Foothills Sentry - February 2024

Page 5 Foothills Sentry February 2024 JOHNSON MOTORCARS 34 Years of Specializing in the Service and Repair of Mercedes-Benz Gary Johnson 714-997-2567 982 N. Batavia # B13, Orange, CA 92867 gary@johnsonmotorcars.com @ ramblingroseoc Save our schools! We need you to help protect public education! The notion of “saving our schools” might sound exagger- ated to some. Still, the actions of the majority of trustees in the Orange Unified School District (OUSD) and the Orange County Board of Education (OCBE) underscore the real threats to the integrity and effectiveness of public education. The call to save our schools and protect public education is embedded in the Orange Unified School District (OUSD) recall election and the March election for the Orange County Board of Education (OCBE). These elections will be a powerful reminder of why preserving and enhancing our public education system is vital. Public education is a cornerstone of democracy. It provides equal opportunities for all children, regardless of background, to learn, grow, and become informed citizens. The OUSD recall election serves as a testament to our community’s commitment to maintaining an education system that is inclusive, diverse, and free from personal ideologies that serve some but not all students. VOTE YES to RECALL and VOTE OUT OCBE INCUMBENTS The OUSD recall and the OCBE election focus on removing trustees who waste tax dollars on personal agendas, want to dismantle public education, and do not support ALL students within their jurisdiction. Voting for the OUSD recall in March is a step towards preserving public education, ensuring our schools remain safe spaces that respect families, offer quality education, and allow students to thrive. Voting YES on the OUSD recall and for new trustees on the OCBE are not merely administrative changes. Your support will realign the leadership of these educational bodies with the fundamental principles of public edu- cation. Removing individuals with extremist views from influential positions is not just a political maneuver… it is a necessary step to protect the integrity of our educational system. The recall election in Orange Unified School District and the three seats up inMarch for the Orange County Board of Education represent more than a local issue. Your vote in this election reflects the broader struggle to safeguard public education. As a community, we must remain vigilant and proactive in supporting school board members who value education’s role in nurturing academic success, safe schools, and informed, responsible, compassionate citi- zens. Our future, in many ways, depends on it. Dr. Nancy Watkins Orange Resident and Candidate, Orange County Board of Education, Area 3 Paid for by Nancy Watkins for Orange County Board of Educa - tion 2024 FPPC# 1457092 Dear Editor: As an OUSD parent here in Anaheim Hills, I am disgusted with this frivolous attempt to re- call pro-parental rights school board members Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma. Within one year of their leadership, the con- servative board majority has re- stored parental input and fiscal re- sponsibility back into our public schools. Ranging from a parental bill of rights to parental notifica- tion, they have ensured that it is parents who have the most say in their child’s education, not the government. I believe test scores have increased thanks to the poli- cies that put parental involvement to an important degree. Strong families form not just strong chil- dren, but strong and successful students. Coming March 5th, the silent majority of OUSD parents, including myself, will be voting no on this recall of pro-parental school board members Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma. Jen Backoff Anaheim Hills Dear Editor: We are being used. What’s happening in OUSD isn’t really about politics, reli- gion, parent’s rights, how to run a school, or any other concept or ideology. It’s simply about cor- ruption and self-dealing. The people who fund Madison Miner and support Rick Ledesma do it because they want our land so they can make money. OUSD currently owns millions of dollars of property in Southern California (a great place to own property, as we all know), and the people backing Miner and Ledesma want it (in the current case, for a charter school, through which they will profit). The lon- ger they stay on the board, the more land they’ll give away. This is not what they campaigned on. If they did, you would never vote for them. Instead, it is what they are actually doing. No matter what you think is the best way to run a school, Madison Miner, Rick Ledesma, and the people behind them don’t care. They don’t care about you, and they don’t care about your kids. To Rick, Madison, and their back- ers, you are just a mark they can trick into doing whatever they want -- which is turning our land into their money and gain at the expense of our children’s educa- tion. Why aren’t Ledesma, Miner and their backers (both disclosed and undisclosed) campaigning on what they are really doing -- giv- ing our land away? Don’t let yourself be used. Vote YES to Recall Miner and Ledesma. TJ Ahmed Orange Dear Editor: I strongly oppose the recently announced OUSD School Board recall election. While acknowl- edging community concerns, re- calling board members is not the most constructive solution. Elected officials must navigate complex issues, balancing diverse perspectives and interests. Recall- ing trustees undermines the dem- ocratic process and the mandate they received from voters. As a parent of elementary school children, I voted for Madi- son Klovstad Miner because I be- lieve change is needed in OUSD. I’m unhappy with our schools, and I believe there is a need for cultural reform within the dis- trict. Madison listened to the concerns of today’s OUSD par- ents. She deserves the chance to fulfill the promises that she made to her constituents who voted for change. Change is inevitable, and ad- dressing concerns through open dialogue and collaboration – and NOT through a superfluous recall -- is essential. Instead of a recall, I advocate for an inclusive ap- proach that encourages commu- nity engagement and constructive discussions with the school board. A recall will further disrupt stabil- ity in the district, divert attention from ongoing efforts to improve schools, and create an unneces- sary power vacuum. I urge our community to allow duly elected officials to continue representing the public. With col- laboration, we can achieve posi- tive change without resorting to a recall. Let's focus on strengthen- ing our education system for the benefit of today’s students and many more to come. NO on the OUSD recall. Kate Doti Villa Park Dear Editor: Back on Jan.5, 2023, I learned that the Orange Unified School District fired Superintendent Dr. Gunn Marie Hansen. As any good dad of an OUSD student would do, I asked my wife an important question: “Honey, do we like the superintendent?” It’s hard to recollect what was promised by Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner as part of their 2022 campaign. But, I can guar- antee that it was the same tired statements on parental rights and stopping Sacramento scum. Nothing in their statements made my wife and me think that they would fire the superintendent. The new board majority was installed on Dec. 14, 2023 and called an emergency meeting on Jan. 5. In 22 short days, over win- ter break, the new board majority decided it was best to fire a deco- rated and experienced superin- tendent without cause and place her second-in-command on paid leave pending an academic audit. In their judgment, it was best to fire someone without a succes- sion plan. It was best to pay the superintendent a year’s worth of salary and benefits. Who is the alternative to Dr. Hansen? Who is prepared to lead a district of 27,000 students, 1,400 teachers and 41 schools? Adistrict that has to balance the needs of those who live in Anaheim Hills, Garden Grove, Orange, Santa Ana and Villa Park? In the beginning, the board appointed Edward Velasquez as the interim superintendent. He resigned four weeks later. Ernie Gonzalez, the head of Human Resources, was elevated to in- terim superintendent. The board majority put out a Request for Proposal to hire an executive search firm to find a suitable re- placement in March 2023. The board majority suspended the search in April because they felt it was not a good season to look for a superintendent. The board never interviewed superintendent candidates. Gonzalez was elevat- ed from interim superintendent to superintendent on Aug. 17, 224 days after Hansen was fired. I found this process absolutely appalling. The board majority should have found a strong suc- cessor with the experience and credentials to lead our school district through a rigorous and transparent process. There should be a real sense of urgency to best serve the students, families and stakeholders of OUSD. I call on the residents of OUSD to hold the board majority accountable for their lack of vision by voting yes on the recall of Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner. Bryan Nih Santa Ana Dear Editor: I am deeply disappointed that the January edition of “Foothills Sentry” seemed to be dedicated to trashing our OUSD board majority, and especially Madi- son Miner and Rick Ledesma. Our community just elected and re-elected these trustees on the agenda that they will protect our kids, empower parents, and bet- ter educate our students. Miner and Ledesma, along with board majority trustees, John Ortega and Angie Rumsey, have been working to follow through on this agenda. Just since the November election, they have fired the su- perintendent, put in place a par- ent notification (for any changes in their child’s academic, behav- ior, social, physical or mental health) and a parent’s rights bill. Besides Miner and Ledesma placing student protection, parent empowerment, and student aca- demics as a priority, they are also fiscally responsible to taxpayers. Our schools are in need of repair – $1 billion worth. Board majority members have considered leasing or selling unused OUSD proper- ty. The Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA) wants to pay to share underutilized property with Esplanade. Esplanade has 40% of its enrollment the last couple of years. OCCAwill save, not shut down, Esplanade. Our community deserves for our children to be protected, for our parents to be empowered, and for all of our students to be educated, not indoctrinated. Tax- payers deserve to have fiscally responsible trustees. Don’t allow Sacramento politicians and their local cronies to reverse our elec- tion. The voters already voted. Vote NO on recalling Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma. Lorrie Kaylor Orange Dear Editor: I have worked as an educator for 34 years, 16 of which were in OUSD as a teacher and principal. Having been a district resident and taxpayer for my entire career, I have seen first-hand the effects a school board can have on the rep- utation of a district – both posi- tive and negative. In the past year I have witnessed the immense damage this current board major- ity has caused to our organiza- tion and staff morale, as well as a noticeable disruption in student learning. I am saddened for our OUSD students and appalled at the lack of civility, transparency and accountability shown by our OUSD Board Trustees – Rick Ledesma, Madison Miner, John Ortega and Angie Rumsey. In OUSD, our core values are Equity, Integrity, Respect, and Excellence – none of which is modeled by these trustees. In fact, all evidence to the contrary. Our board majority has chosen to blatantly disregard these values and their primary responsibility, which is to serve OUSD students. Regardless of your political views, you need only watch a few minutes of our board meetings to see that the chaos they have invited to our district has pre- vented any actual school business to take place. They use phrases like “parent rights” and “groom- ing” to scare parents into believ- ing that hardworking teachers are the enemy. They collaborate with those who turn their backs on our existing laws and policies, and in- cite violence and bullying to take place in our meetings. How can we allow them to be the role mod- els and leaders for our children? We are asking that OUSD tax- payers vote YES to Recall Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner on March 5. The voters must draw the line and no longer tolerate this chaos inside our public school boardrooms. Ledesma and Miner must be replaced with trustees who will put our OUSD students first, and work collaboratively with each other to ensure fiscal responsibility and transparency, and bring integrity back to our district. We must insist on decen- See "Letters to the Editor" continued on page 13