WILDOMARTIAN wrote on Mar 12, 2008 12:46 AM: Within the "impassioned parents and teachers" comments there were several interesting points brought out that the school board staffers seem to dance around. But the best ones were when one parent asked "What would Jean Hayman say about the closing?" And just a few speakers later, an 88 year old lady, a friend of Jean Hayman told the board what Jean said with her dying breath " Don't let them take the school away!"

arny's army wrote on Mar 12, 2008 8:57 AM:lets close the school where yhe disenfrachised live. the thought of displacing children of poor ethnic origin being an easy task looks like a severe mis calculation on the school boards part. VIVA LA RAZA

ugh wrote on Mar 12, 2008 9:33 AM:is it really that hard to drive 5-10 minutes further to go to school? are you people that lazy? just think of it as extra time you would get to spend with your kid each day together!

Reading is Fundamental wrote on Mar 12, 2008 10:31 AM:to ugh, they don't have cars DUH!

bus riders wrote on Mar 12, 2008 5:11 PM:The district said that only about 25 Haymen kids ride the bus. Won't that increase if they move schools? Won't that be an additional charge? To Arny's Army-Do we have to pull the race card? It is always the race card. Maybe it is the best choice of schools to close due to numbers.

to ugh wrote on Mar 12, 2008 5:26 PM:It is people with the mindset like you that think it is OK to move kids anywhere. If you were at the meeting and had read the article, it says that there are parents who do not have transportation. So yeah, it is hard to drive 5-10 more minutes when you AREN'T DRIVING! That is the point we are trying to get across. People walk in the pouring rain and scorching heat to make sure their children are at school. They are spending MORE time with their children walking them and talking with them. They aren't lazy, they are probably more active than you are! Please walk your child to school and see how much more time you can spend with them walking than in the car listening to the radio!

Roberto1 wrote on Mar 12, 2008 7:02 PM:To viva la raza...maybe you should think twice before inflamming the ignorant xenophobes....These are mostly poor hard working folks....and the solution should not involve closing any school that is needed and planned to be re-opened...."But Trustee Sonja Wilson was skeptical. "Why would we modernize it if we're going to close it?" she asked." Take some out across the district instead of severing a leg or arm of he community.

ugh wrote on Mar 12, 2008 11:35 PM:ok so im not a genius but im thinking that since this is southern california and not new york or chicago, why do they not have cars? how do these people get places like the grocery store, doctors office, etc?
how can you seriously not have a car living in the area we live in?
maybe before you start popping babies out you should be able to afford a car, not to mention how these kids will get to school once they start middle and high school

TickTock wrote on Mar 12, 2008 11:45 PM:Machado Elementary should close. Test scores are at 500 or so every year, while all other schools score 700-800+

Marie wrote on Mar 13, 2008 7:47 AM:Donald Graham has consistently had higher test scores and scores over 800 for the last few years. Donald Graham is located in the middle of the Windsong Valley track of homes and would devistate an entire neighborhood if closed. Our kids would have to be bused to another school (likely Jean Hayman), parents would have to pay for the busing, the school would be boarded up and a magnet for even more grafitti than we already experience. House values will drop even more. Is closing any school a good idea? No, but test scores, age of school, and location all need to be looked at when making this critical decision. Donald Graham has higher test scores, is a larger (acreage), newer school and is in the middle of a neighborhood (no parking issues). Look at Wildomar Elementary (lower scores, ancient portables, busy streets and surrounded by commercial buildings. This is a viable alternative.

Nancy wrote on Mar 13, 2008 4:21 PM:Closing Graham is a mistake. Graham is one of this districts top sites. Top kids, top scores. It is discriminatory to close Graham just because we can afford cars. Hayman is a dump, let it go. Those kids could be transfered to better schools.

If wrote on Mar 13, 2008 5:27 PM:If you close Machado, won't you see the surrounding schools' (those that absorb Machado's students)test scores decrease? Plus, where would those students go? I guess if you close Haymen you will probably see Ronald Reagan and Donald Graham decrease too, but not as substantially.

to ugh again wrote on Mar 13, 2008 7:48 PM:You wonder how people live without a car? How they get from point A to point B? They walk! Do you not see people, women mostly, pushing their strollers with their children in tow down the streets? They do what they can to make ends meet. I know many parents who provide transportation for those who don't have it. Even then, it is hard for those who do have transportation since most of their vbehicles are not top of the line and in good condition...they are barely able to make it where they do go! I know no one wants to clos a school, and it may not be the best coice for anyone, but transportation does play a part. THe district says they will cover the cost of bussing, but now their expenses go up. And, at the same time, many parents will NOT put their chidren on a bus for fear of what might happen. Again, a lot of these people do not have cars and are leary of their children riding the school bus, an unknown for many.

to Nancy wrote on Mar 13, 2008 7:52 PM:I assume you are a parent of a Doanld Graham student or you work there. I happen to work at Hayman and think the school is very nice, not "a dump" as you so eloquently put it. While we may not be as new as DGE, or look as nice, our kids do not deserve to be moved from their school and forced to be with people with attitudes like you! Hayman is an excellent school with excellent teachers and staff. Our scores may not be as high as other sites, but our children make up for it heart. While it's true heart may not bring a large API score, our students work hard to learn all they can,doing it with less than their counterparts at DGE. I would not want to have to go to DGE when there are attitudes like yours. I'm glad you can afford a car and seem to think that that is the answer, but I will happily work with my students and families who are working hard to make a living and provide for their children, even if that means they have to walk!

Jay wrote on Mar 13, 2008 8:45 PM:What parent does not want the best for their child and would not want their child to attend the best school possible. If we are talking about saving money then it only makes sense to close Hayman. Sad as it may seem it would be alot cheaper for the district to have to only bus 25 students then the much larger number attending DGE to other schools. People are creatures of habit, but we all must learn to deal with change.

to jay wrote on Mar 14, 2008 7:29 AM:They would have to bus 550 students to other schools from JHE. Only 25 kids ride the bus this year because all the others walk. There would be 500 kids on the busses from Hayman. Oh, and according to district numbers, JHE utilizes only 50% of its bussing, but Graham only utilizes 19% of its bussing...do the math!

Idiot wrote on Mar 15, 2008 9:23 AM:California is being ran into the dirt nose diving into finacial oblivion while the working class people are too busy holding down a 40+ hour work week not being able to concentrate on the community issues and the ones that do often get over shawdowed. Most residents hope that the ones that do have the time to keep an ear to the ground on the community issues will do the right thing and it seems that our local representatives have let us down , maybe in the big picture this will be the best move for all involved , the sad part is that it seems most were blind sided and thrown to the wolves of change. With our prison systems over flowing with illegals and gang bangers and violent offenders. The viva la pasta crowd and the ms13 and the car jackings and muggings and meth heads and crack attacks on properties, our hospitals are closing our schools are closing our mom and pop stores are being ran out of town, more locks on more doors , press 1 for english.

Roberto1 wrote on Mar 15, 2008 8:37 PM:To idiot...other than grandstanding for xenophobia and turning it into a racial issue, against a free market economy and making unsubstantiated assumptions about an entire community...you have no positive input...., press 1 for Idiot.

Idiot wrote on Mar 15, 2008 9:35 PM:To label me is to negate me, there were no assumptions but yours of my supposed phobias of which you have no idea. Your ilk would silence my voice and my pleas for action with catch phrases and a crooked pointing finger like the evil step mother only wanting sleeping beauty to take one bite of the apple in hopes that I sleep the sleep of the dead and never awaken to the reality of the times, while the sheeple cower to the politically correct crowd( here let me prove I'm not racist or sexist by showing the world I'm so nice and would never speak up for anything that might possibly offend anyone of any size shape or color ) to often people mistake kindness for weakness and some shrivel in fear of being labeled by the know it alls. Your grand words do not strike fear or guilt in me and those same words are being seen for what they are, a crutch for those that need to shame others out of there opinions and their voice of reason , for evil to triumph all it takes is for good men to do nothing. I rebuke your pointing finger of guilt and challenge you and others to speak up. WAKE UP AMERICA. press 1 for whats right.

Roberto1 wrote on Mar 16, 2008 1:44 AM:To Idiot...if the name fits....oh well!
We are discussing a school closing and all you want to do is belittle the community....your cries of I'm not a racist are just that...whining. Its a free market economy and I'll press what the market dictates. And you talk about about evil triumph? My christian brother your not.

the traveler wrote on Mar 16, 2008 10:04 AM:U have to keep an open mind people. It is sad for any local school to be closing. But for many years just to get my own kids to school, any school I and many other parents alike were forced to drive, carpool, etc. There were no buses available and no schools within walking distance. Statistically it sounds like Graham is a better school. Sorry Hayman people u need to suck it up.

truthseeker wrote on Mar 17, 2008 5:45 PM:What is interesting about statistics is that smaller groups of people make the percentage larger. The issues are seperating a community in small chunks to go to four other schools (who don't want us anyways) doesnt make sense. No one wants to close a school really. The other schools are for the closure of Jean Hayman as long as it isn't their school. Since testing for 2nd grade is not mandatory why not stop that. Won't that save money? I am sure if we look closer to where all the money is spent we can find some way. I am not certain as to why religion is brought up in other comments I do not believe that was even stated in any part of conversations here. Its interesting how name calling comes about. I feel that unless your student attends Jean Hayman you really do not know how it feels to find out rather suddenly that this is happening. I am someone that this change does not effect that dramatically but some it will. When I see the faces of these students upset that the school is closing and the tears, I then must try to help save this school that was donated by this lovely citizen of Wildomar. It was her wish to have children here learning.

Dawn in Wildomar wrote on Mar 29, 2008 7:26 PM:The government should have listened to me YEARS ago when I wrote and said "Stop wasting all the tax payers money by wasting all the ink and paper by printing everything up in English and Spanish". Add up all that money we went through...
Our Country in falling apart and we should have put our foot down a long time ago !!