I am a 73-year-old retired pharmacist. I have always objected as to why our government has allowed our drug manufacturers to sell their prescription medications to foreign countries like England, Australia and Canada, for a fraction of the dollars that they charge U.S. pharmacies. Why should we pay more?

This involves many hundreds of name-brand medications, and is a practice that's been going on for at least 40 years. We Americans have been taken to the cleaners long enough. Retired seniors and citizens on a fixed income are being charged an exorbitant price. This is double pricing standard must be stopped. But change will only happen if our legislature and elected officials demand it and stop listening to lobbyists.

Chet Campanella

Castile Court

Hacienda proves that
magnets are positive

I am writing in support of keeping Hacienda School open. After reviewing test scores, I am impressed by what I have read about Hacienda's unique learning programs and student performance. I am a resident of the Willow Glen area and hope to enroll my child at Hacienda in a few years.

As a high-tech worker in Silicon Valley, I believe in quantitative performance-based metrics to make management decisions. For me, I have decided not to send my child to any public school with an API less than 750. Demographic factors can be argued on why so many San Jose Unified District schools can not achieve overall scores of 750 or above, but by the same token, other demographically diverse districts have found ways to manage these type of acceptable levels of performance.

Just as in the corporate world, I hope that the district will first "layoff" the poorest performing schools based on API numbers. Students from those poorest performing schools can be absorbed into higher performing schools and join a more successful learning culture.

Without Hacienda, my choice of district schools performing with acceptable API's above 750 has just gotten that much smaller, which would more than likely force me to send my child to private school. Please keep Hacienda open.

J.T. Clark

Willow Glen