Says district's programs make it special

The interim superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District has told members of the Board and the 7-11 Committee that any school closures should be based on facilities alone and that programs should not be a factor. This is severely misguided, and I hope Committee and Board members correct him before he walks away from the district in June after mortally wounding the very thing that makes the school district special.

Any district can have standard, cookie-cutter campuses. But it is educational curriculum such as those taught at Los Senderos Open School, Santa Rosa Technology Magnet and Los Primeros Structured School that give families an alternative and make PVSD special. Parents have sent their children- 1,500 kids combined, according to PVSD figures- to these schools because they use unique, proven techniques to get the best out of their students.

It must be working: Those three schools regularly achieve the highest scores in standardized test scores, not only in the district but countywide. For example, in the latest STAR results, 87 percent of Los Senderos 6th graders tested advanced or proficient in mathematics, the highest total in all of Ventura County. Santa Rosa's 84 percent was second-highest in the district. The district average, by the way, was 67 percent.

So, of course, the members of the 7-11 Committee and the board should consider programs when they are deciding which, if any, schools to close. It should be foremost in their minds what the school district will look like once this process is done. Because if the PVSD doesn't still offer its alternative schools once these decisions are made, than those active, involved parents will find alternative education for their 1,500 children in other school districts or at private schools. Chris Parker Camarillo