You know, one way to really understand how effective and unique Open Magnet Charter is is to understand that many families switched from other LAUSD schools when they got their magnet acceptance into Open. We're one of those families. Our twins did a year of kindergarten in another LAUSD school in West LA and so we have an excellent point of comparison.

Open is a model of what public school should be in this city, and frankly, in this country. It's core is a philosophy of respect, and built around that core is a pedagogy of constructivist exploration, with teachers and specialists who really understand, love and practice techniques that foster a lifetime of inquisitiveness. Then, surrounding this, we have the cooperative body of amazing, hard-working parents, teachers who take on a crazy amount of out- of-classroom responsibility, and the leadership of the principal, currently the excellent Ms. Cass, who make this school actually possible.

There should be more Open Schools. But right now there's only one. And a lot of people work really hard to continue the tradition of excellence. In every large cooperative undertaking, there are bound to be disagreements. And mistakes made along the way. Here at Open, we teach our kids conflict resolution built upon respect for self and for others. And we teach resiliency when recovering from mistakes and failures. The writer of the Anonymous letter likely wasn't raised in such an atmosphere. I have compassion for Anonymous and wish continued laser focus for the rest of the community who will carry on making Open Magnet Charter one of the best schools around.

#20: Julie de Brun -

I feel sorry for anonymous too, and the small group of people who have made it their mission to spread their self-centered infantile behavior through our school. But being compassionate doesn't mean we have to tolerate it. They don't deserve Open School and frankly I wish they would leave so that we can get back to the fun-loving, smart and respectful school that we are.