Editor,

I am a near neighbor of Castilleja School, and I fully support their request to increase enrollment to 540 students. What I oppose is the recommendation from the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) that the school reapply for additional conditional use permits to add more students on an as-needed basis. The City Council's directive to the PTC was to determine a path to 540 students. They did not ask the PTC to make recommendations on new numbers. City leaders cannot continue to put our community through additional laps on the city's "bureaucratic merry-go-round." I'm baffled by the inconsistency of the PTC's actions. While they did not meet the council's request regarding enrollment (find a path to 540), they did seem to understand the directive about the underground garage. As a neighbor, I am very pleased that Castilleja will legally be able to make this investment in my neighborhood. Clearly the PTC made this recommendation grounded in facts. Why did they not do the same with enrollment? Not all neighbors — particularly near neighbors — oppose Castilleja's project. The main narrative, however, has been erroneously constructed this way. When commissioners cite neighborhood concerns, they conveniently leave out voices like mine, who vehemently believe that Castilleja's new plans will improve the neighborhood and our quality of life. This is not a smoke and mirrors campaign. It's a campaign grounded in solid research, independent and environmental analysis, and years of compromise. Research and analysis is what should guide the city council's ultimate decision. If we can no longer respect and trust the validity of independent analysis, we indeed have a challenge as a community. I trust research grounded in facts, and that's why I support Castilleja's request to gradually increase enrollment to 540 students.

Lian Bi

Coleridge Avenue, Palo Alto

Letting go through poetry

Editor,

I'd like to submit this poem I wrote regarding letting our kids go as they graduate from high school or college and move away: "We raise them to set them free. We give them the gift of letting them go. We can't cling, can't hold on. We want them to become their own independent selves. To discover their path. They are going on their journey now — it's not ours. It keeps us up at night — hoping they will be OK. And if not, that they will ask for help. At the same time, we feel hopeful and excited for them. We tell them to remain true to themselves out in the world, where conformity is commonplace. We are separating, yet we hope to remain close-knit. As they move on, we move on and start a new chapter as well. Our job has been to love and nurture them. And that job never ends. We will work at staying connected. And being present with loving encouragement and support. Letting go takes great strength. We are strong."

Shannon Colton

Ramona Street, Palo Alto

Halt Castilleja's expansion

Editor,

I live 600 Feet from Castilleja School. I would like to thank the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) for taking a bold stand on Castilleja's expansion. By limiting enrollment to 450 and special events to 50, the PTC followed the city council's direction and is helping to reduce the impacts on the surrounding area. It is about time someone scaled back Castilleja's expansion plans and also prevented setting precedents for other private schools to follow in the future. Some other issues that are worrisome for me are the variance and giving up 47,000 square feet and altering accessibility to the citywide bike boulevard.

These two issues amount to community giveaways. What about the traffic backups on Embarcadero Road going into a parking garage or exiting the garage onto Embarcadero? Other city streets will be used for drop-offs, which will have major traffic impacts for the larger neighborhood. Following these same arguments from above, where do cutting greenhouse gasses and the train crossings around the corner from Castilleja fit into the future of Palo Alto? Many valuable city resources from Palo Alto have been used on this expansion for years. What about all the volunteers (commissions, boards, city council, surrounding neighborhood, community members, etc.) and the time and energy devoted to this project? What about all the other important issues that have been sidelined because of this expansion? Please limit this private school's project. I hope the city council can continue to follow the lead from the PTC on Castilleja's expansion.

Why should the neighborhood and the city carry the burden and risk from this expansion?

Neva Yarkin

Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto

Students overlooked in mental health education

Editor,

Thank heavens Gunn High School still has plenty of students who are observant, caring and eloquent.

For example, student Abby Kuang recently observed that mental health in the curriculum feels like an item to be checked off a list. "As an actual student living through current-day high school," Kuang noted. "My voice feels unheard and washed out by the adults who think following a textbook guide on mental health is accurate." Will those adults ever hear? Ever change their thinking? The signs are not good. Ever since our suicides began, and in my role as head of "Save the 2,008," I've seen, with sadness, that a substantial number of adults are quite frightened by the topic of suicide — do not even want to hear the word spoken or see it printed.

In my conversations with them, they jumped to other topics, were too paralyzed to listen and sought one-dimensional explanations from which they might quickly move on. In this town, it has been practically impossible to find an adult who can listen to a teenager for 15 minutes without interrupting. Gunn itself, understandably awash in fatigue and grief, has never taken a hard but compassionate look at its practices — like most U.S. high schools, it could be called a "helicopter school" or likened to a sweatshop. And it has been left to suffer under anemic epidemiological studies. Yes, Ms. Kuang, the "curriculum item," "checklist" approach will not do. Not until we are courageous enough to see the school as a whole as an unhealthy place — with overcrowded classes, unmoderated homework, wave after wave of grading periods, frantic over-subscription to AP classes, a cell phone culture and runaway cheating — will the likes of Ms. Kuang feel heard, seen or loved.

Marc Vincenti, former English teacher at Gunn High School

Leland Avenue, Palo Alto