Letter to the Editor: Disappointed by vote

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
I was deeply disappointed with the 3-2 vote of the Carbon School Board to close East Carbon High School. Yet not surprised. It has forever been a thorn in some peoples sides to have a high school in Sunnyside. I am sure if it had not been for Kaiser and U.S. Steel mining companies there would not have been a high school here. The companies donated the property, did the excavation and paid for a large percentage of the building.
In 1993, the board decided there was not enough money to keep the school open. The people along with various businesses came up with the money to keep it open. Now we are told it is not about money, but in the best interest of the students to close the school. I fail to understand how a student failing with a teacher ratio of 12 to 1 will do better in a class of 28 to 1.
It is true some students will have no problem in Price schools, but what happens to those who are already struggling? At a time of “No child left behind” tell me what happens to our children from East Carbon High? I can’t help but feel this is all about “egos” and not kids. If one student in a class of 20 fails a test, that is a 5 percent failure rate. If that same student fails in a class of 400, it is � percent failure rate. Do you think this is why our students are being move to Price, to make the numbers look better?
It is easier to sweep a problem under the rug to fix it. Like the old saying says, if you can’t fix it or find the problem, throw it away.
This whole thing makes me think of CEU and when it was in trouble. Someone found a way to fix it, turn it around and not throw it away.
I have heard it said that people want to live in East Carbon so they don’t have to compete. I feel instead it is because we like the quiet life, where a parent can go to school to inquire about his or her child and the teacher will know him or her. I feel our kids won’t be known and will get lost in the cracks of the Price schools.
I feel the action of some of the members of the Carbon School Board has caused as much disruption and damage to the East Carbon and Sunnyside communities, as the atomic bombs did in World War II in Japan.