March 24, 2011

Hello Mr. Song, Thank you for calling me yesterday morning. Before I can even consider withdrawing my appeal to the State Board of Education, and since I have not received the memo you mentioned you would send yesterday, I need you to document and/or clarify the following items for me in writing:

1) You are to send me a copy of the memo from Superintendent Weast stating that the Feasibility Study for the Waring Station Holding School (WSHS) site has been put on hold.

2) I will receive an explanation as to what the process will be moving forward with regard to our community and its involvement in the new site selection process.

3) I will receive a formal request from BOE to withdraw my appeal from the State Board of Education with an explanation as to why this is necessary.

4) I will receive a statement that whether or not I decide to withdraw my appeal, this has no affect on the BOE's accountability to the process and proper implementation of a true site selection as well as other proper community communication when creating a future Upcountry Holding School site.

5) The feasibility study for WSHS is being put on hold immediately and will remain so until the site selection committee does an entire and complete site selection study, which will include multiple *viable* sites in the upcountry area. This feasibility study will not move forward unless it is determined by the site selection committee - following standard procedures - that the WSHS will be the best site for the placement of a holding school for the upcounty communities.

6) It is possible that the WS site will not be the final site chosen for an upcounty holding school site.

7) IF it is found that the property on Waring Station road will better serve the community by being surplussed and not built on,as it borders a conservation area and is directly connected to watershed and other environmental issues, the property can be exchanged with M-NCPPC so that it will be properly maintained and remain a safe haven for the entire community in the future.

Other than number 7 above, I believe as per our conversation yesterday that number 1-6 support what you stated verbally is current status regarding the WSHS site. I would like clarification of who will be in charge of forming the site selection committee. What is now the purpose of the six meetings currently planned to start on March 30th between the BOE and our community? I would like to see the meeting agenda for these upcoming meetings.

Also, you mentioned I can send you a list of people from our community that want to be involved in the site selection committee. Please provide information so that we can ensure that this occurs. I'm sure that you can understand that our trust in BOE's transparency has been shaken by this experience. We do not want to miss any pertinent meetings or opportunities to be involved due to miscommunication or misunderstanding of the community development processes.

While I understand that your proposal will not "save" the proposed WSHS site from development, I am hopeful that in the site selection process there will be another site selected that proves to be a better fit for the upcounty to build a holding school. We need a site that is large enough to provide a holding school of adequate size to serve ANY elementary school population in the upcounty that might need to use it. Let's not build a school that will be too small to serve our children and families, that will cause part of the community to be ruined, and will irreparably damage the land.

Thank you for your time,

Alicia White