CV High needs to be a better neighbor

Regarding the Jan. 19 story, “CV High dishes up new policy,” your headline also could have read, “GUSD Board Overlooks Opportunity for Free Civics Lesson.”

Glendale Unified officials are well aware of widespread opposition to curtailing the “open-lunch” policy that has been in effect for many years at Crescenta Valley High School. So why is the district pursuing the notion of closure anyway?

To read that district staff and board members are just now recognizing inconsistency at the campus with existing policy is absurd. Further, it is ridiculous — and costly — to require now, at mid-school year, a revised parental consent form plus an ID sticker. Unnecessary.

Logic aside, what would be the initial and ongoing costs of equipping the campus to address the logistics of providing meals and seating for thousands of students, and of installing the fencing and hiring additional security staff that would apparently be needed to enforce a closed lunch period?

What is Glendale Unified planning? Or, what are they not telling their public, including about how they would pay for it?

Glendale Unified offers diverse reasons for a campus closure. Only one holds up under scrutiny: Crescenta Valley High needs to be a better neighbor within its La Crescenta community.

Indeed, the neighbors deserve trash-free streets that are free of drug activity and unsafe driving that many attribute to only a handful of inconsiderate students. For merely the cost of thoughtful leadership and creativity from the school’s stakeholders, Crescenta Valley High can choose to become an exemplary neighbor.

Those same stakeholders might also succeed in crafting incentives encouraging all students to be present throughout the day. This is the critical thinking that the school board should be encouraging and supporting among its students.

Maggie O’Rourke

La Crescenta