Editor, Times-Union: It seems that every day there is something in the paper regarding the Warsaw Community School Board, school closing and new school buildings. You hear people for and against and in my honest opinion, no matter what course of action is decided upon, there will be people for and against the final decision.
Warsaw has an elected school board which means that we the people of Kosciusko County voted for the board that is now slated. While I'm not saying that we should not voice our opinions, ultimately, the board has the authority to close schools no matter what our opinions are. Building new schools however, is something different.
There are serious budget concerns all over the state of Indiana and of course WCS has them also. While we all have our own feelings about the elementary schools that our children attend, I think that we should also be aware of the big picture in that no matter which school your child attends, they are still part of WCS which is a very large school system. Your child will ultimately be put into one of two middle schools of comparable size and go on to WCHS, which on any given day has more people in it that most companies in the area (some towns for that matter).
All four of our children have or are attending Harrison Elementary which is 2-1/2 miles from our home. However, the children have at least a 35-minute bus ride to school. It's the same or more for the middle and high school. While this might be a concern for some, I feel more strongly about the courses and/or the teachers for my children rather than the time they are on the bus. And while I agree that the smaller student-to-teacher ratio is desired, it is not always possible or practical.
There was an extensive study done by an outside party concerning future growth in our community. In reviewing the report submitted to the board, the information and course of action recommended really did make sense to me. While our family is not immune to possible redistricting, we must all be able to see the forest through the trees, realizing that WCS is in a position where changes have to be made. WCS also, in my opinion, employs some of the best teachers and faculty; people who are here because they want to educate our children no matter which school they attend in the WCS corporation.
Laura Wagner Warsaw via e-mail
U.S. 30
Editor, Times-Union: I'm glad that someone finally wrote the truth about the U.S. 30 traffic problems. I don't know Mr. James L. Townsend, the author of the Letter to the Editor in the June 10th issue of the Times-Union, but he hit the nail on the head. I've said the same thing many times and I still feel it is necessary to replace all intersections on U.S. 30 with overpasses.
We don't need to stop traffic on U.S. 30, we need it to flow and that can be done with overpasses, not stoplights. He mentioned U.S. 30 and Ind. 15 as the safest intersection. This is true, but if they would have put in a cloverleaf instead of the ramps they now have, it could have been better. All the stoplights that are now on Ind. 15 would not be there if it were a cloverleaf. While we are at it, let's fix the mess at the Wal-Mart entrance, too. I attended the first public meeting of the Western Route Project and made the suggestion to elevate the proposed bypass (with overpasses, etc.) to prevent the same problems we now have on U.S. 30. Will they? Probably not. Should they? Yes. And while they're at it, if someone wants to build any more big stores, make them build farther off the road so we can have bigger, better, safer intersections/entrances.
One last thing. Do we really need another drugstore? If so, why not use the old empty Wal-Mart building for Walgreens? It's not too far from where they want to build anyway. Warsaw can fix that Argonne Road/Center Street intersection without putting in another drugstore.
