Politics Bemoaned in Orange Unified

* Your Nov. 9 editorial “Time to Put Education First in Orange District” concludes, “Trustees should renounce ideology, the overtly political philosophy, and emphasize giving the students the chance for a good education.” This observation is 30 years overdue.

For the last 30 to 40 years, the ill-named progressive educators have forced their ideologies on public education. One untried pedagogical experiment after another has been implemented with nary a peep from the media or the public until recently.

We had seen whole language, inventive spelling and fuzzy math introduced with no scientific bases. We have seen schools converted from centers of education to centers for social services. The latter decrease time and resources available for academic studies.

Your editorial mentioned grants that “allowed schools to become a community resource.” One, public schools were not instituted to be a resource for anything but education--the pursuit of truth and knowledge. Two, grants such as the Weingart Foundation grant typically cover only half of the actual costs. The remainder usually comes from the educational budget, decreasing funds available for academic purposes. These grants are not “free lunches.”

The true ideologues of public education have tried to transform that venerable institution into “one-stop shopping centers” for all public services. This attempt to make public education all things to all people has resulted in a disastrous failure in its primary goal, educating our youth.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley

* What a tragedy that the Orange Unified School District will have to suffer four more years under the pathetic leadership of Martin Jacobson, board president, who has repeatedly gone out of his way to alienate the veteran teachers who have given years of their lives in service to the district.

A board president would normally strive to conduct himself in a professional manner, working cooperatively with teachers in an effort to face and solve important educational issues such as reduction of class size at the secondary level, where 40 to 45 students per academic class has become the norm.

Instead, Jacobson revels in calling us teachers union boneheads and further resorting to dirty-pool election tactics, when he should be focusing on mending fences rather than playing out his narrow-minded political agenda.

VICKI RITTER

Orange

* The city of Orange has a new mistress, obtained through lies, deceit and playing upon the uninformed citizens’ fears of something that was never there.

Teachers never almost bankrupted the school district. The teachers and administrators took a pay cut to help the district out of their financial difficulties.

The teachers never bankrupted their own insurance program. The school board illegally withheld payment to the trust for several months until there was no money left. All the teachers have ever wanted was to make sure that their colleagues, who have given to this district so very much, have the health coverage that they need.

This last fall, 215 teachers were no longer with us. In their place were 161 new teachers who were not properly credentialed. There are some great new teachers, but we have lost excellent experienced teachers.

I have been a part of the Orange Unified Education Assn. board of directors for several years. I have never considered us something to be feared. The union is simply teachers trying to help other teachers.

The teachers of Orange saved their money for two years for this last election. They fought hard but lost. Now, school board members who are manipulated by outsiders have control of our schools. The community has lost. When will this community learn that the teachers only want what is best for the kids?

DONNA ERVIN

Orange