Orange School Election Is Still Fodder for Debate

Re “Moving Forward in Orange Unified,” letters, Nov. 11:

Michael Fischer claims the reason nonconservative candidates for board seats in the Orange Unified School District raised considerably more money was that the payment of union dues is forced upon teachers. He also alleges that even if union members disagree with the candidates endorsed by the union, they have no choice in how their union dues are spent.

No teacher is forced to join any union. All teachers do have to pay their fair share of the money spent to represent them in issues related to their working conditions, salaries and benefits. They can opt not to be a member of the union. Full disclosure is made annually regarding expenses related to political issues, membership recruitment, scholarships, etc. They are given specific instructions on how to apply for rebates as well as how to challenge the accounting figures of the union.

Some teachers do choose to become union members, but they also choose to mark the sections on the application for membership indicating they do not wish to allocate a portion of their dues to political action. Their requests are strictly honored. So it seems as if the people represented by Orange Unified school board have spoken. Unlike Fischer, they must have done their homework.

Cecile Maurice

Treasurer,

Ocean View Teachers Assn.

Huntington Beach

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While the articles [on Orange Unified] have been factual, they have too often been slanted. By continually referring to the forces behind the recall and the slate that won on Nov. 6 as “pro-teachers” and “union-backed,” it is implied that the teachers union not only caused the recall, but that the new majority is controlled--or strongly influenced--by the union. That was the “slant” the former majority attempted to use to their advantage, and it is simply not true.

The union was expressing dissatisfaction with the former majority long before a group of parents initiated the recall effort. In addition, I know two of the “new” majority and that their allegiance is to the children and the overall health of the district. To imply that they will follow a union agenda is entirely wrong. I expect there will be times when decisions of the new majority coincide with union wishes, but also when they do not. These are independent people who ran only because they were opposed to so many actions of the former majority. Unlike the former majority, they have not sought office to push a particular political or religious agenda.

Forrest Shattuck

Orange

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The futile and superficial attempt by the ousted members of the Orange school board to turn the Nov. 6 election [into a battle] of their traditional family values vs. liberal union takeover (Orange teachers) obviously didn’t play with the voters. Why wouldn’t the electorate listen to those (teachers) whom they entrust their most precious resource, the children?

Never in the memory of politics in Orange County school board elections has a community seen the type of character assassination heaped on such an important group of individuals (the teachers). Let’s hope for the sake of our children the Orange Unified School District can once again regain its place among the county’s great school districts and attract the best and brightest to work here.

Karl Baysinger

Orange