Decision Closes Door on Broadening Experience

* Re: Catherine Saillant’s article on Nov. 28 “School Trustees Vote to Refuse Job-Awareness Grant.”

I attended the Ventura County school board meeting on Monday evening. As a mother of two children in public school, I was disappointed by the Ventura County Board of Education’s 3-2 vote to not accept the School-to-Work grant money for the benefit of our children’s future.

Miss America visited Ventura in October and spoke in favor of local School-to-Work programs. Monday evening I was shocked and appalled at the following remark made by Marty Bates, one of the board members, with regards to the School-to-Work program: “They have heard Miss America talk--and they have heard the nice package of which Miss America is one.” How rude and disrespectful for someone in his position to denigrate a sincere and articulate spokeswoman because of gender bias. Is a decision-maker with such blatant sexual overtones in his communication an appropriate choice to represent our Ventura County schools?

Mr. Bates, along with Wendy Larner and Angela Miller, have unilaterally decided what is best for our children. Although the majority of professionals, educators and parents all agreed and practically begged for the approval of this $500,000 grant, these three arrogant board members voted not to accept the grant based on their own fears of a federal government takeover. I urge you to consider whether these narrow-minded, short-sighted public officials represent the people’s interests on our next election day.

DONNA THOMPSON

Ojai

* On Monday, Nov. 27, three members of the Ventura County school board carried the majority vote to reject the $500,000 federally funded School-to-Work grant. This grant would provide funds to give students K-12 an introduction to the concept of careers. At the elementary level, this would pay for guest speakers and field trips; at the middle school level, a chance to do lab work related to various vocations; and by the end of high school, a chance to do an internship with a local business. Why did these three members vote down this wonderful opportunity?

Mrs. Larner, president of the board, gave her reasons: Such a program would interfere with our children’s academic education and the program would make our schools a training ground for U.S. business. Although it was obvious Mrs. Larner had done her homework, I feel she came to her conclusion to vote no without considering this: Exposure to knowledge and skills does not impede the real purpose of school! For a brief comparison, I took Spanish from third grade through my first year of college. Did this interfere with my other studies? Was I then limited to becoming an interpreter or to speaking only Spanish for the rest of my life? Of course not. The exposure to Spanish enriched my education--and actually led to a better understanding of my own native English. The School-to-Work program can be seen from a similar perspective. Students will have a better understanding of the various roads they can take in their life after graduation. The one thing it will not do is interfere with education--it will enhance it.

AMY DENNIS

Ojai

* I find it sad and not a little ironic that in voting down support for the School-to-Work grant, the Ventura County school board has acted in direct opposition to the expressed wishes of all the locally elected boards of education that oversee our 17 county high schools and community colleges. In so doing, they have become the interfering paternalistic Big Brother from whom they purport to protect us!

CHRISTINE ELLIOTT

Camarillo

* When our local taxes increase over the next few years, we can thank Wendy Larner, Angela Miller and Marty Bates of the Ventura County Board of Education. They have managed to reroute $2.5 million of local taxpayers’ money that was targeted for Ventura County job training programs for our youth. They did this to prove that they are suspicious of federal handouts from “Big Brother.” (Larner’s words.)

Perhaps, as long as we’re paying, we should add some supplemental tax assessments to support additional prison space. That space will be needed for unemployed felons without job skills, unprepared for the new jobs in technology, international trade and culture-based industries that California’s economic recovery is spawning.

For example, this year in California, 30,000 new jobs were created in entertainment and another 30,000 in engineering management and computer services. These jobs pay more than 40% above average statewide salaries. But what company would locate in a county whose local representation does not appear to support job and career preparation and training needed by these industries?

Making California competitive and providing a healthier quality of life for all of us requires an economy and an educated work force that is cognizant of the global marketplace, proficient technologically and respectful of social and cultural diversity. Monday night’s decision by the three dissenting members of the Ventura County Board of Education exhibited closed-mindedness and closed doors on such ideas. Get out your checkbooks, this is the price we get to keep on paying for ignorance.

BARBARA THORPE, Ph.D.

Oak View

Thorpe is a professor at California State University at Dominguez Hills.