Commentary: Yes, Dr. Silver, we do care about our schools

It is with sadness and some displeasure that I write this letter today to make my thoughts known about the Scotts Valley Unified School District’s public meeting regarding school finance and budget issues Feb. 2 at Scotts Valley Middle School.
First, let me back up a little. I understand that the district, like all of us, has some difficult decisions to make regarding our budgets. We all must live within our means, and I am not envious of the difficult decisions our school board has to make.
A year and a half ago, this district tried unsuccessfully to pass a large bond measure. It narrowly lost. I was one of the supporters of Measure Q — I endorsed it, I contributed to it and I displayed a sign for it. There were many issues that I had with the bond measure, including the size of the bond, the length of the bond and the lack of detail on how it would be spent, but I and more than 50 percent of the Scotts Valley Unified School District’s residents did vote for the Measure Q bond.
A year and a half later, many things have changed: We have two new school board members, an economy that is terrible, some of the highest unemployment we have seen in decades and a state budget that gets worse by the day.
There are also some things that did not change: The middle school is old and needs modernization, not replacement; teachers are still underpaid and moving from our district; we have three of the same board members and the same administration. The people of the Scotts Valley Unified School District — teachers, parents, grandparents and even those with no children at all in this district — care just as much today as they did a year and a half ago, or as they did a decade ago.
This brings me to my displeasure with the Feb. 2 school budget meeting and the comments made by Dr. Susan Silver, our superintendent. She explained to over a hundred concerned, caring people that she lives over the hill in the Santa Clara area in a less affluent area, and school districts in that area could pass bonds, because the people in her area care about schools more than we here in Scotts Valley.
While I do not carry a doctorate and I am confident there will be some grammatical errors in this letter, I am smart enough to understand when I, my family, neighbors and teachers are being disrespected and talked down to. We, the people of Scotts Valley, have dedicated more than our treasure to our schools; we’ve given our blood, sweat and tears to them.
Maybe it is not that we do not care about our schools, but that we want to feel confident that the money we spend is spent wisely.
The other comment by Dr. Silver was that if there were a parcel tax that could be used for teacher salaries, she would not use those funds for that purpose. Well, Dr. Silver, I could not disagree more with that statement. New classrooms do not teach children, teachers do — and teachers and students need to be our priority, not new buildings.
At this time, the district and its residents are not in the position to pass a brick-and-mortar bond to replace the middle school or any other facility needs, but I do believe that a small parcel tax targeted toward teacher salaries and retention of teachers does have some merit. If such a tax were to pass and the district used those funds wisely, it would build trust in our community, and perhaps a future bond would pass. One must build trust to build a future.
Dr. Silver, we do care about our schools, our children and our teachers; we just might not agree with your vision or decisions on how to care for them.
• Dene Bustichi is Scotts Valley’s vice mayor and a parent in the Scotts Valley Unified School District.