The Willow Glen Resident Letters Applegate's teacher is capable administrator I was disappointed to read the article on Applegate School's closure in the December 23 edition of the Willow Glen Resident. While it presented the opinions of the Calvin Presbyterian Church's spokesperson, it did not include equivalent information from Applegate School's perspective. My son has attended preschool at Applegate for the last 18 months. He has been very happy and has matured and blossomed in ways that would not be possible in most daycare situations. Although I do not know the details of lease issues between Lee Cox and the property committee at the Calvin Presbyterian Church, I do know that Lee is a dedicated, effective teacher and school administrator. She runs an excellent preschool and kindergarten and is much loved by children, teachers and parents. I also know that Lee and her administrative staff, together with some of the parents, have desperately been seeking new premises for the school since the summer. When the last set of negotiations for new premises fell through, Lee felt obliged, with much heartache, to tell the parents that the school may not be able to continue in January. The real issue here is just how difficult it is for small, independent preschools to find appropriate premises in this area. Most end up using either existing school structures or space associated with churches. The city and county regulations for the locations of preschools make it hard to find property and obtain the appropriate use permits. Calvin Presbyterian Church has not leased the space that Applegate School uses until June 1999. The parents of Applegate children have come together to try to save one of the few preschools in Willow Glen that offers an excellent education in a loving environment, together with all-day care for those children with working parents. We are asking Calvin Presbyterian Church to reconsider its decision to allow Applegate School to remain at its present location until June, and allow the school to continue educating our children while searching for new premises for another generation of Willow Glen children. Janet Lorenzin Willow Glen Article ignored basic rules of journalism I was deeply disappointed at the caliber of your "Applegate School closing" article. In journalism, I was always taught that one should answer the following questions: who, what, when, where, why. However, this article failed to cover any of these categories with your usual thoroughness and professionalism. In that article, there should have been three "whos": Calvin Presbyterian Church, Applegate School and the Applegate families. The church and the impact on families were covered adequately. However, no attempt appears to have been made to contact the school. As a parent of an Applegate student, and as a Willow Glen Resident reader, I would very much like to better understand the church's logic in deciding to up-end the lives of dozens of families, leaving the rooms empty until June. This seems a strange decision for a church that claims to have such commitment to community involvement. I know that the school actually met all of the church's requests as of December 19, but was still asked to leave, despite the best efforts of both parents and the Applegate staff. Perhaps you can revisit the church and inform us of the real reason why this has happened? Finally, under the category of "what" and "where," it is not accurate to say that Applegate is closing down. Thanks to the efforts of the Applegate school director, staff and parents, an alternate location has been found for the kindergarten and Jr. kindergarten classes. A site for the preschool classes is still being sought. Applegate School's well-balanced, age-appropriate academic program is a real asset for Willow Glen parents who want an alternative to the many purely developmental programs in our community. It would be sad to lose this resource for our community. Glenna Mayo Willow Glen Note: The Resident made numerous efforts to speak to Applegate School's administrators, who chose not to comment. To church members: 'Please have a heart' An open letter to all members of the Calvin Presbyterian Church: Please give consideration to the children and the parents of Applegate School and let these children finish their academic year at your church location. Please let Applegate School lease the space until June rather than leaving the property vacant. The children are the ones who are hurt most by your refusal to continue the lease. We ask you to please put aside your anger toward Ms. Lee, and consider your Christian values. Please do not leave these children out in the cold. You must let them continue their education there for the remaining school year. Applegate School is an outstanding preschool; please do not let it be destroyed by the feud between the church's property committee members and Ms. Lee. She has already agreed to all their demands and they still refused to continue the lease. Also, a parents' oversight committee has been appointed to be sure the terms of the lease are followed and to interface with the church committee members. What more can we do? Our daughter has been with the same group of beautiful children, dedicated teachers and involved parents for the last year and a half. She loves her school. Please do not leave us having to explain to our 4-year-old that she can no longer go to school and play with her friends as the only option. Have a heart, please let the school stay open. John Siegel and Alice Chi Willow Glen It isn't too painful to become a blood donor With 1998 ending and 1999 beginning, many people will make resolutions for the new year. As a blood platelet donor, I would like to encourage people to include becoming a blood donor as one of their resolutions. Willow Glenites have always been very caring people, and I can't think of any better form of volunteerism than being a blood donor. Nothing is more rewarding than to give something that helps save lives--blood. Time-wise, giving blood doesn't take that much time and since you are limited by law as to how many times you can donate, you still have ample time to pursue other activities, even if you donated the maximum allowable times per year. Don't like needles? Think of what the person who receives your blood is going through and you will realize that you as the donor have the easy end of the bargain. A recipient like an organ transplant patient or accident victim is enduring far more pain than you are enduring in donating. If you are already a blood donor and want to be really bold, consider becoming a platelet donor like I have done. June E. Cooley Willow Glen [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, January 6, 1999. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.