District Needs Outside Help

The stinging defeat of Nativo V. Lopez puts the Santa Ana school district on track to confront its most pressing issues: building sorely needed campuses and educating largely underprivileged students for successful lives.

But the bitter Lopez recall campaign revealed a deeper dysfunction that cannot be fixed solely by seating a new trustee. The public needs and deserves objective information about where the Santa Ana schools went wrong and what happened to millions of dollars that were supposed to provide a better education for children. Given the accusations and counter-accusations, this factionalized school system is in no position to sort out its own problems.

Rumors circulated for years that Lopez used his position to reward political supporters, but no one had made public accusations.

Two days before the election, Supt. Al Mijares used the commentary page of the Orange County Register to launch a fiery diatribe against Lopez. In the rare public attack, the schools chief accused Lopez and fellow board member John Palacio of “horrific ethical violations.” Mijares alleged that Lopez and Palacio coerced and threatened staff, forced some employees to resign and forged personal relationships with district building contractors who then were sheltered from demands that they do their jobs right.

A union representing classified workers also complained publicly of patronage hiring that has brought poorly qualified workers into the school system. “Larger and larger numbers of new employees are showing up at work sites who can’t do the jobs for which they are hired,” the California School Employees Assn. alleged in a recent letter. “Some cannot read or write.... Worse, they come with protections that stop supervisors from managing them.”

Mijares shares some of the blame for this mess. If public money is being used for political patronage, if the district is roiled by low morale and ethical violations, then he had a duty to come forth immediately in a public forum, not wait until the eleventh hour.

Subtracting one board member and seating another doesn’t necessarily mean a better way of doing business. Newly elected trustee Rob Richardson has promised to reconsider the board’s decision to build an elementary school in Floral Park. But isn’t that the same divisive dealing that haunted Lopez? Why slow school construction even more to pacify a single constituency?

An outside agency--ideally the Orange County Grand Jury--should examine what went wrong and what continues to plague the district. The grand jury can investigate possible criminal wrongdoing and analyze the district’s troubled operations. It can bring the truth to light and make recommendations to put the schools back into the business of educating young minds.