Will Schools Repeat Mistakes?

Iread with great interest the letter from Renee Lichter regarding Darby Elementary School.

I find myself wondering how many other schools increased their capacity, only to end up in the same position as Darby, Wilbur and Lawrence. How much money has been wasted and how many teachers are being bounced around like rubber balls? How many classrooms are being disrupted to correct the school board’s mistakes?

My two daughters attend Van Gogh Street School in Granada Hills. Yesterday, I received a notice informing parents that ours is one of 105 schools slated to increase capacity by 23% for the 1991-92 school year.

Your article states that the board is working out a new plan to avoid the problems they created with their old plan. If this is the case, why are we told that Van Gogh and 104 other schools must do what Darby, Wilbur and Lawrence did last year?

Are we doomed to repeat the board’s mistakes again next year, just at different schools? Does the board think that parents won’t notice the repetition of this blunder?

Wouldn’t that money have been better spent on the students we already have, as opposed to students the board isn’t sure will materialize? As prophets, the board’s record is somewhat dubious. Not too long ago, the board was closing schools because of a projected lack of students.

Why do board members feel that they deserve a raise? For the job they are doing, they are already vastly overpaid.

KAREN E. NOVIKOFF

Granada Hills