School bond rebuttal

I was appalled to read this letter where students not living in Oak Park are called "spongers" and people in the district called student "thieves." True that many of these students do not contribute to the school fund raising; however, there are plenty of families that live locally, that either rent or own a property in Oak Park, send their kids to these schools and yet see no reason to contribute whatsoever. You mention that other districts are struggling as OPUSD, yet those parents choose to come to OPUSD without any menace or threats. It is a free choice and a conscious decision.

They could easily go to state of the art elementary Yerba Buena, for example, yet they choose OPUSD. Doesn't this tell us that maybe they see a better future for their kids there?

You also mention the lack of maintenance in the schools. How can maintaining a home be compared with maintaining schools? Merely painting the walls or repairing roofs is not going to cut the necessity to bring these schools with state of the art equipment so that when these children go to their own paths they are competent and knowledgeable with the requirements of the time.

If we let the schools deteriorate and drop the number of students, that will directly affect the quality of teachers and students that are willing to work/ learn there. It will affect the price of our properties since no one will be attracted to come to an area where the schools are not in good shape.

Lastly but not least, why Mr. Knight's salary should be brought up in this matter? Excellent staff, excellent teachers—that is what is needed to have excellent schools with excellent students. If you want excellent staff then they should be paid accordingly or should they be "punished," as you suggest, because of the lack of budget in all of California?

Please, to all those that are so ready to criticize OPUSD, look first at your contribution, either monetary wise or time wise, or just ask yourself: are you doing your part to make sure that OPUSD flourishes and does not deteriorate? Elisa Dembsky Oak Park