With merit pay, no way to determine who merits the money

Editor, The Times:

I see you've jumped onto the ever popular merit-pay bandwagon ["Merit pay for teachers would end fight on pay," Opinion, editorial, Aug. 24]. It sounds so good on paper.

But you argue it would take the steam out of salary negotiations? How? By paying a few teachers a little better but the majority less? The idea of rewarding the best teachers is appealing.

But no one, and I mean no one, has figured out an objective way to quantify best teaching. Many merit-pay plans have emerged. They are all deeply flawed. Principals get into most classrooms once or twice a year. Evaluations by students and parents can be manipulated and are not objective in any way.

Some of the most effective teachers are not the most popular. After all, they push students hard and don't always hand out the grades students and parents want. Every kid and every classroom is different. There are huge problems with performance testing. Any educator can tell you what they are.

Every fall, like clockwork, your editors turn the guns on those greedy teachers who dare to disrupt the beginning of school with their unreasonable demands. It's an easy story to sell. Fact is, it's a lot easier to blame teachers and spout simpleminded solutions than to dig a little deeper into the problems facing education in this state and report them.

-- Dan Reeder, Seattle

Education a collaborative effort that's too hard to put price tag on

The difficulty with merit pay is that it doesn't recognize the collaborative effort in building a student's skills.

I am a resource teacher, and I traditionally work with students who receive special-education services. However, due to the increasing demands of No Child Left Behind and Annual Yearly Progress, any student who struggles in school -- be it due to English-language acquisition, poverty or illness -- will likely receive reading, math and/or writing instruction from a resource teacher.

I had a student who could not read English in January; in June, he was reading nearly 100 words per minute, yet was considered to have not met the standard as his score was below grade level. Another student more than doubled her reading rate; again, since her June score was slightly below grade level, she did not meet the set standard.

If merit pay were in place, who would get the salary increase? The student's classroom teacher, who sees the child only for social studies and science? The resource specialist, who teaches the child reading two hours a day? The instructional assistant who works with the student in the before-school reading lab? The AmeriCorps volunteer the student receives math tutoring from? How about merit pay for the parent who makes the effort to get the child to school fed, clothed appropriately, on time and prepared to learn?

The trouble with merit pay is it assumes only one person is responsible for a student's achievement, and it fails to recognize the collaborative efforts necessary for a student's success.

-- Martha de Carbonel Patterson, Silverdale

With multiple evaluations, merit pay will work

Effective teachers should be rewarded for the work they do to help improve students' performance. Pay increases should be awarded based on a variety of different components, not just test scores.

Take, for example, the Denver Public Schools' ProComp system. Teachers earn bonuses based on four components: market incentives like teaching in challenging schools or hard-to-fill positions; student growth including, but not limited to, test scores; knowledge and skills like advanced degrees, national certification and professional development; and professional evaluations like satisfactory ratings from administrators.

The Kent School District recently sent a letter to community members stating that the Kent teacher's union had rejected its proposed pay increases. What the district failed to mention is that those pay increases would be tied directly to teachers' yearly performance evaluations and their students' WASL scores.

Though I support a form of merit pay, as a special-education teacher in a Title I school, I cannot support a pay increase that is based on whether or not my students pass the state test. There are far too many factors out of my control that impact my students' test-taking abilities. Did my students eat breakfast? Did they have a safe place to sleep the night before? Will there be food on the table for dinner?

Before teacher unions can agree to merit pay or a pay increase proposal in the case of Kent School District, fair and reasonable systems need to be developed that do not penalize teachers for factors out of their control.

-- Allison Wegg, Seattle

Bass an advocate for students, true public education

The Seattle Times' editorial, "Voters vet leaders for Seattle schools," [Opinion, Aug. 20] was yet another shot in the crusade of your editorial writers to privatize public education.

Mary Bass is doing what she was asked to do, such as advocate for students and families many people in our corporate never-never land want to test and standardize out of existence. Even if the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle has given up on Bass, many black folks in Seattle and elsewhere gave up on the Urban League back before Bass was even born. E. Franklin Frazier had their leadership style pegged more than half a century ago.

So Kay Smith-Blum can raise funds? Big deal. It's a criminal absurdity that public schools even have to fundraise in an era when the so-called private sector is busy selling us on the conviction that the public purse should be used to bail out banking thieves and military speculators.

And it is definitely a mark of the crisis in education, public or private, that such a shameless con game continues to drive the discussion connected to education reform or anything else in society.

-- Michael Hureaux, Seattle

Editorial does not speak for community that knows Bass best

Your assessment of Seattle School Board member Mary Bass was flawed, not based on fact and certainly does not speak for us in District 5.

Even if the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle wrote Bass off, that is not sufficient evidence for you to give such a negative report. What does The Seattle Times know about her?

Mary Bass has an impeccable record in the community she serves, and her accessibility to those she serves is a plus in any language. Everyone in every venue would appreciate the kind of hands-on availability she offers to hear the concerns and issues of the people.

We are more than faceless voices to her. Your attempt to malign such a capable person is overshadowed by the good she does on a daily basis. Her impact and accomplishments can be viewed on her Web site, www.marybass.com.

Bass will retain her seat on the School Board because the district needs her wisdom and commitment.

-- Naomi Donovan, Seattle

Carr has record of success, deserved endorsement

As a former Seattle police officer and detective, former chair of the city's Ethics and Elections Commission, current City Council member and chair of the Council's Public Safety Committee, I've had many firsthand experiences with Seattle city attorneys.

Tom Carr does an outstanding job as city attorney, ethically representing citizens and working diligently to protect taxpayers while finding humane and safe alternatives to incarceration. His innovative and highly effective approach to criminal justice slashed auto-theft rates by 60 percent, reduced jail bookings by 38 percent and made our neighborhoods safer.

Yet he knows we must do even more because he understands the critical importance of public safety. Carr's track record has earned him the highest rating from the Municipal League.

The Seattle Times overlooked Carr's overall job performance and experience in its endorsement of his opponent ["Pete Holmes for Seattle attorney," Opinion, editorial, August 3].

Regrettably, The Times allowed one issue to cloud its judgment, failing to recognize the complex and sophisticated nature of this critical position in city government. Tom Carr is the best candidate, and that's why the majority of my City Council colleagues have endorsed his re-election.

-- Tim Burgess, Seattle City Council member, Seattle

The Times endorses a candidate with no prosecuting experience

We at the Seattle Police Officer's Guild are concerned and disappointed to see The Times' endorsement of Pete Holmes for city attorney. Whether the Times editorial board likes it or not, experience as a prosecutor is critical, since about half of the position's activities have to do with criminal prosecution.

This sort of experience has a direct impact on public safety and our ability to protect the public from potentially dangerous members of society. Holmes has no experience as a prosecutor.

Only one of the candidates for city attorney has that experience, and that is who we endorse: The man who has been successfully filling this critical role in city government for the past eight years.

We endorse Tom Carr as city attorney.

-- Sgt. Rich O'Neill, Seattle Police Officer's Guild president, Seattle

Ellington's protection of children is not a first

Your endorsement of Judge Anne Ellington ["Re-elect Ellington to state appeals court," Opinion, editorial, August 3] praising her opinion that children in initial truancy proceedings are entitled to an attorney mistakenly said, "No other state offers such a right."

In fact, the right to counsel for children in truancy proceedings is not a novel or unique idea. For example, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Alabama and Nevada address truancy in Child in Need of Services, or CHINS, proceedings in which children are entitled to counsel.

Minnesota handles truancy as a CHINS matter, and the court must appoint a public defender before any out-of-home placement can be ordered. Wisconsin has a similar rule.

Arizona addresses truancy in its incorrigibility statute, and children have a right to counsel.

Oregon does not lock up children for truancy, although a parent may be cited if a child does not attend school.

Washington is in the unusual position of incarcerating children for not going to school, allowing prosecution of a child for truancy followed by a contempt proceeding. What the Court of Appeals did, with two other judges joining the unanimous opinion written by Ellington, was to recognize the due process right to a lawyer to protect children in hearings that affect their constitutional rights to liberty, privacy and education.

-- Robert C. Boruchowitz, Seattle

Common sense needed in school closures

I am the candidate not mentioned in the endorsement article ["For Seattle School Board," Opinion, editorial, August 3] regarding the School Board race in District 5, and it is time I speak for myself.

Some dismiss me as just being against school closures, but the work of the group for reopening TT Minor Elementary School includes a vision for an International School Program supported by many in the area. The TT Minor reference area -- not large or gerrymandered -- has the highest birth rate of any reference area in the Central Area cluster, and the fastest-growing number of children under the age of 5 of any reference area in the entire Seattle School District.

Therefore, if we really want neighborhood schools that are embraced by parents, the community must be included in deciding what type of program in places like TT Minor would make sense.

Unless all communities are empowered to advocate for their schools and programs, wonderful neighborhood school choices will be realized for some neighborhoods and not for others. I believe all the candidates, especially the challengers, have ambitious ideas for our schools.

The difference is that I will insist on your help to hold all the elected officials responsible for ensuring the Central District and all neighborhoods are proud of their schools and programs.

I will insist that parents and communities are included in the process of designing the programs and schools that all neighborhoods deserve. School assignments must make sense. We have to come together for the sake of our children, our families and our communities.

My candidacy is about all communities being treated fairly and equitably. Common sense can be applied to data.

-- Joanna Cullen, Seattle

Green candidates sure send lots of campaign mail

With the primary election in full swing, we in Seattle once more are getting bombarded with candidates' green credentials -- written on mounds of literature mailed to us and placed on our doorsteps. See any contradiction?

Yes, campaign literature is integral to our electoral process, but can't we get a little smarter about it? Making the literature smaller -- I like postcard size -- and more recyclable come to mind as a start.

Or perhaps just put it all on a Kindle?

-- Beverly Marcus, Seattle

Eliminate position to help budget crisis

The departing chief academic officer of Seattle Public Schools, Carla Santorno, was an energetic and positive force for the school district and she will be missed ["Seattle school official going to Tacoma," NW Friday, April 10]. But as she moves to Tacoma, the moment seems ripe to re-evaluate the position itself.

I believe the position of chief academic officer was created when John Stanford was superintendent; the position was useful because Stanford had no school experience. The position remained important during the tenure of subsequent superintendents, who were also drawn from outside the school world -- Joseph Olchefske and Raj Manhas.

But we have, once again, an educator-leader in Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. We also have a budget crisis. This seems an excellent time to reabsorb the salary of the position and its accompanying support staff.

-- David Grosskopf, Seattle

An unnecessary obstacle

Gayle Johnson's good information about the successes of Seattle's African American Academy ["Don't close African American Academy," guest column, Jan. 28] makes one wonder why Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson wants to close it, and what impact the closure will have on the academy's students.

Working with teenage dropouts and young adults with criminal histories, I learned how a lack of stability affected their lives. School is often the only constant in the lives of young people who have experienced such destabilizing factors as poverty, family conflicts and frequent changes of living situation.

Take away their school and they suffer.

If you close a school, you shake up the lives of the students and put an unnecessary obstacle in their path. At the African American Academy, the students -- they are called "scholars" -- are treated with respect. They learn to treat others with respect. They experience success in the classroom.

Take away the classroom, a familiar environment, and you invite failure into their vulnerable lives.

African Americans in Seattle schools already have a very high dropout rate: more than 50 percent. These dropouts are a significant part of the school district's financial problem because every student who drops out reduces state financial support.

The African American Academy should be retained and expanded to include high-school grades so the scholars can continue to benefit from the academy's rigorous and nurturing curriculum.

-- Charles Davis, Seattle

Solve the budget problem now or be forced to cope later

It is a proven fact that children thrive in small-school settings when they are given personal attention and can form bonds with their teachers. However, nobody benefits from a lack of funding in an entire school district.

A community uproar, like the current Seattle schools commotion, kept the Northshore School Board from closing Woodin Elementary last year. Since this decision, the rest of the Northshore schools have had to compensate for the lack of funding that was supposed to be avoided by closing Woodin.

As an Inglemoor High School student, I have seen price increases in our sports fees and parking permits; we now have fewer transportation options for special-program students and have been forced to cope with fewer campus supervisors and school nurses.

Seattle schools face a massive $24 million budget shortfall next year. Closing the five schools and programs in question will save the district from only two-thirds of the budget problem. In other words, it will only mostly solve the problem.

To the people who are doing their best to keep these schools open, find out how this budget problem will be solved if you get what you want. Someone has to make up for the lack of funding.

-- Samantha Valtierra Bush, Kenmore

Under-enrollment is no accident

While it would be difficult to find any members of the Seattle community content with the impending school closures facing our city, I view the situation with a bit less negativity than the hundreds of protesters who marched and picketed this past weekend ["Rally against school closures," Local News, Jan. 26]. I am not happy to see the schools go, but I consider such acts necessary to the evolution of our school district and the future of our children.

Seattle is different from most public-school systems, wherein students are assigned a school and their only alternatives are private school or home school. As I am sure readers are aware, Seattle has an open-enrollment policy, allowing parents and students the option to enroll in any school in the district. This creates a model where schools "compete" for students by offering differentiated bundles of services such as course offerings, educators, athletic programs, extracurricular options and any other qualities that make one school different from another.

The upcoming closures are the result of under-enrollment, which occurs when families take students out of the schools at hand such that the district can no longer financially justify keeping them open.

Perhaps more students are enrolling in private school. Perhaps some are enrolling at Seattle Public Schools elsewhere in the city that better meet their preferences. Or perhaps the size of the school-age population in Seattle is decreasing. Regardless of the underlying causes of such enrollment shifts, they are the result of a group of families acting voluntarily, according to their own preferences. This is not so different from a group of families no longer choosing to patronize a certain store or business. If enough families make the same choice, the business fails and ceases to exist. New, vibrant, and innovative businesses spring up to take its place.

While I certainly agree that the government should delegate more money to schools, I cannot agree with those who believe that the district should keep open those schools that the people of Seattle have chosen to leave behind.

-- Samuel Francis Fisher, Seattle

The voice of a silent minority

Let me see if I have this correct. Three years ago, when Montlake Elementary School was threatened with closure, affluent parents in the neighborhood banded together in protest and were successful in keeping the school open. Fast forward three years: Montlake Elementary School again appears on the list of schools to be closed. But, parents band together and are successful once more in removing the school from the chopping block.

Credit should be given to these parents in their successful efforts to keep their school open.

Across town, we have the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center (SBOC), Seattle's port-of-entry school for immigrant and refugee students, on the current list of schools to be closed. The question might well be asked: Where are the parents of these students? Why aren't they protesting the closure of the school and the Seattle School Board's reneging on its 2006 promise for a stand-alone site? Why aren't they complaining about the loss of $14 million originally slated for a new school for SBOC students that instead went to cost overruns for other schools?

Might the answer lie in the fact that the parents of SBOC students speak 60 different languages, do not understand the school system and have little time to organize (even if they did speak English)?

Many parents of refugee and immigrant students work two or three jobs to simply sustain their families, but they nonetheless have valid concerns about the education of their children.

The school board must listen to the different ethnic-community groups representing this silent minority: Horn of Africa Services, the Vietnamese Friendship Association and Campana Quetzel among others. All advocate keeping the SBOC a stand-alone school.

One does not like to think that the Seattle School Board takes advantage of its non-English-speaking parents when it makes decisions about which schools will be closed or relocated, but cynicism cannot be rejected outright.

-- Jeanette Corkery, Seattle

Charter the road to educational success

I cannot think of a better education system than one in which like-minded, competent teachers get together and start their own charter school: teacher-operated, student-centered, without the disruptive and expensive administrative overhead.

Our taxpayers currently support 295 independent school districts in Washington state alone, each one with a superintendent, a school board and large number of nonteaching administrators and backup staff. If private schools thrive without a supervising bureaucracy, charter schools, if operated by dedicated educators, should do quite well. It is worth a try; we can learn from the success or failure of existing charter schools.

-- James Behrend, Bainbridge Island

Cancel the charter movement

Bigger than the current closure crisis, charter schools represent a clear threat to Washington's education system.

Here's why I think charter schools in Washington are a bad idea:

-- Even more politics in an area where we are already dealing with our fair share of politics surrounding education.

-- A resource-intensive, and therefore costly, process for authorizing districts, which are burdened with the responsibility of oversight and enforcement of standards.

-- The use of the market system to match the supply of education with demand when demand in some areas will inevitably not keep up with supply and charters will be forced to close.

-- The potential to reverse past trends of integration when minority groups and at-risk children are extracted from mainstream schools.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 enabled districts to close or revamp failing schools in a number of ways, including the reopening of charter schools. More districts nationwide are turning to charters to pick up the slack.

Washington's schools need to understand the reasons they are failing before enacting charter schools as an easy out.

-- Jeff Ball, Seattle

More family values, not jails

Lisa Fitzhugh's piece in the Jan. 19 Seattle Times ["More jails, fewer schools: We've got it backward," guest columnist] is itself backward. It is backward because more money for schools will not appreciably lower the crime rate.

The crime rate will only be lowered when children learn to distinguish right from wrong and this can only be effectively learned at home with family. Responsible parenting must somehow be restored in a culture where people have become oblivious to this root cause of crime.

We need to wake up to the fact that it is not OK to purposely bring children into the world into single-parent families. The odds against these children's ability to achieve success in life are too great. Around two-thirds of our prison population come from single-parent families. A minority of single parents can instill proper values in a child; most cannot.

-- Ed Wittmann, Seattle

Throwing scholars into an abyss of uncertainty

The Seattle Times editorial ["Academy's demise offers opportunity," Jan. 12] supporting closure of the African American Academy (AAA) offers a false premise and a false conclusion.

The false premise is that AAA has not lived up to its promise. The fact is, for Seattle schools with African-American students receiving free and reduced lunch (90 of AAA's population), in eight out of 12 cases, the AAA ranks within the top 15 for having at least 50 percent proficiency on the 2008 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) reading and math tests.

At AAA, 84 percent of the scholars live in single-parent homes and 23 percent live with relatives or foster parents. The recommendation to remove these vulnerable students at AAA, along with the absence of credible data on closure savings and the failure to provide a transition plan to ensure these students' academic success, is reason enough for the board to suspend all consideration of school closures. It is reason enough to direct Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson to provide the board with alternative solutions.

The Times editorial speaks of black children needing "to be in an all-black school …" as a sad statement. It would be a much sadder statement if these scholars were snatched from an environment where they have achieved some success and cast into an abyss of uncertain and, most likely, inequitable outcomes.

-- Dwayne Evans, Seattle

Music stars become dwindling embers

Seattle boasts two of the best high-school music programs in the country: Garfield in the south end and Roosevelt in the north end. They are fed by the two best middle-school music programs in the city: Washington in the south end and Eckstein in the north end.

It's truly amazing. These music programs are shining stars in the Seattle school system, and they provide a place for kids to come together and create something the entire community, and the even the country, can enjoy and be proud of. They are proof of what is possible in public schools.

These programs have taken years to build and cost a lot of money. Each one of them is heavily subsidized by friends and families of the students they serve. Auctions, fundraisers, bake sales — it all adds up. This year, Friends of Washington Music, the parent group at Washington Middle School, has a $50,000 budget to support the roughly 500 students in its music program.

The current school-closure plan requires that approximately 240 students move from Washington to Hamilton. Almost all of these students participate in the music program at Washington. When these students leave, their dollars will follow and the ability to raise $50,000 will be cut in half.

That is only the beginning of the demise of the music program at Washington. Once the Washington program declines, the Garfield music program won't be far behind. Seattle public schools will be left with shining stars in the north end (Roosevelt and Eckstein) and dwindling embers in the south end (Garfield and Washington).

I wonder what Quincy Jones, whose name graces the new performance center at Garfield, would think about that.

-- Alice Boytz, Seattle

Dense population demands more schools, not fewer

It was recently discovered President-elect Obama, as an infant, lived on Capitol Hill. His mother took up an apartment on Mercer Street and 13th Avenue and lived there for close to a year while she attended the University of Washington.

It is likely if Obama had stayed, he would have attended Meany Junior High School just a few blocks away.

It's ironic and tragic given the upcoming administration's emphasis on education that Capitol Hill's only junior high is now slated to close. It believe it would be a disgrace and a national embarrassment if we cannot offer one of Seattle's most densely populated communities a middle school, and students are forced to travel outside their neighborhood for schooling.

This places a severe hardship not only on the students, but the parents and families. It rips up the community.

There is no doubt Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Soetoro, chose Capitol Hill and this community as a place to start her family. This school speaks to the diversity of the neighborhood.

This finding perhaps gives some weight to recognizing the importance of schools in diverse communities with single parents and struggling families.

I believe every effort should be made to support what is in the best interest of student education. Closing Meany with its specialized education and art programs will not do that.

Please keep Meany Junior High open and Seattle schools open.

-- Charlette LeFevre, Seattle

Stability and security, not mobility

Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson evidently thinks the public supports her school-closure proposals and the Seattle School Board will approve them. I think she is mistaken and urge the Board to vote no.

The more people learn about the ramifications and impacts of the proposed closures, the more they oppose them.

Goodloe-Johnson was quoted Thursday morning as saying the district "would need to make sure the move didn't disproportionately affect students living in poverty and students who already are struggling in school." The topic was high schools. She doesn't seem to have this concern about closing schools now.

The majority of students at the African American Academy, T.T. Minor, Meany and Cooper are poor (eligible for free and reduced lunch) and of color. Under the proposed closure plan, more than 3,000 students, disproportionately poor and of color, would need to change schools.

But stability and security are central to academic gains among at-risk students, while mobility is highly associated with no gains. This sounds like a recipe for failure. The costs to children are too high and the theoretical dollar savings too low.

If the future is like the past, up to 20 percent of displaced students will leave the district, and the cost in lost revenue will offset a substantial part of the estimated savings.

The alternative: Put the whole process on hold while the district and the community do a more thorough analysis, including the new school-assignment plan.

Improve the schools and market them; don't have a "going out of business sale." Lobby or sue the state Legislature to provide full funding. The state constitution says it is the "primary duty" of the state to provide for the education of its children, but this is not being enforced.

Washington state students are about 45th among the 50 states in per-student funding. If Seattle schools received the funding to which they are entitled, the district would have a surplus, not a deficit.

Meanwhile, don't make the neediest children pay the price!

-- Jonis Davis, Seattle

Ineffective and inefficient

The Seattle Public Schools' case against Tony Wroten has four huge problems: First, the district needs to learn something about statistics. The rule states that four nights of seven must be spent in the district. It does not say that four of every seven random days must be spent in the district. If exactly three out of seven of all nights over an extended period are spent out of district, randomly distributed, a child will spend two or fewer nights out of seven in the district about a quarter of the time ["Garfield students march to protest Tony Wroten's dismissal," High School Sports, Dec. 13].

Second, due process was totally denied. A district lawyer acted as judge, jury and executioner. Nights away from home are not random. If, as I have heard alleged, Tony's mother was out of town on business for some of the time period in question, or if Tony, like most teenagers, had a number of sleepovers, in or out of district, or if Tony lent his car, the case has a problem. The school district convicted without asking the questions.

Third, the "dew" evidence is suspect. A well-heated car parked late will have less dew than the surrounding cars. Finally, the persecution is hardly random. Of the 2,000 students at Garfield High School, how many were investigated? Sounds like profiling.

Whoever is responsible for this travesty needs to be held accountable, whether appointed or elected. This rogue persecution has two victims: a teenage boy who was jerked out of school without due process and the Seattle school community.

How is the district served by spending far more than it costs to educate a student on persecuting him while also doing millions in public-relations damage? The district needs to spend its scarce resources on education, not self-destruction.

-- Randy Cerf, Seattle

Smarter than a fifth grader

There has been an avalanche of commentary regarding the now infamous dew-marks portion of the Tony Wroten investigation.

While we can debate whether or not the investigation should have been conducted, we cannot refute the science. The formation of dew is based on scientific principles. Dew is formed based on the temperature of surfaces. We learned this in the fifth grade.

The investigator used a rudimentary, science-based technique for checking whether or not the car was parked in that location for the entire evening. No one can argue that the car was not there for the entire evening.

The fatal flaw in the investigation was that the respondent was never interviewed. It may not change the outcome, but it is a fundamental element of a thorough, complete investigation.

Study after study shows that Americans are lagging the world in math and science. Based on the commentary I'm reading and hearing about the "absurdity" of the dew-marks portion of the investigation, we now know the answer to "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?"

-- John Hebert, Bothell

Don't take away the APP

For many years, Seattle has given gifted kids an opportunity to shine by providing the Accelerated Progress Program (APP). It would serve Seattle well to keep this program ["Which schools are on chief's list -- and which are not," News, Dec. 10].

However, new Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and the School Board have cited the APP as elitist and racist, and thereby is targeted to be dismantled. This act is purely political.

The APP has served the needs of students who are academically highly gifted of all races. APP is an all-city draw for gifted Seattle kids from first to 12th grades (regardless of race or family income) who can do well on the entrance test and can perform at a significantly accelerated learning pace and learn at a significantly advanced level of complexity and depth.

Many public programs in the Seattle school system require tryouts to prove ability for admittance.

Higher-learning institutions, colleges and universities require testing based upon academic ability for admittance.

Thereby, what is wrong with having the APP available for all kids in first to 12th grades who require testing based upon academic ability for admittance?

Please do not allow the School Board to destroy APP. For many years, it has helped so many highly gifted kids from so many walks of life. By destroying APP, you will deprive America's future of the best it has to offer academically.

Taking away APP deprives gifted kids of Seattle an accelerated learning pace in classes that provide an advanced level of complexity and depth.

-- Jeff Tanner, Seattle

Courtney Blethen / The Seattle Times

Pathfinder K-8 School would move to Arbor Heights Elementary under the current Seattle Public Schools closure plan

Don't judge a school
based on its building

Editor, The Times:

Don't jump on board with the Seattle school district's proposals just yet ["School closures: the march continues," Times, editorial, Dec. 1].

You describe Lowell Elementary as "bursting at the seams" as if this were a bad thing. Think of it instead as needed revenue from more than 500 Washington state student allocations. Lowell has the largest enrollment of any elementary school because it is successful -- a fact we should celebrate rather than decimate. It removes over 100 students from the crowded Northeast region. And the APP [Accelerated Progress Program] can't expand once divided into two south-end schools. They will be over capacity on the first day of school.

Our students have never perceived a school that is "decrepit," as the superintendent alleges. (Other buildings in the district are in worse condition with smaller enrollments.) There is too much quality learning there to notice.

Empty seats exist in newly rebuilt schools not because there are no children nearby to fill them, but because the district made the false assumption that a good building means a good education. It's the program inside the building that draws families and teaches students. This is proven at Lowell every day.

Don't risk the integrity of a great program like APP. The district recommends moving whole programs to new buildings -- NOVA, Summit, Pathfinder, etc. Why single Lowell out to be split in half?

-- Janet Pelz, Seattle

Where's the logic?

I am appalled at The Seattle Times' endorsement on school closures. You don't even mention the closure of the Arbor Heights Program.

Why is Arbor Heights closing? Low enrollment? No. My friend is on the waiting list. Low test scores? No. Arbor Heights is not at step four or five, which would put it in trouble with No Child Left Behind.

Does it meet any of the criteria put forth by the district to justify closures? Not one.

Arbor Heights is closing simply because the building is big enough for the Pathfinder Program. The word "eviction" comes to mind. The Seattle School District is evicting 303 Arbor Heights students and bussing them north into five to six schools. Then they are bussing 400 Pathfinder students south -- to save money? No. Bussing is expensive. Pathfinder is not a reference school, so the 160 kids who live within walking distance of the school don't get priority to go to Pathfinder.

What's more, the school district won't hold a public hearing at Arbor Heights because the building isn't closing. They don't want to hear from us and you don't want to write about us.

-- Chris Conley, Seattle

Time for a game
of musical classrooms

Unfortunately, creating great educational outcomes and environments isn't as easy as "just do it."

The Times editorial cited the proposal to move the Accelerated Progress Program to two underfilled schools designated as failing to make "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind, and currently attended by mostly minority kids.

Superintendent John Stanford moved APP out of a similar co-location arrangement with a general-education population because he said it created a palpable sense of "haves and have-nots" that was detrimental to the self-esteem of the K-5 kids. An expert review of the APP program, paid for by the district last year, advised against co-locating the program with students of a different socioeconomic group because of the likelihood of divisiveness between the two programs. This is exactly what the district is now proposing with respect to APP.

How will moving the APP program into these schools improve the educational performance of the existing student populations, who will be in separate classrooms? The last time the district closed schools, 21 percent of the impacted students left the district. Is that good for the overall health of the school system?

Tearing apart existing programs and simply shifting students around to fill spaces without the support of data to show how it will work educationally is not a recipe for the long-term health of the district (fiscally or otherwise).

-- Shannon Phillips, Seattle

Taxing is not the only way

Why is it our politicians feel the need to cut essential programs to force tax increases instead of looking at innovative approaches to funding increases ["Gregoire looking at massive state budget cuts," Politics, Nov. 30]. Not all funding has to come from taxes.

How about advertising naming rights for schools, gyms and all athletic stadiums at each school that has them? Sell advertising billboards along the fences and walls of these same stadiums, like they do at Safeco or Qwest Field. Open up schools to advertising in creative ways, such as school clothes sponsored by various companies.

Eliminate school-operated lunchrooms and sell food-court rights to serve students. You can do this by setting reasonable health standards and fixed costs that vendors will meet if given enough school access for volume sales.

Increase the number of vending machines and charge more, providing a product line approved by the School Board. How about eliminating books and going to online materials that students can access from home? Kids don't take books home anyway because there aren't enough for each student, so they leave them in school and share them. Most of today's kids are more savvy at the Internet anyway.

Rent out school facilities on weekends or at nights when possible to organizations and groups that will pay for usage. Do a transportation study and provide passes and maximize usage of mass-transit buses for high-school students instead of providing school buses for routes that are well-serviced. There is no need to add thousands of dollars of cost to students and families, just start thinking more creatively.

-- Art Francis, Issaquah

Now is the time to increase funding

Washington state's constitution specifically outlines its paramount duty is to fund public education. With the knowledge that voters overwhelmingly passed Initiative 732 and Initiative 728, it is extremely disconcerting that The Seattle Times would propose that we cut teacher pay and increase class size ["In tough times, suspend education initiatives," editorial Nov. 26].

How many times do we need to list the cold hard facts: Washington state is 47th in the nation for class sizes, teacher pay is the lowest on the West Coast and far below the national average, and over the years many research reports and think tanks have said smaller classes and higher teacher salaries improve the quality of education.

The answer is quite simple: Even in hard economic times, we need to be working on improving teaching and learning in our state, and the baseline is class size and teacher pay.

As a teacher gains experience, just like a doctor or lawyer, he/she is also learning. Problems or challenges become easier to anticipate. There are more tools in his/her tool belt to assess learning and reteach, modify or increase instruction in particular skill sets. This information can then be passed to newer colleagues entering the field.

What is happening in education is a type of brain drain. Because of the high stress, huge workload and extremely low pay, teachers leave their field, their passion, to keep their families functioning. It is easy to criticize teachers and believe the myth that they are greedy and lazy. But there are few other professional and governmental jobs where pay is not guaranteed and workload continually increases without compensation.

Because we have a system that encourages a revolving-door type scenario, stability and knowledge are lost.

People also criticize the public-school system for students who fall through the cracks. There is always this wonderment of why someone could not learn to read by the time he/she gets to high school. The basic answer is quite simple: The larger the crowd, the easier it is to hide. When education is cut, supplementary services are cut. Even when learning issues are discovered, there could be very few options or tools available to the students, parents and teachers. When class sizes are smaller, it is easier to identify learning issues, and have the time to individually address the situation. Behaviors or attendance issues are dealt with at a faster rate. There is more time for a teacher to communicate with parents. There is nowhere for a student to hide.

Everyone wants to keep his piece of the pie when cuts have to be made. It is up the people and lawmakers to make these decisions. Budget items need to be prioritized. Washington state started this list a long time ago. The citizens and lawmakers understood the necessity of having a well-educated population. So they put it in the state constitution. It is our paramount duty to fund public education.

In the last few years, there has been some movement forward. We need to remain firm in our beliefs and not try and solve the budget problem with what seems to be a quick and easy fix. Education money needs to remain and continually be increased, even in hard economic times.

-- Melissa Metzger, Seattle

Way too late

Children are our most important responsibility. They are the future. The knowledge required for Seattle (and our nation) to thrive in the global economy is already jeopardized by our broken education system.

The two initiatives you recommend suspending (better pay for teachers and reducing class sizes) are too little and very late, but at least they begin to tackle education problems. Our future is worth a lot more than the $1.45 billion you claim can be saved.

Shame on you and shame on us if we continue to relegate children and their education to the "good times." We are surrounded with the results of such "good-time" thinking: rundown school buildings, students who can't pass basic tests, teachers on food stamps and classrooms without text books.

-- Loretta Jancoski, Issaquah

Education is more important

The problems that face our society can never be fixed as long as we continue to value entertainment over education.

Instead of trying to lure another mediocre NBA franchise to Seattle, let's focus our efforts on keeping schools from closing and paying teachers a yearly salary that is more per year than what they owe for student loans.

Instead of shifting the 1 percent hotel tax (which is currently paying off the convention center) to generate $75 million in order to upgrade KeyArena, why don't we shift it to generate $75 million for education?

Or better yet, If Steve Balmer and his apostles of American capitalism really want to do something of value for their local community and region, they should take the $150 million that they have pledged to upgrade KeyArena, and use it to upgrade the educational system. Maybe then they would see some quality returns on their investment in the long run.

It's worth a shot considering we already have a pretty good idea about the kind of returns a middling professional sports franchise yields.

-- Ryan Malone, Duvall