Re: No on EE [Village News letter, 9/6/18]

“Ok buddy. I’m going to need you to be tall and strong for me, ok? If I drop you getting into the car, there are no fire trucks available to come help me get you,” I said.

These are the words I said to my wheelchair-bound father about two hours before the flames of the Lilac fire engulfed our home. As I watched in fear, the endless amount of cars and buses filled with people evacuating, picking up children, leaving work – the “what-ifs” started to become real.

To say the only reason for supporting this movement is the logistical nightmare it causes during any disaster or emergency situation would negate further benefits of our community’s children.

You know the phrase “think of the children?” You should. Middle school children go through significant changes in that phase of life, and it’s not appropriate to have them with high school students who are in a different phase in their lives; physically, emotionally, psychologically and dare I say, hormonally. The challenges a 12-year-old girl faces are vastly different than that of a 17-year-old boy.

Safe and Strong Bonsall Schools provides an elegant solution for the well being, emotional development and safety of the children in the Bonsall community. The separation of the campuses provides less congestion on a road that can barely safely support the community as it is.

My mind sometimes drifts to the day I lost my home in the fire and the occasional “what-ifs.”

What if I would have gotten a call an hour later that my house was about to burn. What if the fire spread faster than people were able to turn off of West Lilac. What if there’s a next time? What if the Sullivan campus was evacuated too late because there was too many students? What if it had been preventable?

As a member of the first graduating class of Sullivan Middle School and a victim of the Lilac fire, I can say assuredly that I stand 100 percent with Safe & Strong Bonsall Schools and will be voting “yes” on EE. Will you?

Robyn Dahlson