To the Editor: Everyone should take a deep breath and remember our manners

I have read with dismay the increasingly vitriolic and insulting tone of the Schools-vs-Museum debate. I would like to ask everybody to take a deep breath, remember the manners we were brought up with, and not write in email what we would be ashamed to say in person.

I see that we have a shining opportunity to improve our schools: our children's individual future, and the soul of our democracy in which any family's children can be educated without coughing up ten grand a year. If it's true that we only have access to state funding if we move this year, it would truly be a shame to lose it.

I love our museum, a rare place to see what came before the pavement and shopping malls; and appreciate those who lived other lives here and made ours possible. A museum crammed into the basement and charged "market rate" commercial rent is not the great resource we have right now. I have lived in many areas and I know that our museum is both unusual and valuable. Our pictures and artifacts are not just dusty relics, they tell us about real people who lived real lives here - not celebrities or state leaders, but people like us who wanted the best for their families.

I reject the false choice between our future and our past. I want to educate our children and honor our pioneer grandparents and great-grandparents; as well as our Native American ancestors. I am asking our Shoreline School Board members who are charged with using our tax money responsibly, to give us a plan that accomplishes both objectives. I know that you are intelligent professionals and you can do this.

Educate our children without destroying the best link to our past.

Sarah Kaye
Shoreline