

Although the school district has agreed to fund the $32,000, the funds would have to come out of money already set aside for educational programs.

CBB wants to eliminate the need to remove educational services and programs from the district. Without a crossing guard program in place, the safety of our children will be at risk.

The City of Burlingame has been funding the program for several years, although, according to California law, it had no legal responsibility to do so.

With the city's budget crunch worsening because of continued state takeaways, the city is no longer able to fund the program. At a recent council meeting, however, it was stated that if things change in the future, and the city can once again build up their reserves, the city will again look at funding the crossing guard program.

The program is designed around the idea that it takes only 1,000 families donating $32 each to solve the problem. However, any contribution would be a positive step in ensuring children's safety.

To help, mail your $32 check, made out to School Crossing Guard Fund, P.O. Box 117791, Burlingame, CA 94011.

Let's keep our children safe.

Dan Andersen

Burlingame

Righteous Ross

Editor,

What gives with your reader Ross Foti?

By his writings, he seems rather naughty.

He's against Bi-lingual Ed

and homosexuals in bed.

And by invoking the Lord, he's quite haughty.

Arthur J. Ost

San Mateo