Commentary: School board politics remind me of Washington, D.C.

Meg Greenfield wrote a book called “Washington,” in which she compared the culture of Washington politics to kids in high school. Who are the popular kids? Who’s going out with whom? Who was invited to the latest party?

I remember being shocked while listening to “The Passage of Power; The Years of Lyndon Johnson” that LBJ was jealous about the popularity of the Kennedys and never being invited to their parties, and he was the president of the United States.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District has always been a little bit like adolescent Washington, but right now it’s “School Daze” on steroids. Blogger Steve Smith calls the board of education the “school board club,” and he’s not wrong.

When I was in high school, my friends and I would sit on the lawn in front of high school laughing about nothing. We had our own language, our own gestures, and our own silly way of life. Although we liked to think that we were inclusive, we weren’t. The current board isn’t either.

If you go to board meetings — and you should — or get the DVDs — and you can — you will see this high school story played out. There is the powerful kid. He’s in charge of this exclusive club. The others just want to be the ones who have his ear — the kids he confides in. And just like high school, he can do no wrong because they’ve adopted him as the leader.

As in every high school, there is the acknowledged smart kid who has kissed up the most to the leader, who runs everything. The kid who knows how everything should be run — the dances, the assemblies, choosing the cheerleaders ... you get the drill.

Then there are the kids who are just so glad to be part of the group that they will do almost anything to please the leader and the tight-knit group. Of course there’s always the kid who doesn’t really care and is just in it because being with the group that runs everything looks good on the college application.

The rest are simply the good soldiers who do what they’re told. This was high school.

But this is not high school. We can no longer afford this group as it is. We can no longer afford the 7-0 vote, the no first-, second- or third-level questions. We can no longer afford the inability to understand that simply going to events and dog- and-pony shows is not the real job of the board.

Listening to the teachers, parents and kids is the job. Questioning the superintendent and the other well-paid administrators is the job. Doing significant research is the job. Always keeping the students in mind is the job.

We cannot afford this board as it stands, fiscally or morally.

We need a better choice.

Vote for Leslie Bubb, Amy Peters and Michael Schwarzmann.

SANDY ASPER lives in Newport Beach.