School Board’s Actions Criticized

Your Sept. 10 editorial, “Privatization Is No Panacea,” really hits the mark.

The Orange Unified School District would have you believe that it went to a private firm because its school bus fleet is old and costly to run, but how can paying a private company to drive Orange’s old bus fleet resolve the problem of aged buses? The buses are just as old no matter who drives them.

What Orange Unified did lose was control of the situation. Had they been handling their own bus transportation system, they would have had plenty of time to remedy any “glitches” rather than be handed the problem at the very last minute by a private company that bailed out.

OUSD employees are dedicated workers who care about their students and despite shabby treatment by the OUSD and the Santa Barbara Transportation Co. rallied to OUSD’s cry for help and came back to get our students to school.

Fortunately, the buses were not sold off and the job given to a bus company with its own fleet or that would not have been possible. There is an old adage that says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The OUSD have proved themselves as capable and caring workers and deserve to be given back their jobs with the district.

The Orange Unified Education Assn. agrees that the district must save money so that classroom instruction can come first. However, no classroom instruction can occur if a private bus company is so intent on minimizing costs and maximizing profits that it can’t get our students to school. It’s time for the Orange Unified School Board to put aside its political agenda and get busy on an educational agenda.

DAVID REGER

President

Orange Unified Education Assn.

* What is the most important asset that a school district possesses?

It is not the school buildings, even if they are new and attractive. It is not up-to-date equipment, or brilliant textbooks, or even outstanding principals and administrators. None of these have much of an impact if the schools are not staffed by excellent teachers. It is the teachers who work with our children each and every day and it is they who determine the success or failure of a school.

The Orange Unified School District is extremely fortunate to have a terrific staff of teachers, backed by a superb team of principals and administrators. Through years of district-level scandals and chaos, in spite of salary reductions and funding cutbacks that made their jobs tougher, these teachers have continued to provide our students with an outstanding educational program. Our superintendent, Dr. Robert French, says that this is the best staff he has ever worked with in more than 30 years of experience with a variety of school districts.

The importance of our teachers is well recognized by the parents of our community, as demonstrated by the October 1995 district survey. In response to the open-ended question, “What do you believe are the three greatest assets of the OUSD?” by far the most votes--from more than 1,000 parents--went to our “effective, interested, qualified, dedicated teachers.” Parents have become very worried about the potential loss of teachers to surrounding districts that pay higher salaries.

One would think that a school board would do everything in its power to support and encourage such an invaluable asset. And yet, the four “conservative” members of the OUSD board seem bent on alienating and demoralizing the teachers. The latest example of this is the appointment of Kathy Moran to the teachers’ benefits trust board of directors, in spite of vehement protests by more than 150 teachers. Mrs. Moran is an intelligent and dedicated volunteer, but she has been an adamant critic of the teachers’ union and the trust and it is difficult to imagine her as an effective participant in the process. If the trustees were hoping to enrage the teachers, they could not have made a better choice.

If the teachers leave our district, as many are threatening to do, what will become of our schools?

GISELA MEIER

Orange