Readers Respond -- Estancia wins over a few more residents

If I wanted Tim Cromwell to send his boys to Estancia, I’d invite him

to come with me to this wonderful school (Community Commentary, “Close

Estancia High and open a super school”). I’d introduce him to some of the

best teachers I’ve ever met, show him kids involved in their communities

who stretch their hearts and minds. I’d show him a football coach that

knows there is more than winning, I’d show him when you have children,

you are responsible for teaching integrity and sportsmanship, I’d show

him a girls’ and boys’ sports program second to none, I’d show him

advanced placement courses that are challenging and time consuming for

teachers and students alike, and I’d show him a school where parents have

to wait in line to talk to teachers on report card night.

I don’t want him to come to our school, though, because he seems

narrow-minded. He is prejudging a school by things that don’t really

matter and ignorantly sharing his uninformed views.

Statistics bear out the fact that small schools are what kids need.

Big numbers may help on the football field, but in classes and out, large

numbers mean getting lost in the shuffle for most teens.

I hope your paper hears from every parent who knows Estancia is Costa

Mesa’s best kept secret. You already hear from our kids, as a number have

been published regularly in the Pilot. I don’t see other schools

published as often or as articulately. Cromwell is wrong, but we don’t

want him anyway.

DEBBIE MARSTELLER

Costa Mesa

As a student who just graduated from Estancia in the spring, I

actually know what I’m talking about. Tim Cromwell (“Close Estancia High

and open a super school,” Nov. 27) proposes that we shut down Estancia

High School and transfer all the Mesa Verde students over to Costa Mesa

High.

Sorry, but it will never happen. Have you lived in Costa Mesa long

enough to realize that there is a 30-year rivalry between the two high

schools called “The Battle of the Bell” week? Kids from the high schools,

including myself, would never play on the same teams as those kids. Oh,

but Cromwell wants to build a super high school that wins games, right?

Well, how does one learn important lifelong lessons about losing if

everyone always wins? Because after starting the first girls water polo

team at Estancia five years ago and swimming, I encountered a lot of

teams that didn’t even know how to win gracefully (Corona del Mar High in

particular).

But hey, Cromwell is also more concerned about his real estate, too.

Well, the only reason it’s not as high as he might like is for two

reasons:

1. He doesn’t live far enough off Placentia, which separates him from,

as he calls it, “Westside Costa Mesa.”

2. It might be that recession we’re in. I feel that Estancia gives you

a private, small school feel and atmosphere at a public school price.

Oh, and if one wants to find some super athletes, I can even find a

few that, heaven forbid, even lived on the “Westside.” And if Cromwell

doesn’t believe me, he might want to call Sam Nelson, the basketball star

who lived on my street, or Eva Varma, another basketball star.

And one last comment. Let’s hope Cromwell’s kids are smart enough to

keep their “inner district transfers,” and get the grades Cromwell

expects and be the super athletes he wants them to be.

ANNA RASMUSSEN

Westside Costa Mesa

EDITOR’S NOTE: Anna Rasmussen is a former varsity water polo captain

and goalie for Estancia.