To the editor:

Thank you for reporting on Alexandria’s debt in your front-page article about the citys credit rating (Ties to Washington threaten Alexandrias credit rating, August 11).

These are tough times for many Alexandrians. That is why I was upset to read on page 5 that Alexandria’s school system planned to spend $120,000 on construction to seat children in a school cafeteria, when two extra tables would “accomplish more or less the same thing,” according to Mark Krause, the school’s director of education.  

We should publicly thank the creative staff that used two tables to accommodate the lunch-hour crunch while saving taxpayers $120,000.

Alexandria is $480,720 in debt and yet plans to spend $120,000 the city does not have to seat 12 students in a cafeteria? That money could be used to pay down Alexandria’s debt and deal with true emergencies.  

This citys planning and school officials must get their priorities straight while Alexandria is in debt.