Middle School Dilemma

Regarding “The ‘Middle School Muddle,’ ” May 11: I have some advice for Susan Jacobs, who’s contemplating a move to Agoura, where her children would attend a school built for 700 that now has nearly 2,000 students, no soap in the bathrooms, showers removed from the gymnasiums to make room for more lockers (and kids are huffing fumes between classes just like everywhere else). My advice: Move to a state where they care about education.

BETSY MILLIGAN

Agoura Hills

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The fear of middle school has complex origins. What exacerbates these problems is the LAUSD’s siege mentality. After attending an LAUSD gifted magnet elementary, my son enrolled in the neighborhood middle school. The policy of this school (and assumably the district) is to randomly pull students out of class for a body search. In addition, there was a menacing-looking staff of young men who patrolled the grounds with walkie-talkies to quell disturbances. Welcome to middle school!

In addition, my son was routinely assaulted both physically and mentally. The vice principal’s response was to question what my son was doing to cause other students to assault him.

Fortunately, my family was in a position to relocate to Big Bear, where my son attends a public middle school. He is no longer being assaulted. In fact, he has flourished: He will graduate from middle school next month with honors.

My son’s school has clean hallways, clean bathrooms, a staff that cares and a principal who knows most of the students by name.

CARROL McCOMBS

Big Bear City

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I found your article to be on target, but it featured only one-third of the problems. This article should have started with the elementary schools and ended with the high schools. The “parent frenzy” over poor public school choices and expensive private schools begins with kindergarten.

Look at the poor Stanford 9 test scores for local public schools, take the approximately $8,000 tuition for a private school and multiply by two (the median number of children in a family), add in the inadequate number of private schools, and you begin to see what the frenzy is all about.

For many families who feel that public schools are not even an option and pay for private schools, add the insult of additional property tax measures to further support public schools that we don’t use. I’m sure there are many who would agree that if their “frenzy” had only started in middle school, they’d consider themselves lucky.

REBECCA ROBERSON

Pasadena