Orange Unified’s Recalled Board

As a resident in the Orange Unified School District area, I am certain about only one thing: I am so grateful that I teach in another school district with a wiser school board and superintendent.

The issues in this recall election were so skewed that I could not sort them out. The whole situation felt like a child’s hair that was so gnarled that only a haircut could solve the dilemma.

Although I agreed with some of the past board’s philosophical beliefs about curriculum, I deplored their disrespect for teachers. I also object to board members micro-managing a school district. The past board needed lessons in how to be board members. There are rules for this, and there are people who educate board members in proper protocol and demeanor.

The new trustees who won this election should avail themselves of this kind of training. There was no choice but to elect a new board. If the three past board members who were recalled truly had cared about the district, they would have resigned earlier to allow a fresh start.

On the other hand, I will not forget the unprofessional political attacks made by the recall committee. There were no heroes in this election.

Elaine S. Wiener

Villa Park

My partner and I attended an election night gathering at the home of one of the candidates to watch the results of the Orange recall vote.

From the liberal university professor to the self-proclaimed “born again,” the diversity of those in the room was noteworthy. This was no razor-thin victory of pro-union voters but the majority voice of the community who finally said enough is enough.

The message, however narrowly delivered, is that the children deserve better; personal agendas and ideologies have no place on the school board.

Margaret Manson

Orange

Congratulations go to those hard-working members of the recall committee and the many volunteers who helped to reclaim the Orange school board.

For too long the board has been controlled by hard-liners who were more concerned with their own political and religious agenda than with fostering sound public education, along with fair salaries, health benefits, etc., for the faculty.

The three recalled board members had no commitment to the students nor to the faculty. They had their own agenda, and we must be ever vigilant in selecting candidates who do not have a hidden agenda that is at variance with school needs.

As a recently retired teacher in Orange County, I have experienced the vagaries of many school boards whose agendas didn’t reflect the needs of students and faculty.

I would recommend that a prerequisite for potential board members is that their own children had been, or are presently enrolled in the school district.

Evelyn Shopenn

Orange

I have been a teacher in the Orange Unified School District for 25 years. When I look into the eyes of my students in class, I see innocent children, not dollar signs.

I’ve never met one, but I feel sorry for any person who enters teaching for the money. It’s also not basically the reason why almost 1,000 teachers and administrators have left the Orange district in such a short time.

Disrespect is what causes our teachers to leave. When year after year the school board has the same basic budget per student to work with as all districts around the county, it’s their decisions to pay the lowest salaries, to go from decent medical insurance to the worst, to refer to all Orange teachers as “boneheads,” and to keep their own children enrolled in private schools before being elected to the board that have caused hundreds of our best teachers to leave.

The outcome of this recall election will decide whether many of my colleagues and I return to Orange Unified this fall. My elementary school, Palmyra, is a good example. One-third of our teachers are leaving even though it passed.

Adon Brownell

Orange

As the recall election drew near, I could not help but reflect upon the effect the board has had on my family and me over the last four years that I have worked for the district.

I entered the teaching profession eager and hopeful that knowledge and truth had the power to overcome and expose the lies and corruption that we face in all societies.

My experience has led me to believe that the trust placed in the hands of certain board members and district leaders has been maligned and grossly abused.

In the beginning I tried to focus my attention only on what was happening in the classroom. This proved to be an impossible task as each day I was inundated with half-truths and outright lies.

It amazes me how skillful the board members have become in taking a bit of truth and mixing it with a lot of lies. The result has been that many members of the community have been misled.

A few months back, over 98% of our teachers put forth a vote of no confidence in the board. We know firsthand how dirty this district has become. Many of us have given our time and very limited resources freely to get the truth out, sometimes at great cost to our own families, because it was the right thing to do.

Loree Begin

Yorba Linda

I am a graduate of Orange High, 1953. I taught at Orange High from 1958 to 1994. It was once a very proud district.

Everyone will agree that Orange Unified is beset by problems. Low pay, poor benefits, and teachers leaving are just a few of the issues, along with low test scores that will only get worse with the noncertified staff.

If a CEO of a major company went to the board and the stockholders and said, “We are losing money but it is not my fault,” he would lose his job It is about time that Maureen Aschoff, Linda Davis and Martin Jacobson stopped pointing their fingers at everyone else and assumed the responsibility for their leadership and what happened in the district.

They should have stepped aside and saved the district large sums of money. They didn’t, so I had to vote to remove them.

Lanny Carter

Anaheim