Santa Ana Unified’s Tale of Two Boards

Re “School Decision Tests Faith,” editorial, April 6:

As a fourth-grade teacher in the Santa Ana Unified School District, I too am concerned about the incredible waste of Measure C money that resulted from the mishandling of $145 million in local school bonds. However, I disagree with the implication that the current handling of the proposed Griset school site is more of the same from Supt. Al Mijares.

Under the previous board, teachers, administrators and classified staff were not allowed to speak freely about important education matters.

In the classroom, we were controlled, manipulated, coerced and pushed into doing things that were a waste of time, often meaningless in terms of education, and sometimes even a step backward educationally.

District office administration rarely listened to the opinions of teachers, and school principals were often put in the position of not being able to trust the professionalism of teachers.

The first step in righting the wrongs that happened was to get rid of the majority that existed on the school board so that Mijares could speak freely and set up a school district where teachers and administrators are listened to. Mijares is now in a position where the support of the current board allows him to run the school district in a manner that places education above political and personal agendas. I have much respect for the manner in which he put his own job on the line in order to bring integrity back into the district, and for the manner in which he is working to fix the internal district problems resulting from the previous board.

I don’t know whether or not a school is needed at the proposed Griset site. I do know that I trust Mijares’ decisions about that now more than I trust anything that came about as a result of the previous board.

Ronald Shepherd

Santa Ana

Unified School District

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The truth about Santa Ana schools was lost in the trenches of Santa Ana’s divisive politics yet can be found in the hearts and minds of those in the middle, those who would not force-fit themselves into one side of the battle. On one end, they could not agree with Ron Unz’s anti-immigrant agenda. On the other end, they would not accept unethical actions detrimental to their community’s progress. So they stood strong on their own. The artillery of campaign mailers fired from both ends. Like an innocent child in the middle of a momentous family feud, the truth was ignored and neglected by both sides. The truth-holders remain those in the middle. If there is any hope for continued progress on behalf of the Latino, immigrant community in Orange County, it lies in their hands.

Since the November general and February recall elections, I have been inundated with comments from individuals not knowing what or who to believe in anymore. Their faith in government is at an all-time low. As a former member of the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education, I also experienced firsthand how this same pattern of politics prevents addressing the community’s needs and ultimately betrays the truth. Life on the board was like refereeing a hockey game while trying to assist a bleeding bystander. On one end, others on the board often criticized my attempts to work with the city. On the other end, the city’s anger at my fellow board members was so intense I often had to bend over backward to obtain a meeting for a critical matter.

These same divisive politics overpowered the community’s right to the truth during recent elections. On one end, when I would not join forces with Unz and other recall leaders, the campaign smeared my name with lies dragging me into allegations of corruption. The truth is, in response to public concerns, I was in fact the only board member to initiate an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office, communicate concerns to the attorney general’s office, request an independent audit and legal opinion, and place on the agenda a code of ethics. On the other end, board members Sal Tinajero, Nativo Lopez and John Palacio voted me out of the board presidency after I tried to address concerns raised by the superintendent regarding the district’s former construction manager, Del Terra Construction Group.

Before he passed away in 1994, my father, Wallace R. Davis, repeatedly expressed hopes for a more united, productive Santa Ana community. Though he was spared witnessing another ugly chapter in Santa Ana politics, he would have never imagined its addition to history would be at the expense of his family’s good name and the community’s right to the truth.

Nadia Davis

Santa Ana