In your Dec. 26, 2007, letters to the editor, Suzanne Uschold, a Denny parent, writes that she would "hate to see one more thing I voted for in this city overturned," Well, my dear, not to fear. If Seattle Public Schools does not go forward with this plan, you can rest assured it is not because of how we voted.

There is a fiction being foisted upon this community that we voted to combine these schools. Au contraire. We voted to build a new school for Denny and to make some upgrades on Sealth not to combine the two schools.

That was a money saving move to pretend that Sealth High School was getting a new school when, in actuality, Sealth will have a smaller space, but, by golly, they'll have a new boiler.

I was at a meeting at Sealth High School where Seattle Public Schools' facilities representative told Sealth students that more would be spent on their school than on West Seattle High School which was rather disingenuous since building costs are such that dollar-to-dollar comparisons don't count or that the dollars are for two schools not one.

There are issues of equity, transparency, and community involvement that are not being met. Westwood Neighborhood Council has held several meetings about the many issues surrounding this plan. Westwood Neighborhood Council is planning a public panel with experts to discuss all these issues at the end of January or the first of February. Dates will be posted on the Westwood Neighborhood Council website.

We have asked the School Board to hold off making a decision at their Jan. 9 board meeting until after the panel so all voices can be heard and a balanced decision can be made instead of a hurried decision based on money-saving at the expense of the future of our youth and our community.

Westwood Neighborhood Council has offered, and continues to hold the door open to Seattle Public Schools to assist in having all the stakeholders at the table to make the best plan for our schools, our students, and our community both in our immediate neighborhood and for our city.

Susan Harmon

Westwood