Re: Sunday’s editorial, “Enota school plan cultivates discontent; Gainesville school leaders too tin-eared, indifferent.” I applaud the summation of the editorial: An honest give-and-take between community leaders and concerned citizens should never be a one-way street.

However, there is a glaring error in your editorial: The garden supporters never asked that the solution to saving the garden be a retaining wall. This solution was proposed by the engineers and architects. In fact, when we asked for a copy of the plan to study the wall and other possible solutions, we were twice denied this request once by Chairman Delores Diaz and once by Superintendent Wanda Creel.

We have never accepted the idea that there are only two solutions: destroy the garden or build a retaining wall to save part of it. Our central point all along is that there should be a thorough search for other solutions that might emerge from an energetic, good-faith and inclusive design effort.

I also disagree with your statement that saving the garden does not appear to be feasible or cost-effective. Our position is that it cannot be known how cost-effective alternative solutions may be until those alternative solutions have been developed and evaluated, again, through a collaborative process.

Mildred Fockele
Gainesville

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