Foothills Sentry - February 2024

Foothills Sentry Page 4 February 2024 Circulation … 40,000 Published on the last Tuesday of each month and distributed to residences, businesses, libraries and civic centers. Printing by Advantage, Inc. 714-532-4406 Fax: 714-532-6755 foothillssentry.com 1107 E. Chapman Ave., #207 Orange, CA 92866 © Foothills Sentry 2024 Publisher/Editor Anita Bennyhoff 1969-2013 Editor Tina Richards editor@foothillssentry.com Sports Editor Cliff Robbins sportseditor@att.net Graphic Designer Jef Maddock graphics@foothillssentry.com Advertising Sales Andie Mills advertising@foothillssentry.com 714-926-9299 Office Manager Kathy Eidson officemanager@foothillssentry. com Guest Commentary By Carolyn Cavecche I decided to sign the recall peti- tions for Orange Unified School District Board Members Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner when I realized just how many taxpayer dollars had been thrown away with the no-cause dismissal of then-OUSD Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen. More than half a million dollars of taxpay- ers' money was spent needlessly, with potentially even more at- torneys’ fees to come. So many other ways, professional ways, taxpayer-friendly ways, transpar- ent ways, to make changes at the top of a public agency when a new majority is elected. Sadly, it seems no one on this majority had a clue on how to go about it cor- rectly, and the taxpayers are left paying the bill. I decided I would be voting yes on recalling Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner while watching Miner encourage violence against her fellow Board Member Kris Erickson when one of her sup- porters stated on Instagram Live he could use his teeth to bite Er- ickson’s throat off. She respond- ed by suggesting he and Erickson should arrange a coffee date, and she would bring popcorn. “Stunned” doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction to a sit- ting member of our local school board not only condoning vio- lence against a woman she sits on the dais with, but suggesting it would be so entertaining that she would bring popcorn. It’s vile and unacceptable. Madison Mi- nor needs to resign. Our children deserve better leadership and role models. The Orange Unified School District Board seems to go through cycles, with stable stretches sometimes lasting lon- ger than others. Anyone who has lived in our community for any amount of time gets this. The election of the current majority ended such a stable stretch. What we are witnessing now: chaotic board meetings, out-of-town extremists screaming at board members, last-minute agenda items, lack of transparency, ac- tive shooter training delayed, and questionable sweetheart deals with special interest groups have spiraled OUSD into familiar ter- ritory again. Our school district is once more the punch line in a long running joke, and, candid- ly, I think we are all tired of it. We elect members of the school board to provide stable leader- ship to the district, competent oversight of our tax dollars and to make sure our kids get educated. And we want that done in a trans- parent manner, without cronyism and special favors to political supporters. I don’t think that is too much to ask. Make no mistake, this recall isn’t a battle to keep parents out of their children’s classrooms. This isn’t about indoctrination or any other Kabuki theater accusa- tions the "No on the recall" cam- paign will fling at the wall to see if it will stick. It is about stability. It’s about stemming the exodus of staff from our schools. It’s about get- ting back to the business of edu- cating our children. I am looking for transparency, accountability and fiscal respon- sibility from our school board. I support parental rights. I believe charter schools can be an amaz- ing option for our children … and I am voting yes to recall Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner. Carolyn Cavecche is a former mayor of the City of Orange and a former OUSD parent. OUSD trustee's “I’ll bring the popcorn” reflects more than poor judgment Both Sides Now Dear Editor: The OUSD Recall has made it to the March 5th Primary Bal- lot and the attacks against Recall supporters have begun. A lie making its rounds right now is that OUEA, OURTeachers Union, donated $55k. This is sim- ply NOT true and is verifiable by examining the Public Campaign Disclosures published by the OC Registrar of Voters. In reality the OUSD Recall is mostly funded by local individual donors, NOT from unions or political groups. The No Recall campaign, howev- er, is primarily funded by outside political groups. These outside political groups consist of Mark Bucher and the Lincoln Club OC PAC. Mark Bucher and Lincoln Club OC are major funders for the campaigns of Rick Ledesma, Madison Miner and the board majority. Mark Bucher runs mul- tiple Political Action Commit- tees, and has business interests now being considered by the cur- rent OUSD board majority that he helped fund. In the interest of transparency, I will show actual numbers detail- ing who is funding the Recall and No Recall groups. (Based on pub- lic records of donors over $100 total, which is all we can actually see.) OUSD Recall funding : Over 280 individual donors to- taling about $140k OUEA, our OUSD Teachers, contributed $18k (t he California Teachers Association gave money to OUEA to cover the entire 2024 campaign season, not just the Re- call) Other teacher unions donated $6.5k. So, 82% of all Recall campaign donations are individual donors. 13% of campaign donations are from OUEA. 5% came from other teachers unions. The OUSD Re- call is truly a grassroots campaign majority funded by local commu- nity members. NO Recall funding: About 50 individual donors to- taling about $80k (Mark Bucher and Lincoln Club made up $45k of that) 56% Outside partisan political money 44% individual donors. The Recall is financially sup- ported by at least five times as many people and OUSD Teach- ers. NO Recall is supported by very few people and most of the mon- ey is from outside groups. I may be old fashioned but I think our OUSD schools should be controlled by local OUSD par- ents and teachers. Soren Williams Anaheim Dear Editor: As an OUSD parent, I am dis- turbed with the heavy involve- ment by special interest groups in this recall. As of late, the Teach- ers’Union has funded around 40% of the recall’s effort, amounting to roughly $55,000. Unfortunately, it can be widely presumed that this money is not coming from OUSD teachers. On tape, a CTA representative devised a plan to funnel money from Sacramento to the Orange Unified Education Association. In comparison to previous elections, it is abnormal for the OUEA to spend such high- stake figures on an election. Just a year ago, parents voted in a con- servative board majority. Can’t these out-of-town organizations be deferential to the wants of OUSD parents? The OC Register endorsed a no vote on the recall. So will I, and many other parents, on March 5th. James Flint Anaheim Hills Dear Editor: Madison Miner has got to go. There is no end to her conflict of interest being on the Orange Uni- fied School Board, voting on is- sues that directly benefit her own family. Looking back, her cam- paign was paid for by the same people who fund Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA), the school her children attend. Now, as OCCA and the board majority see an end to Miner and Ledes- ma’s tenure on the school board, they are scrambling to get what they want. At the moment, they seem to have changed their focus from taking over Esplanade Elementa- ry and are going after the Peralta property, although it is difficult to really know what’s going on, as their plans change at the drop of a hat. At the Jan. 18 board meeting, Miner continued to support the expansion of OCCA by allowing her son to speak on behalf of ac- quiring Peralta for OCCA’s high school. The conflict of interest just keeps growing and growing. How is she allowed to participate in this discussion? At the Decem- ber board meeting, I asked her to recuse herself from this issue, but here she is allowing her son to speak. This board, and Miner in particular, has no shame. This board majority is not do- ing the job for which they were elected. Instead, they are cater- ing to their financial backers and their own personal and political interests. True district business has been left by the wayside, money has been wasted, and Or- ange Unified students and fami- lies have been dismissed over and over again by this majority. We need all who believe in transparency in government to come forward. If you believe in governing for service instead of personal gain, we need you. Or- ange students, families and teach- ers need you to vote on March 5th. Let's recall Ledesma and Miner. This chaos has to stop. Michelle Canto, Esplanade Elementary teacher Orange Dear Editor: I am an OUSD parent, and fa- ther of school board trustee Mad- ison Miner. I write here not in part of my distaste of the recall’s policy standing, but their intimi- dation tactics towards my daugh- ter. While Madison was coaching my grandson’s soccer game, one of the Orange shirts intention- ally walked over and stared my daughter down. He did this with my grandkids as well. It was only after he was confronted, did he finally leave. This event was one of the many, and more innocent intimidation efforts, against Mad- ison. She has been accosted in public and even followed home. It seems to me that this isn’t about kids or public education, it is a personal and political vendet- ta. Many residents of the commu- nity have seen Madison grow up here in OPA. She is fighting hard for OUSD kids and protecting parents’ rights. She is fulfilling her campaign promises. Please support the citizens of OUSD and this community in voting NO in the March primary elections. Bill Klovstad Brea Dear Editor: T-R-U-T-H is a simple five-let- ter word, yet so unattainable for the leaders of the recall. Firstly, the notion that the board major- ity is “moving up the timelines to beat the March 5th recall date” for the 50-meter pool is just false. This has been a discussion for over a year, with numerous pre- sentations. And the price tag of $16-28 million? During the De- cember board meeting, a $16 mil- lion Myrtha pool was approved in a 5-2 supermajority vote; mi- nority-faction Trustee Ana Page voted in favor of it. This wasn’t some political move to ram the project through. As for Esplanade, no move by the board majority was made to “displace” the students of Espla- nade Elementary. Such informa- tion is closed session and strictly confidential; these notions of dis- placement are pure assumptions. And lastly, “the divisive polit- ically-charged environment has trickled down to teachers and staff.” The board majority have been advocates for an environ- ment of accountability – and the students of this district are reap- ing the benefits. In the most re- cent academic audit from school years 2022-23, student test scores have increased at a rate higher than the county average. Has this politically charged environment “trickled” down to the student? Seems not. On March 5th, a vote NO on the recall is a vote for bet- ter test scores, accountability and parental rights. Alexander Tran, student OUSD boardmember Orange Dear Editor: Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner have proven to be fiscally irresponsible and self-serving. For as many times as Ledesma’s board has tried to silence dissent- ers through viewpoint discrimi- nation, threats in violation of the First Amendment, or intimidation through the misuse of the Califor- nia Public Records Act, residents of OUSD seem stuck in a spiral of mismanagement and chaos. However, as Californians, we are blessed that our constitution enshrines that all political power is inherent in the people (Cal. Const., art. II, § 1). This politi- cal power guarantees that Cali- fornians can initiate the political process. History is replete with examples of Californians creat- ing their own destiny through this form of direct democracy, includ- ing Proposition 13 (guaranteeing that property taxes would not increase by more than 2% annu- ally) and the removal from office of Governor Gray Davis. While some who are critical of the OUSD Recall, or any recall, may say, “but the voters have spoken,” others would highlight that our form of direct democracy guarantees our right to pave our own destiny. Voter-led change is a core tenet of our state constitu- tion – whether that is to change an unjust law or remove a leader who proves incapable of leading. In many corners of our great nation, citizens are stuck for four years with corrupt, inept and self- serving leadership. Californians have a right to amend our laws and elect and remove our leaders. Just as we did with Proposition 13 and Governor Davis, citizens can take back the power from elected officials through the same voter- led, grassroots mechanism. There is nothing more demo- cratic than voters controlling their own destiny through the initiative and recall process. Scott Resnick Orange