Tustin’s Priorities Way Out of Whack

* As a resident of Tustin and a principal at an elementary school in Santa Ana, I ask Mayor Tracy Wills Worley which is more educationally sound [for Tustin Marine base reuse]: an additional golf course, which Tustin does not need, or educating tomorrow’s citizens and ensuring America’s future?

Instead of building yet another golf course in Tustin, Santa Ana officials wisely opt to educate their children. My school’s K-5 enrollment approaches 1,400 students on a year-round, four-cycle calendar. We have 27 permanent buildings and 31 portables at the school.

The projected student enrollment for the 2001-02 school year, however, again shows a significant increase, and we are quickly running out of playground space. The school is severely impacted. Consequently, there is discussion of moving next year’s fifth-graders to a middle school.

We all recognize the serious implications, but choices with our overcrowded conditions are few. Unfortunately, this situation is not unique to my school.

Worley states that Santa Ana officials will be responsible for the plight of the homeless, forgotten and abused if the reuse plan does not go forward.

Tustin politicians must lack the foresight to understand that the plight of the homeless is exactly what Santa Ana officials are trying to change.

Santa Ana officials seek to reduce the homeless population, the forgotten and the abused by educating them. Bottom line: Santa Ana needs the land for schools; Tustin does not need another golf course.

SELA LONGACRE

Tustin