School Trustees on Wrong Track

The Orange Unified School District board majority is crazily rushing into dangerous waters (“Differing Schools of Thought,” March 17). Never in education has there been such a furtive attempt by a school board to lower the standard of education.

As a parent with children in Orange Unified, I am simply outraged at the politically motivated arrogance of this board. As a registered nurse and an attorney representing children in educational matters, I am stunned by the utter lack of responsible conduct by four board members.

As a citizen, I am frightened at the destabilizing effect the abolition of social-aid programs will have on our community. We cannot teach children who sit hungry in class. The physical effects of hunger prevent a child from learning because his stomach hurts and his brain is undernourished. When that child cannot learn, he will likely disrupt others, and they in turn cannot learn.

School would no longer be a place of education, but a place where hungry children wait out their days. Before long, they leave the schools whose doors were effectively shut by poverty and hunger, denied their educational benefit guaranteed by the California Constitution. On the streets, with virtually no education, and thus, no stake in society, they join gangs, use drugs and commit crimes.

More disturbingly, virtually all our youth-centered programs are at risk, not just some. The board is proposing a blanket policy to prevent all campuses from applying for grants not related to academics. Drug prevention, child abuse prevention and gang prevention programs could be lost.

Orange Unified is not the only district at risk. Two other school districts and the Orange County Board of Education are each afflicted with at least two like-minded soul mates. They march in lock step and are unusually “fact resistant.” Let us send a clear message that our children and our communities come first.

VERONICA N. NORRIS, R.N.

Tustin