Sounding Board -- Farrell Anna Roth

Regarding the Community Commentary (“Close Estancia and open a super

school,” Nov. 27), the letter stated ideas on how to make our educational

experience a better one at Estancia High School.

The author, Tim Cromwell, thinks if we combined Estancia with Costa

Mesa High School to create a “super school” that we would become one of

the best schools in the district.

I’d have to disagree with that. For one thing, Estancia isn’t the

horrible school that everyone has built it up to be. We have amazing

cross country and soccer teams -- the best in the league in fact -- and

we’re all very proud of that. Our drama department is also one of the

best in the district.

I’ve heard other teachers from different schools comment on how

surprised they were when they saw how friendly and close our teachers

are. One of my summer school teachers, a teacher at Corona del Mar High

School, told me that the teachers never talk to each other, even those

teaching the same subject, but that at Estancia, teachers go out to lunch

together, they take time to discuss and plan out the best agenda and

activities for their students as a united team.

There aren’t many places where you can find an environment like that,

and it’s not only the teachers but the students as well. At a lot of

schools, the students categorize themselves into different groups;

there’s the jocks, the punks, the greasers, the nerds, etc. But at

Estancia, if you walked into the cafeteria, you couldn’t tell the

difference between one table and another. That’s because at Estancia,

groups are not the main focus. You are whatever you want to be. There’s

not a bunch of pressure to be cool or popular, for the most part; you can

just be yourself. There are no whites or Latinos at our school. Everyone

makes such a big deal because so many Latinos attend Estancia. But when I

walk down the halls, I don’t see whites and Latinos, I just see my

friends and peers. So if it doesn’t make a difference to those of us who

attend Estancia, why should it matter to those who don’t?

Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, Estancia and Costa Mesa are big

cross-town rivals. It’s been that way since my mom attended Estancia. We

have a football competition with Mesa called the Battle of the Bell

because we “battle” for possession of a big brass bell.

And finally, it seems to me that if the plan is to change our

educational environment, at least change it for the better and not for

the worse. There’s no way that I could get as good an education with

twice as many students in my classrooms.

Imagine the lines we would have to wait in for lunch and the halls

filled to the brim with students during passing period. I happen to like

the fact that Estancia has a small amount of people attending because it

means I’ll get a better education. Public schools are already known for

being overcrowded, why would anyone want to purposely make it worse? And

why should the real estate of houses have any effect on our education? If

our education really matters, let us tell you what works for us and

doesn’t.

I can tell you that creating a “super school” out of Estancia and Mesa

is not the way to go. I wanted to attend Estancia like my mother did and

I hope that it’s still around for my child because I know I wouldn’t

attend any other school for all the money in the world.

* FARRELL ANNA ROTH is an Estancia sophomore.