Editorial: SLO should keep award winning school open
A letter to the Business Times that arrived via email from Nihal Naccasha, a doctor in San Luis Obispo, points out the connection between housing, jobs and education in our communities.
Dr. Naccasha wrote in defense of the Charles E. Teach Elementary School. It is an exemplary magnet school in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, and precisely the sort of community asset that can helped attract physicians to relocate to the Central Coast, which is desperately short of doctors.
But the district board is mounting a serious effort to close Teach, which is co-located on the campus of Bishop’s Peak Elementary. The problem is that Teach has been too successful — the campus is nearing capacity and neighbors are complaining about traffic.
When a rare success in public education — attracting students and winning awards — leads to talk of closing a school down, something is dramatically wrong. The board should and does need to do everything in its power to keep its award-winning school on track, and perhaps expand its programs to grades beyond elementary school in new locations.
We appreciate receiving Dr. Naccasha’s letter. We hope the district board does the right thing and finds a way to keep Teach open.
