I know parents and families are looking at alternative financing to get it built so the impact of the middle school is less significant.

Initially, there was a concern about overcrowding at West Springfield. That led to the staff indirectly looking at closing split feeders, because we saw that overcrowding there wasn't really an issue.

There is nothing I can say to some of these families to make them believe we're going to get this 100 percent right. We have to earn their trust and we know we have some work to do. We expect parents to be very wary of what's going on.

Parents who understand the risks recognize that it is important to keep teens from riding with other teens, even if it means playing 'chauffer' for one more year.

But when parents come up and ask us (about a helmet), we recommend it to the highest degree possible.

The number of children with inadequate after-school care while their parents are working is troublesome. In this age of Internet predators, parents have more to worry about than the stranger on the street and our church is working to help alleviate some of those concerns.