Letter to the Editor: Why the dollar

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
I am the single divorced parent of a tenth grader who currently attends East Carbon High School. My daughter and I moved to Sunnyside about 18 months ago, from Salt Lake City, to escape the problems and the dangers of city living. We sleep well and without fear each night since moving here.
My daughter loves East Carbon High School, she likes being in a smaller, more intimate setting. She is friends with nearly everyone in the school and she enjoys the familiarity and closeness afforded by the small class sizes. In Salt Lake City, she was a face and student number in a large high school, she did not have friends and she was going to school daily in fear because the students in the schools were a very rough bunch. She literally was sick every day that she attended school due to the stress of dealing with the potential for violence and/or the feelings of being bullied and left out.
Now that it looks as though she may have to attend Carbon High School next year, I am afraid she will eventually drop out of school. She will be lost among other students there and the issues she deals with will not be addressed and she will not have the help and support she needs to succeed in school.
And then there is the 30 mile ride to and from the school. On a dangerous road no less. Add to that the fact that in case of some sort of emergency it would be extremely difficult to retrieve my child from a school so far away. We have limited transportation, and live on a fixed income. I do not see how I will be able to afford to support my child in her school activities, if and when she even has a chance to participate in those activities.
If I had known the school would be closing I would probably have chosen to relocate elsewhere in Utah, or even left the state. I saved for quite some time to make the move here, and now I am forced to stay here and try to make the best of things, but my child is going to be suffering in the long run. I know that many of the parents here feel as I do. Why does it always have to be the almighty dollar that wins out?