LETTER OF THE WEEK

I wholeheartedly encourage the residents of Fountain Valley to pursue

the course toward becoming a unified school district.

As a 24-year resident, I still have never gotten a reasonable answer

as to why the schools in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and

Westminster did not unify back in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was so

financially advantageous to do so.

My fourth child will graduate from local schools in June. Having

served on every PTA/PTO board and as school site council president of the

schools they’ve attended in Huntington Beach for the past 20 years, I

have seen firsthand how unification would have benefited their

kindergarten through 12th grade experience.

Through unification, Fountain Valley will be able to have an

articulated curricular program from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Program quality will surely improve. Teacher salaries will be raised to

that of the highest paying district. The local community will be better

able to articulate their educational goals for their schools. The

administrative staff will be more accountable to a local constituency.

Currently, the different school boards, superintendents and sets of

district-level administrators are funded by taxpayers. I would rather

have seen these funds put into educational programs than keeping all

these little fiefdoms in existence. I applaud the leaders, educators and

community members in Fountain Valley for their vision and obvious value

for quality educational programs.

Current and future Fountain Valley students will only gain

educationally from this action. Voters, taxpayers and homeowners will

gain. The time has definitely come to unify.

SALLY BUTTERBAUGH ALVINO

Huntington Beach