Mailbag: Half a million for Newport Beach kids gone? Taxpayers foot the bill

Who in heaven’s name thinks it’s a good idea to spend as much as $500,000 from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s school and kid dedicated, tax dollars to hold the June 10 special election to fill a board vacancy, even after a well-qualified candidate, through an open and public application process, was appointed to fill the two-year vacancy?

Just as unsettling, that near $500,000 loss happened only because the losing candidate’s supporters had to get just 361 of the area’s 19,000 voters to sign a special election petition.

Regrettably, that’s the law even though it feels just so wrong.

Can you imagine such a thing in a democracy? Like a ballot measure proposing to spend hundreds of thousands in school tax dollars getting 285 votes out of 19,000 and winning?

Because school district funds are generally given more respect, school board vacancy special elections are, mercifully, as rare as hen’s teeth. But not this time. Not for the champions of the second-place finisher in that two-party race.

Here’s the key question: What kind of folks would be behind spending that much school and kid money? It would appear because they’re peevish their preferred appointee wasn’t selected. Did they know or ask before signing how the election would be paid for?

More important: What kind of person would agree to be their candidate? What kind of person would accept this waste of school funds because they want to be a winner?

And, the proverbial last, ironic, straw? In October 2022, their board choice, NMUSD candidate Andrea McElroy, wrote a stinging and published letter-to-the-editor criticizing a Newport Beach City Council candidate for spending “… more than $525,000 and counting of his own money in the race … to satisfy his wish to become an elected official.”

Outrageous! Spending your own money when you can pilfer the school district purse to undo a lawful process.

How much more principled is candidate McElroy, her ventriloquists and petitioners by causing a huge waste of school and kid money to vindicate her second-place finish in a two-horse race, and merely because of her “… wish to become an elected [school board] official?”

Lynne Riddle
Newport Beach

Ballots for a special school board election — one costing taxpayers almost half a million dollars — are arriving now in Area 5 mailboxes of the Newport Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD). This should be a non-partisan election but the Orange County GOP, once a pillar of fiscal conservatism, has made this a political campaign. The promotional materials emphasize the political party connection rather than qualifications of the candidate.

How did we get here? The board of trustees selected Harbor High School PTA President Kirstin Walsh, with 13+ years of leadership and volunteer experience in Area 5 schools, easily the most qualified to be on our school board of all those candidates that applied to serve until November 2026. But that wasn’t good enough for an unverified petitioner. With just 361 signatures, this person was able to force this election to be held.

As a retired high school and community college educator, I am both incensed and appalled by this unnecessary expense being forced on the school district when we had a great candidate already serving as the appointed trustee. Andrea McElroy’s qualifications are simply not as strong as those of Kirstin Walsh. Make no mistake, this election is a power grab, not about who is best qualified to guide our children.

Maureen Ramer
Newport Beach

I had the privilege of listening to Kirstin Walsh.

She is a very qualified candidate running for Newport Mesa school board trustee Area 5.

She is now in a very expensive special election.

School board is non political affiliation. It is to support, students and teachers. Kirstin does both of these.

Her opponent (Andrea McElroy) is sending fliers critiquing her independent political affiliation.

Her opponent also lists endorsements from most current City Council members.

It is not the right thing to do!

She seems to have a disadvantage because she’s not a conservative Republican?

Please get out an vote for Kirstin Walsh.

Maureen Mccarthey
Newport Beach

The battle over control in H.B.

The words “local control” are routinely used by the Huntington Beach City Council to stop state government interference.

Measure A gives each parent and guardian local control over what books and materials their own children see at the Public Library.

Measure B gives Huntington Beach residents local control over how the public libraries will be managed.

If the H.B. City Council demands local control over its city government, shouldn’t H.B. residents have the opportunity to have the same local control over how they use the public libraries?

Vote “yes” on Measures A and B for local control and the freedom to choose.

Cathey Ryder
Huntington Beach

One of the books currently relocated from the middle grade, non-fiction section of the children’s library to the restricted fourth floor adult section of the Huntington Beach Public Library is the award-winning, “The Way We Work,” by David McCaulay. Written in similar fashion to the classic, “The Way Things Work,” the book is a beautifully illustrated anatomy book that children and teens find informative and absorbing.

Many kids, ages 8-12, are attracted to books like “The Way We Work” because of their interest in anatomy and human biology. My nephews, who are now in medical school, loved checking out similar library books when they were in elementary school. Why should this book be made inaccessible for browsing to minors? Published in 2008, “The Way We Work” in no way can be considered sexually explicit even with its mild description of the reproductive system. There are absolutely no images of sexual acts.

In their quest for ultimate control of our public library and our book choices, the extremist Huntington Beach City Council has gone too far with their cries of pornography and their proposed book-banning review board.

Vote “yes” on Measures A and B to keep our library free from political agendas and corporate takeovers.

Carol Daus
Huntington Beach