Letter to the Editor: CSUS Will Threaten Quality of Education at Ralston Middle School

Dear Editor:

Allowing Crystal Springs Upland School (CSUS), an expensive private school, to locate right next to our excellent public school, Ralston Middle School, will threaten the quality of education at Ralston. 

CSUS will attract the best and brightest students and families in Belmont, including those with the most financial resources, away from Ralston. It will appeal to those families who now have the greatest ability to contribute financially to our public schools. It will probably also attract some of Ralston's best teachers because CSUS will offer a higher salary, beautiful campus, top-notch facilities, low student/teacher ratio, and motivated and talented students.  It will also give Ralston's students an inferiority complex, and make them less proud and enthusiastic about their own school. 

I believe the quality of our public schools should be our top priority in Belmont, and we should not diminish that quality by allowing CSUS to locate here.

Sincerely,
Timothy E. Strinden