jvc wrote on Mar 26, 2008 2:03 AM:It is outrageous to vote to close these schools! It proves one thing, we as a community do not care about education
when we do not fight to keep our schools open no matter what it takes!

oside mom wrote on Mar 26, 2008 6:37 AM:jvc...yes, it stinks to have to close the school, but the district has to cut an obscene amount of money from its budget. How do you propose to pay to keep Ditmar open? Can you write to check to cover its yearly operating costs? Should we fire more teachers at other schools (with twice the enrollment numbers)? There are no happy choices.

get check wrote on Mar 26, 2008 7:37 AM:If you take emotion out, it is the right decision to close the school. I listened to some of the teachers at the school on the news. Just because you have been there for a long time isn't a good enough reason to stay open, there is a school in every neighborhood, that's no excuse. And to "jvc" what does closing this school have anything to do with the community caring about education. Didn't the community a few years ago vote in millions of dollars in bonds to fix up the schools, so I guess the community cared then but not now. Before accusations are made maybe you should get educated, give me a break.

Lynda in O'side wrote on Mar 26, 2008 7:38 AM:The budget cuts are just one more effect of the domino effect that the illegal immigrant population & their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have taken on tax payer's education.

Oh Lynda! wrote on Mar 26, 2008 8:33 AM:Um...if illegals have children in the USA than that would make them US citizens, just like you and me...Which makes grand children and great-grand children CITIZENS TOO! DUH!!!

Long Time Coming wrote on Mar 26, 2008 8:38 AM:The closing of Ditmar has been a long time coming. The writing was on the wall years ago, and it is more than a little sad, especially for those of us that actually went school there and grew up in that neighborhood. Did anyone at the meeting mention NCLB as one reason for closing the school, and not just the cost? I believe it had struggled, and with the bar for a "passing" grade going up each year, it would have been in some major trouble in the next few years anyway. Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions...

A Taxpayer wrote on Mar 26, 2008 9:37 AM:The illegal immigrants, or rather the lack of them, are part of the budget problems in Oceanside. There has been declining enrollment over the last few years because of the increase in the cost of living in the area, particularly the cost of housing. For years the costal area west of I-5 was the area with the lowest cost housing thus the number of large illegal families, which is no longer true. The state of California gives money to run the schools based on the attendance, and with fewer children of illegal aliens living in Oceanside and attending our schools, thus less money from the state to run the schools.

The other part of the budget problem is the years of the mishandling of money in Sacramento. Period!

To Lynda the Ignorant... wrote on Mar 26, 2008 9:59 AM:...or maybe it is terrorists that are over populating the schools?!?!?! Learn who the real bad guys are in all this...its the governator and his cronies who made too many promises to too many people and unfortunately those communities that need help the most are the ones that have and will always lose the most.

SeasideLocal wrote on Mar 26, 2008 10:19 AM:The community cares a lot about DItmar School. Schools are a key gathering place as well as open space in a neighborhood. (Don't even go off on some weird immigrant tangent.) The bottom line here is that the school had to close thanks to Sacramento. A vibrant neighborhood surrounds it, and the future of the site must meet the needs of the neighborhood as well as all our kids. Studies by the School District have shown that they must never give up school land. There are plenty of other sites such as the District HQ to redevelop for much more money. Ditmar is our local school and will always be an educational site.

To A Taxpayer wrote on Mar 26, 2008 10:33 AM:Overall attendance in the district, especially along the coast, has been dropping. But I'm not sure how this breaks down with respect to illegal vs legal residents. This particular school has always had a high percentage of ESL kids, even 30 years ago. Lately, it's had a VERY high percentage. My gut feeling is it's the folks that saw they could by a nice big house east of I-5 that left, not the poorer folks that are already living bunches to a house or apartment. I'm sure the distict has all the numbers, and in fact they're probably online somewhere, along with test scores (they have to break them down according to these groups; not illegal vs legal, but racial makeup). Gotta agree about the waste. Just ridiculous.

Sorry about Ditmar wrote on Mar 26, 2008 10:39 AM:No Child Left Behind is a travesty and a canard. The kinds of tests that they use are not useful to teachers for planning instruction, as they do not measure individual student progress in any meaningful way. It is wrong to re-direct teaching and learning from how to think critically and to express ideas in writing to how to pass multiple-choice exams. These scores are just being used to beat up teachers and schools and to provide an excuse for vouchers.

Do it legally or don't do it wrote on Mar 26, 2008 10:43 AM:If we didn't allow the children of illegal immigrants to attend our schools in the first place we wouldn't have had to build so many schools to accomodate them. This is what has caused the increase in budget problems that we are now experiencing my friends. I agree, that the "domino effect" of non-citizens using up tax payer's resources is now taking it's toll on our economy in every aspect. Today the subject happens to be, "The closing of schools." Tomorrow it will be, "The closing of hospitals, traffic congestion due to lack of money to build more roads", and on and on.

The walk wrote on Mar 26, 2008 11:06 AM:was a nice touch but a waste of time. If the families and teachers really wanted to keep it open why didn't they volunteer to pay more taxes or donatations to the school. Also I didn't hear the teachers volunteering to take a cut in pay and put that savings back into the school. Again how much do they really want to keep it open?

Ditmar Proud wrote on Mar 26, 2008 11:46 AM:To "The walk"

I don't know what teachers you've spoke with, but we did offer to pay more taxes. We consistently pay our own money for supplies for students. Also, standing up for what you believe in is never a waste of time.

Citizen X wrote on Mar 26, 2008 2:11 PM:I feel for those taxpayers who now have to shuttle their children to a neighboring school and will lose the easy access to Ditmar for their children. But on the otherhand, I look forward to the rest of Oceanside getting a taste of the Crown Heights population. The schools that will be absorbing the Ditmar students better get ready for an onslaught of English-Learners, and ramp up that subsidised lunch program. They'll need more paint to cover the junior Center Street ganster grafitti, and the surrounding streets will see new levels of candy wrappers and minor vandalism left by the kids as they travel to school.

Concerned Grandma wrote on Mar 26, 2008 3:35 PM:I just think it's such a crying shame that our children, our schools AND our teachers in California are going to be the ones suffering so much because of our Governor's unwise decision making! My granddaughters love Ditmar School and have really thrived there. It is a sad day today for them.

To Concerned Grandma wrote on Mar 26, 2008 4:16 PM:Unfortunately the Governor has to take the blame for the Democrats out of control spending and voters who continue to vote yes on bonds we don't have the money to pay. If you really care about your Grand kids, and mine by the way, you would encourage this type of cost cutting so they don't inherit the huge deficits we let the Democratic controlled government create. It would be nice if we all could have what we want but I certainly don't want to pass the price tag to my Grand kids.

Its unfunderd federal mandates: Mostly Special Ed wrote on Mar 26, 2008 6:09 PM:That are the reason that the average cost of a public education is twice that of the average private school, in total $ spent per pupil. Unchecked immigration, due to illegal immigration, and the disproportional growth in number of poor, educationally disadvantaged students; exacerbates the probelms, especially in communities, like Oceanside, with a large recent immigrant population.

WAKE UP and realize that any time someone says "the richest country in the world can afford it" they mean YOU.

We need to stop using our schools for social engineering, focus on basic education IN ENGLISH, and control our borders so we can absorb the immigrants already here.

BTW: The US, on a per Capita GDP basis (which is what matters), is NOT the richest country in the world, that would be Luxembourg, at nearly twice the US. The US is fourth, behind Norway, and falling, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Remember wrote on Mar 27, 2008 7:04 AM:Next time any North County school district wants to build a new school with your tax money remember the words in this article-ENROLLMENT IS DOWN.

Just Noticed the Picture wrote on Mar 27, 2008 7:12 AM:I notice that at least in Escondido a large number of Latino mothers like to walk their children home after school and I'm sure will not like the closing of this school in their neighborhood.

Come on, people— wrote on Mar 28, 2008 11:47 AM:Stop blaming immigrants for diminished support for public schools while excusing the companies that draw them here. Why not protest the corporations that set up mail boxes as "headquarters" off shore so they can dodge state and federal taxes? There's a lot more to gain from them than there is to be gained from hate-mongering against people who come here because they want a better life.