A Decision for Voters

Even Jeri Fox agrees that she was wrong to allow minors to drink alcohol at a post-homecoming party at her home last fall. Responsible parents don’t do that--especially not if they happen to be school board members.

At the time, Oak Park Unified School District trustee Fox said she had offered to host the party after learning, hours before it was to begin, that it was planned at a house with no adult supervision.

“In retrospect this hasty decision was not a wise choice. But at the moment it seemed like a logical compromise in the interest of kids’ safety,” she told her fellow board members. “I was acting simply as a concerned parent and private citizen.”

But in the furor that followed, amid criticism from angry parents, teachers and members of the district’s substance abuse task force, Fox resigned from the school board seat she had held for three years.

Now she has declared her intention to run for that seat again.

We applaud Fox’s decision to step down after showing poor judgment and setting a bad example for the teenagers. It was refreshing to see a public official take personal responsibility for a misstep, rather than mouthing a lame apology and hoping all would soon be forgotten.

Yet we don’t begrudge her the chance to try again for election to the board. Good parents and schools generally teach that the punishment should fit the crime and that a second chance can be earned if one admits one was wrong and learns from the mistake.

Will the voters of the Oak Park Unified School District agree?

Jeri Fox will find out on election day.