Foothills Sentry January 2020

Foothills Sentry January 2020 Page 9 For membership/upco Andrea Krupka at a Contact President Andrea Krupka for information andrea.krupka44@gmail.com www.orangerwf.org Friday, January 17, 2020 General Meeting 10:30 AM "Candidates Forum" Covenant Presbyterian Church St. Andrews Hall 1855 N. Orange-Olive Rd., Orange Contact Peggy Baranyay @714-828-1289 or 714-502-4720 For Reservations Ledesma dismissed the district’s report, proclaiming staff’s find- ings were “just their opinion.” With little more to add to the discussion, other than a conde- scending tone and a few ignorant questions, Ledesma moved to ap- prove the charter without requir- ing the school to fix any of the problems identified by the staff. Trustees Brenda Lebsack, John Ortega and Alexia Deligianni- Brydges followed suit, voting to push through the OCCA charter and turning a blind eye to its egre- gious shortfalls. The outright dismissal and disdain these board members showed toward experts with de- cades of experience is not only shocking, but irresponsible. OUSD deserves board members who won’t ignore data and facts at the expense of our district staff and students. Carrie Lundell Orange Dear Editor: In 2001, OUSD faced a great fi- asco, brought on primarily by the nefarious works of a man named Mark Bucher. In four years, 727 teachers resigned, almost half of the total district staff of 1,500. After a board recall and great upheaval, OUSD had to battle to create a better reputation. Now, there is great positive buzz in the community about OUSD, which was hard-earned after years of corruption. After a long and contentious meeting on Dec. 19, four trustees voted to approve a charter peti- tion brought by none other than Mark Bucher, the same guy who represented the recalled major- ity that brought so much pain to OUSD in 2001. Why would they allow the man who tried to de- stroy our district from the inside out last time get a foothold here again? The answer lies in where he invests his money. Rick Ledes- ma, Brenda Lebsack, John Ortega and Alexia Deligianni-Brydges were bought off, and the rest of us must suffer. Sean Griffin Santa Ana Dear Editor: I attended the Dec. 19 school board meeting. I specifically went to express my concerns regarding the petition for the OCCA charter school. Watching the OUSD Board majority move so quickly to ap- prove a petition dripping with fatal flaws was reminiscent of the 2015 appointment of Greg Sa- las, who, despite being the least qualified of eight candidates to fill a vacated board seat, was a friend of the majority -- so he was quickly voted in by Rick Ledes- ma, John Ortega and others. This appointment set into motion a public outcry, a recall of Salas, and an expensive special election, which Salas overwhelmingly lost. That cost the district close to $200,000. This same majority again voted on an item that will cost the dis- trict money. This time it is pro- jected to be $13 million over the next five years. We need trustees that are looking out for the good of our students and who are fiscally re- sponsible, not board members worried about financing their next campaign. Ledesma, Brenda Leb- sack, Alexia Deligianni-Brydges, and Ortega need to go! Lynn Frediani Orange Dear Editor: The OUSD school board voted 4-3 to approve the Orange Coun- ty Classical Academy. OUSD is home to four excellent charter schools already, but this was most definitely not an excellent peti- tion. From the beginning, it was a train wreck, with the original pe- tition claiming formal affiliations with two universities, including Chapman, that turned out to be false. Things only got worse. As is the law, OUSD financial, curriculum, human resources and legal experts conducted their re- view of the petition. Staff strongly recommended rejecting it, based on a long list of deficiencies set out in a 14-page, detailed report. These included things like: the school has no physical location, no workable budget, no plan for special education and no formal affiliation with the college it will be relying on for training and curriculum. These deficiencies threaten OUSD's fiscal health. Despite these deficiencies, the petitioners had a relationship with the board majority. Rick Ledesma could hardly wait to approve the petition. John Ortega, Alexia Deligianni-Brydges and Brenda Lebsack gleefully followed, com- pletely dismissing Trustee Kris Erickson’s reasonable motion to amend to conditional approval to address the liabilities. How can this be? Follow the money. Both Lebsack and Orte- ga’s campaigns were nearly 100 percent funded - tens of thou- sands of dollars - by a charter school PAC that Mark Bucher, the petitioner for OCCA, runs. That PAC is largely funded by the same group from which Ledesma gets a large chunk of his cam- paign funds. Coincidence? Deligianni-Brydges didn’t face opposition in the last election, but she sure will this time. I wonder from where she will get her cam- paign donations? Michelle Weisenberg Orange The Assistance League of Or- ange’s Now and Again thrift shop was selected as Best Thrift Store in the 2019 Best of Orange pro- gram. The shop, located on the Plaza in Old Towne Orange, is operated by volunteers, and pro- vides funding for the organiza- tion’s philanthropies. The 79-year-old organization was also awarded a 2019 Plati- num Seal of Transparency, the highest level of recognition given by GuideStar, a nonprofit refer- ence site. The award reflects ALO's commitment to transpar- ency, its philanthropic mission and stewardship. For information, see alorange. org. AL of Orange receives recognition Maia McBride is a 4.0 student, part of Tustin High School’s T-Tech Academy, and an ac- complished ballerina. During December, she toured with the Anaheim Ballet, performing in “The Nutcracker,” as she has for the last six years. She also danced at the Celebrity Theater in Laughlin, Nevada, the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University and City National Grove of Anaheim. McBride, a student of ballet for 12 years, has been invited to compete in an international ballet competition this month. It looks like Maia is stepping in the right direction. – Mark Eliot Orange Unified School District agreed to enter into negotiations with Chapman University regard- ing the sale of Killefer School and the 1.7-acre parcel it sits on. The announcement was made by Su- perintendent Gunn Marie Hansen at the onset of the Dec. 19 board meeting, following a closed ses- sion decision. Trustees have been weighing options for the fate of its surplus properties – Walnut, Peralta and Killefer—in closed session for several months. Apparently, no decision has been reached on the Walnut property, adjacent to San- tiago Middle School, or the Peralta site behind the Village of Orange. Hansen reported that the Kille- fer sale would appear on the Janu- ary board meeting agenda, and more details would be presented at that time. Killefer School, the first to vol- untarily desegregate in California (if not the nation), was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, due to the efforts of the Old Towne Preservation As- sociation. The listing caused the then-buy- er of the property, the Olson Com- pany, to abandon the sale. A sec- ond buyer, Western States, spent three years working on a develop- ment compromise with the City of Orange, then walked away when a lawsuit was threatened. A district spokesperson says that OUSD respects and appreci- ates the historical significance of the Killefer School, but that it can- not take on a restoration or man- agement role, even if funds were available. A school district cannot accept funding for anything other than education, and there is no line item in the state education budget for historic preservation. Killefer School may be sold to Chapman University