Foothills Sentry - February 2024

Page 13 Foothills Sentry February 2024 SERVICE DIRECTORY PIANO INSTRUCTION Your home. Learn music you love. 20yrs exp. BA music/ child development. (949) 637- 8208 Thekeyboardlady.com FOR RENT Furnished 3,600 sq. ft. Villa Park home, 4 Bedrooms, Triple Garage, Pool. Please supply 3 references. $10K a month. Short term rentals available!. Call 657 604-9617 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ROOFING SENIOR RESIDENTIAL CARE REAL ESTATE All types of roofing for over 35 years. Residential and commercial buildings. 714.244.6567 CA LICENSE #663983 Residential Care Home for the Older Adult Sonia Garcia-Francia CEO 714-269-7307 Sonia@guardianangelshomes.com Kelly S. Francia Harlan Administrator 714-812-0137 Kellysabrina@guardianangelshomes.com M.A. Psychology, M.A. Gerontology Master of HR Management www.GuardianAngelsHomes.com North Tustin Locations CLASSIFIEDS ARCHITECTS INVESTMENTS TAXES cy, civility and leaders who will treat everyone with respect and kindness. OUSD students deserve better. Sara J. Pelly, Retired Principal Villa Park Dear Editor: I’m not a teacher. I’m not part of their union. Nobody who knows me would describe me as “radical.” Sacramento doesn’t al- ways get it right, and OUSD isn’t perfect. I am a parent, a moder- ate voter, live locally, and I will be voting to recall Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner. The recall is about competent versus incompe- tent, and who can best serve our kids. I had never been to a school board meeting until last year’s fir- ing of the superintendent. I was happy with my neighborhood school; what was the fuss about? On a whim, I attended -- and was appalled. The board spent a lot of money with no explanation to par- ents. Watching them fumble for a replacement was embarrassing. There was no communication, no notice, no cause, and no plan. I’ve heard cries for teachers to get back to the basics and put math and reading back in the classroom. It never left! Thanks to OUSD’s teachers and librar- ians, my daughter is an avid read- er – she’s proudly achieved the million words club the last two years! She excels in math – her class is learning algebra concepts in elementary school. The prin- cipal sends updates weekly (or more). Schoolwork comes home promptly. Teachers email updates throughout the week. Gradebooks and assignments are posted online 24/7. Reading lists are passed out. There are constant invitations and opportunities for parents to partic- ipate in their kid’s education. The district is run by humans. They sometime make mistakes; some teachers are better than others, and there’s room to improve test scores, but it’s tiring to hear the supporters of Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma spew a false narra- tive that parents don’t have rights, teachers are going rogue, and the board needs to save the kids. It’s just not true. "Letters to the Editor" continued from page 5 I’ve watched most board meet- ings in the past year – meetings that should be boring. Recite the Pledge of Allegiance, recognize some staff and kids, review some budget items, and maybe approve fixing an air conditioner or two. That’s not how this board oper- ates. They pack the agenda, run inefficient meetings, and focus on politics and grandstanding at the expense of their administra- tive duties. The board can barely complete the minimum level of business that the district needs to function. These meetings can run until 2 a.m. and accomplish virtually nothing. Let’s return the board’s focus to improving education. Bring back fiscal responsibility, restore transparency, and eliminate the grandstanding, games and cha- os. Join me voting YES to re- call Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner. Jon Sanks Anaheim Hills The view from there Dear Editor: I'm a former student at Espla- nade Elementary. When I went to Esplanade, it felt special, as that school gave me a lot of help. Learning was sometimes an is- sue for me, but the good news is, there were many teachers who helped me, and I became the per- son that I am today. As of now, I am going to two colleges and hoping to get two degrees: mu- sic and business. The reason that I’m saying this is because I want this school to not shut down, as I want the next generation of my family to keep going there and to become better people in learning. Martin Perez Flores Orange Dear Editor: With the start of the new year, the changes in health benefits for teachers and retirees went into effect. Due to either a lack of under- standing of the difference be- tween Supplemental Medicare plans and Advantage Plans, or the difference between self-fund- ed plans and insurance-backed plans, those chosen by the new board were greatly inferior to those that both groups had for over a decade through CalPERS. In addition, the self-funded plans are vulnerable because it is argu- able as to whether they are ad- equately funded. OUSD school boards, except for the boards that took over after the 2002 recall, have continually provided inferior health plans for teachers and retirees because of their refusal, based on perceived political ramifications, to be in a “pool” with other districts. Yet it is standard practice that pool- ing members, as in the CalPERS Plan, is the only way to get better insurance at a lower price. It will be interesting to see if a victory in the second recall will result in a newly configured board that will correct the errors made with the insurance that went into effect Jan. 1. The self-funding of teach- ers’ healthcare, the pitfalls of the new plans, as compared to their previous insurance, should also be studied by the district to make sure that further migration of teachers does not take place. Hopefully, the OUEA will moni- tor this and fight for improved in- surance for active members. Being forced into Advantage Plans this year was a rude awak- ening for the retirees who range in age from mid-60s to 70s, 80s and 90s. The doctors and health care establishments that many have used for decades are not necessarily available to them now in their greatest period of need. To buy insurance on their own would cost between $6,000 and $10,000 a year if pharmaceuticals are taken into account. The lifetime health benefits of- fered retired teachers after the first recall, as well as competitive sal- aries and good health insurance, helped the district to retain qual- ity educators. Unless the second recall is successful, unrest among teachers and retirees and further migration of quality teachers will take place. Lynn Lorentz Retired OUSD teacher Editor's Note: The Sentry received many letters for and against the OUSD recall. We could not print all of them. To include as many as possible, all were edited for length. In other news Dear Editor: I watched the recent city coun- cil meeting discussing CR&R’s rate increase for trash hauling. One word: Appalling. Only council members John Gyllenhammer and Ana Guti- errez are fiscally competent. Dan Slater, Jon Dumitru, Kathy Tavoularis, Denis Bilodeau do not have the cumulative brain power to run a city the size of Or- ange effectively. If I owned a commercial busi- ness in the City of Orange, I would be reaching out to fellow business owners to stop the 100% price increase these individuals approved (on Jan. 9) to begin on March 1, a year and a half before the current contract expires. You read that right, folks. It is prudent to begin negotiations well in ad- vance of contract expiration, but you certainly do not put those increases into effect 1.5 years be- fore necessary. How can a busi- ness be expected to run efficiently when the local government raises its prices by 100%, effective im- mediately? Spoiler alert -- they can’t. Slater argued it was necessary because CR&R was 40% un- der market and the residents and businesses needed to help CR&R become profitable. Little hint, Dan. It’s called predatory pricing. They did it to get the contract, knowing full well they couldn’t make a profit, but counted on the city council to help them out. Who in their fiscally right mind would offer to increase their pay- ments 100% 1.5 years before it was necessary? “Ah, yes, Mister Trash Hauler, I know we have a contract with you that doesn’t expire until 2025, but let me pay you 100% more than I am cur- rently paying you, beginning im- mediately.” Run the city like the business it is. All contracts need to be bid on by three vendors. Mike Bonnard Orange Rain on VP Parade Dear Editor: The 2023 Villa Park Dry Land Boat Parade had its largest audi- ence in the history of the parade. The Orange County Sheriff depu- ties on duty estimated the crowd to be over 3,000. Unfortunately, you're reporting on the parade wasn't completely accurate. This year, contrary to your story, the parade did not end at the Villa Park Town Center and there were no awards given there. Instead, the organizers had the parade simply pass by the city center and unceremoniously terminate in the dark at the Villa Park High School. The judging was done in day- light, while the floats were queu- ing up before the parade started. I believe that this parade was not handled very well at the end; there should have been at least a pass through the Towne Center so that the merchants could participate. Even better, the floats should have parked in the Towne Center so that there could be a community festi- val, as would be proper for such an event. What actually happened was completely anti-climactic for all involved. All the participants in this boat parade and the people of Villa Park deserve better than this. If we are going to have a boat pa- rade, then treat the people with respect and have an awards an- nouncement at the end, and do the judging when it's dark, so you can see the lighting. In 2024, let's see the parade return to the Villa Park Towne Center with the high school band and actually announce the float awards with some kind of festivi- ties again, as it should be. Kelley Wise Villa Park Note: Kudos or complaints about the parade are requested to be directed to the Villa Park Com- munity Services Foundation, vpc- sfoundation.org. Correction T he Sentry story, "Neighbors Challenge Looming three- story development,” in January incorrectly attributed a quote to Anne McDermott, chair of the Design Review Committee. e quote, “One hundred percent of your screening concept is based on this neighborhood defending against its invasion of privacy with its own trees, but you’re the one doing the invading,” should have been attributed to Carol Fox.