Dear Mr. Welty:
I am a former Birchwood Core Knowledge Elementary student. I have now moved on to Duluth Central, but I still like keeping up on news at Birchwood, since I have a younger brother there who attends 4th grade. I must admit that I was very upset when I heard the proposal to close my old school. It is the only elementary school in our area, and I don't want to see my younger brother going downtown with all of the traffic.

I was surprised that you would want to close Birchwood. It is one of the newest buildings in our district, and it recently became a Core Knowledge Magnet school. That means that they teach you things at a young age and expand on it as you progress through the years. It is the only Core Knowledge school in Duluth, and I believe my education is better because of it. I am currently in the highest honor math and English classes for my grade, and I am proud to announce that I have gotten straight A's in both throughout the course of my 2 years at Central. Birchwood has a great education plan and has done an excellent job of preparing their students for middle and high school. 

Don't compromise their education for money. Education will last them their lifetime. Money is replaceable, but you can't replace an education that someone never had. Why take away from their education? Students and businesses around the region will suffer because of our ill-educated students of today. Please, don't force my brother's main vocabulary be reduced to "Do 
you want fries with that?"

I am also writing to you because I was disturbed when I heard that the school board was thinking of cutting middle and high school classes to 6 periods. It wouldn't be fair to many students, including myself, because there are 5 standard classes required every year, so I would be forced to choose between my love of music and my heritage and graduation from high school, because at least 2 years of a foreign language are required to be accepted into any US college. I would not be allowed to rejoin band after my 2 years of German were finished, because you have to successfully complete band for the previous year. Please, don't make me give up my love of music to graduate from high school and learn more about my heritage.