Editor:

Ryan Burns' story "Crossing Schools" was a pleasant and welcome surprise in your Feb. 5 paper. I have taught at Dow's Prairie School for 24 years and was expecting to see yet another hit-and-miss effort at understanding the reconfiguration controversy. Instead, Burns presented a well-researched, in-depth survey of the complexity of the issues and the key players, present and past, and uncovered the pain involved in restructuring an already successful district in an established but expanding community. 

When I moved to Humboldt County in 1984 I was puzzled to see many small elementary districts, unchanged for decades, feeding into a few high school districts. Even McKinleyville and Dow's Prairie had been separate communities years ago. In my first year, when Superintendent Larry Georgianna tried to transfer a few second graders to Morris from my overloaded classroom, some mothers and children cried. 

The roots of all of these small, solitary communities run deep, and change is not easy. As an employee of the MUSD, I will watch with interest the course of the board of trustees, and hope that the decisions made will not only serve budgetary needs, but the best interests of all of our families.

— Lora Cunningham, Arcata

Editor:

Public school principals should be people with principles. Writers and editors should know that "spell check" doesn't distinguish between homonyms, and be principled enough about their work to make occasional use of a dictionary to be sure that they understand the principal meanings of the words they choose to employ. 

— Nicholas Marlowe & Terrie Baune, Miranda

Sweet Spot: Lora Cunningham wins a Bon Boniere sundae for sending our favorite letter of the week.