Mehlville board — raises and district name change? Again, the Mehlville school board has proved it has no idea what are the interests of this community.

First, I read that it changed its vote and decided to give all administrators a 6-percent salary increase for 2007-2008 and had to rescind a previous action in order to do so. I object to flat-percentage increases because they give the largest raise to those who already get the most money.

Many people in this district have had no increases or pay cuts due to downsizing and have been living on the same or very little increase in wages for many years as most businesses just don’t hand out 6-percent raises anymore. When was the last time the taxpayers of this district received a 6-percent increase across the board in wages to cover the cost of this?

Then, I read that the board thinks we need to rename the district so the people in Oakville realize they are part of this district.

Do you not have anything better to do with your time?

Frankly, I graduated from Mehlville when it was the only high school in the district and all the “Oakville” people went there and were proud to be a part of it.

But when I moved back to the district in 1984 to send my children to school here, I found that there was a separation between the two areas in the district. The “south end of Telegraph Road,” as you call it, now dictated the district through Oakville Senior High School. I moved into Concord, where the students attend Mehlville, and quickly found out that the money was not being spent evenly on the two high schools. Although Oakville was the newer school, it received improvements before Mehlville.

Comparisons were made to the Lindbergh School District and comments made that perhaps we should name our district after a national or state figure. Do we actually know why they called it Lindbergh?

It was named many, many years ago and has never uttered changing its name to accommodate Sappington, Crestwood, Concord or any other community located in its boundaries. I guess the people in Crestwood — which actually is a city and has a governing body — must not know what school district they are in.

Does anyone actually realize that neither Mehlville nor Oakville is a town nor has any kind of government? I find it hard to believe there are people in the district that don’t know what school district they live in when they have to enter it on their state tax return each year and it is listed on personal-property and real-estate tax bills.

Do they also not know that they are in the Mehlville Fire Protection District when they call 911? Maybe we need to change the name of that, too.

Are these people really as uninformed as the board would like us to think? Come on Mehlville school board, surely you can find something more worthwhile to spend your time doing at those “retreats” we are paying for. Do you think perhaps you are underestimating their intelligence and overestimating the importance of this issue?

Maureen Furlong

Concord