Counterpoint: Keep the Hararis

The LVUSD should be ashamed of themselves. What they've done in allowing Brenda and Itamar Harari to build the Las Virgenes Community Learning Center and subsequently ejecting them after all of their hard work is nothing short of robbery.

The Hararis brought this program together in record time. It was the Hararis' vision and inspiration that attracted all the parents who ultimately enrolled. They are the heart and soul of this school.

Due to the district not providing essential staffing to better manage the initial acclimation period, we had rocky start. I stayed at this school through its rocky start because of the Hararis.

District and union policies and restraints, as well as their general state of unwillingness, hindered many of the Hararis' efforts to provide the teachers with new skills and tools necessary to facilitate the school's mission. Seeing how Brenda handles situations and having been able to work along side of her has only strengthened my belief in her and my belief that without her and her husband, there would not be a school at all.

Many of the district officials who championed the concept of this school a year ago and supported the Hararis are no longer in positions of influence. I have to question the judgment of the new director of elementary and alternative education, Rose Dunn, who has seemingly played a behind-the-scenes role in the demise of this school. I find it hard to believe that she has the best interests of the children in mind. Her attitude and actions toward the Hararis have at times been outright disrespectful.

Many efforts to successfully implement and fulfill the vision of this progressive school have been thwarted. I'm offended by Superintendent Don Zimring's attitude of "Gee, we'd love to keep the Hararis if we just had the money." With all of the concern about the upcoming budget cuts, LVCLC is bringing money into our district due to its high population of out-of-district students. These families have come to our school because of the Hararis and are families that the district will lose along with the Hararis.

It is my hope that these insightful innovators, Brenda and Itamar Harari, will continue their work in this area. And the best that LVCLC can hope for is to hang desperately onto whatever of the Hararis' vision they are able to embrace. Kim B. Morales Agoura Hills