I am not sure why there is a dilemma concerning how to cut the expenditures for District 9-R schools. The absence of common sense in school leadership is awe inspiring. For the past several decades, the public schools have taken on, without the benefit of voter approval, an attempt to replace the home, the parent and the safety net parts of the county government. As a result, the infrastructure required to attempt to perform those functions, which it was never intended to supply, have risen like a rocket.

So, with all due respect, cut the following:

Eliminate the clinic in the schools. Return that health care responsibility to the parent or the La Plata County Health Department where it has historically and correctly belongs.

Eliminate the counseling components of the schools except as related to the students curriculum choices and goals.

Return the safety net responsibility for students to the properly constituted part of La Plata County government. Retain the communication between the teacher (not administration) and the safety net so that no one falls through the cracks.

Return the responsibility for feeding students to the parents or the local safety net. Cessation of the perpetual handout will take some time. Start today.

Structure the curriculum to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. In addition, provide for a dramatically increased vocational and technical facility. Not everyone should be preparing for college.

Eliminate all other efforts at student social engineering. Parents detest the meddling of the school in the dilution of family values.

The schools are not a credible replacement for the parent and family. The community in refusing to increase funding for education in Durango is ample evidence that the assumption of non-historical roles is not approved – so stop trying. There is no replacement for mom and dad. No amount of college education will prepare a teacher or counselor to replace a loving parent.

When the schools return to their historical role of education, the costs will go down to the level that the residents of La Plata County want to fund.

Alan Yoder

Durango