Foothills Sentry April 2023

Foothills Sentry Page 4 April 2023 JOHNSON MOTORCARS 31 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 Thumbs down Dear Editor: Once upon a time, Kathy Mof- fat sat comfortably with a board majority favoring “her side.” Gunn Marie Hansen also favored that board majority, so it gave the illusion that all was running smoothly at OUSD. Currently, that group has lost its voting ma- jority and that makes them angry. I do agree with Moffat that there is a lot of chaos, but the losing side is the source of that chaos. My son with autismwas verbal- ly abused by a teacher on campus. He is under the special education department run by Sue Singh. For the entire year I begged this district for help, sent requests for help to the administration and previous school board, where Moffat sat for decades. The only response I received from Hansen was the following, “You have personally attacked everyone on this email exchange including Dr. Singh who you have also filed complaints and verbally insulted. I am not sure what your intent is to single her out again now. We would like to help your son get back to school.” Gunn Marie Hansen gaslighted every special ed parent at OUSD for years and assisted the head of special ed, Sue Singh, in covering up child abuse that the previous board majority also ignored. Moffat notes many “improve- ments” made, but we have seen no improvement. Moffat cites “honors” that Hansen helped achieve, for example, “When COVID suspended state testing, the California Department of Education recognized outstand- ing efforts with California Pivotal Practice Awards.” What does this mean? This is a district that al- lows child abuse on campus. This is a district that allows equipment in STEM labs to sit collecting dust because there are no teach- ers to use the equipment. It’s time for change. I thank Moffat for her years of service, but it’s time to accept the election loss and move on. Heather Wilkens Orange Dear Editor: Former Trustee Kathy Moffat had much to say in her praise of OUSD. However, the title of this Guest Commentary says it all, “OUSD wasn’t broken—but now it is.” The inability or unwilling- ness to admit to the existence of problems and deal with those problems may be the #1 reason why the most veteran member of the board lost to a virtually unknown member of the commu- nity. Lorrie Kaylor Orange Dear Editor: I’ve attended several board meetings recently, and am struck by how unresponsive some teach- ers, administrators and board members on the “other side” are to what I see as legitimate con- cerns. OUSD has much to offer, but we are far from perfect. At the March 2 board meet- ing, both sides of OUSD were on display. But the picture wasn’t always pretty. Cerro Villa’s prin- cipal and student leaders gave a presentation on this middle school of 760 students. Hours later, public comments began. A Cerro Villa parent painted a hor- rendous portrait of rampant drug use, capped by an admin admis- sion that the volume of student behavioral problems made the situation impossible to address. The next parent read from still another inappropriate book, po- litely asking for this problem to be more fully addressed. The next two speakers were Kathy Mof- fat and an OUSD teacher. It was as if these parents never spoke, or what they said was irrelevant. Most troubling was the teacher’s statement, “When you bad-mouth our district, you are bad-mouth- ing everyone who works at an OUSD school.” The parents that spoke were stating real concern- ing events, and this teacher mini- mized it and mocked it. So, our concerns are just bad- mouthing? We are to shut up and go away? But these are our chil- dren, and we are grateful that the new board majority is listening. Anna Rock Orange Dear Editor: Kathy Moffat describes board action on books in OUSD digital libraries as an inept board majori- ty's knee jerk reaction to a miscat- egorized online book. Many par- ents or guardians, whose children attend school within this district, don't agree with her stance. Go to the video of OUSD's Jan. 19 school board meeting. Two parents read passages from avail- able online school library books that they believe contain com- pletely inappropriate material, including sexually explicit word- ing, for elementary school chil- dren and perhaps ALL students under the age of 18. Note that one parent states that she loves this school district, but then describes how her concerns were ignored. Listen to what parents are say- ing about this, and many other educational issues and concerns, that have been brought to their at- tention during the past few years in particular. Then you may un- derstand why so many enlight- ened parents wanted and voted for a change in this school board and administration. Pam Battaglia Anaheim Hills Thumbs up Dear Editor: I am Greg Goodlander, presi- dent of the Orange Unified Edu- cation Association (OUEA). My purpose is to respond to inaccura- cies and outright false statements made about our association dur- ing recent OUSD board meetings. It has been suggested OUEA is an organization made up of “… a bunch of liberals …” In truth, OUEA’s voting demographic mir- rors much of Orange Unified’s voting population. Some of our members are Democrats, many are Republican, but the vast ma- jority are not politically aligned at all. The curriculum in OUSD is determined through the Califor- nia State Framework for K-12 Education. Our members teach curriculum developed through local administrative staff in Edu- cational Services and support the California State Standards. This curriculum and those stan- dards are reflected in textbooks and resources approved by the OUSD school board -- not the union. Any suggestion that cur- riculum determinations are made by anyone other than state admin- istrators and local school boards is a duplicitous attempt to under- mine educators by misleading parents and community members. That curriculum approval in- cludes coursework on reproduc- tive health and sex education. California Healthy Youth Act is the controlling law of California. It is that law that requires com- prehensive health education -- not the union. Nearly every child in OUSD works daily with dedicated pro- fessionals who commit their lives to the students of the district. Every one of them is a part of OUEA. As president, I still teach French every morning at Orange High School. My time not teach- ing is spent working with direc- tors, principals, special education coordinators, assistant superin- tendents, and when they exist, superintendents. When OUSD board members regularly compliment the amaz- ing work of teachers, they are celebrating union members who voluntarily chose to be a part of OUEA. We wear our union shirts with pride. When you compli- ment educators, you are compli- menting OUEA because there is no separation between teach- ing conditions for educators and learning conditions for students. As OUEA moves into its eighth decade, its mission has not changed; we are here to support each other as colleagues, and as allies to our students and com- munity. I am proud to be a part of this amazing union and the qual- ity and continuity it has brought to our education community. Greg Goodlander President, Orange Unified Educa- tion Association Dear Editor: Kathy Moffat’s Guest Com- mentary last month was insight- ful and honest. Moffat was an outstanding OUSD school board member and continues to care about our schools and the com- munity. She always studied all of the issues in detail, listened to the community and would try to educate others on the issues. She wanted the board to be transpar- ent and honest. She was polite and respectful at board meetings and with the public. We are lucky she is continuing to stay active to keep our schools strong. OUSD was not broken. It is now facing uncertainty and prob- lems as detrimental changes are being made without discussion or explanation. The new board majority is making changes that don’t make sense, fiscally or aca- demically. The new majority ran on the promise of fiscal respon- sibility, yet they threw away vast sums of money on an interim su- perintendent who only stayed a short time, and they now need to pay to search for a new one. They treat citizens, educators and other board members with disrespect and contempt. The Peralta School property has been a big concern for the community for many years. Two of the current board majority tried to put high-density apartments on the property with a 99-year lease without notifying the pub- lic. Luckily, that didn’t happen, due to strong opposition across the city. Unfortunately, it looks like the Peralta property may be a concern again. There was talk of selling school property to build a pool at VPHS which one board member seems to be personally behind. There are also represen- tatives from Orange Lutheran High School knocking on doors surrounding Peralta, sharing their plans for the property. Since there has been no discussion about this item at meetings, it is interesting that plans seem to be develop- ing behind the scenes. Again, the public is faced with a lack of in- formation or transparency about this issue, which is causing con- cern and uncertainty about the property and the neighborhood. Hopefully, the new school board majority will work to gain the trust of the community by having open discussions about their plans and listening to the community and their concerns. Margy Costello Orange Dear Editor: I am a parent of one current OUSD student and one OUSD grad. I’m writing in response to the misperception that sex edu- cation starts in kindergarten. I’ve seen and heard such claims in sev- eral school board meeting public comments, social media posts, as well as in previous letters to the editor of Foothills Sentry . These claims lack evidence and do noth- ing but promote fear and distrust of teachers and the district. To be clear, there is no sex education until middle school, and even then, parents have the right to opt their child out. This is a clear example of parent freedom and choice. I also want to note how much I appreciated the district’s thor- ough and transparent process of inviting parent input on the selec- tion of the sexual health curricu- lum. During the 2019 school year, I was one of many volunteers who served on the OUSD Middle School Curriculum Review Com- mittee. We met for many hours over several months to evaluate sexual health curricula for age- appropriateness and compliance with state standards. The process was open and transparent. I en- courage concerned parents and community members to check out the district website for all the de- tails rather than the misinforma- tion that is being circulated. S. Chopra Orange Dear Editor: I am a proud student in OUSD. In the past few months I have watched our district, and my school, deal with fall out from the erratic decisions of the cur- rent OUSD Board majority. I reached out to the board majority via email on Jan. 5 and not one responded to me. This board fired and put on leave the people who are funda- mentally important in creating the person I am today, and they have still not given a justification for their actions. They removed Superintendent Hansen and As- sistant Superintendent Corella, despite the fact they have built success in countless students that have struggled with developmen- tal disorders, including me. I entered OUSD Special Ed Pre-K as a three-year-old who was struggling to speak and write and who faced barriers other stu- dents did not. I was a step be- hind. Who am I now? I am a high school junior who is in Honors and AP classes, who has consis- tently maintained straight As in my high school and 15 college classes. I’m on the precipice of earning my associates degree from the dual enrollment classes that the people you felt are dis- posable gave me the opportunity and encouraged me to take. I’m a step ahead now. How did I get here? How did I go from be- ing a person, struggling to speak and write, to, as much as it feels egotistical to say, successful in this school district? It is not a coincidence. I was given the gift of opportunity from the same people the board ma- jority removed “without cause.” Early into my academic journey, Dr. Hansen and Mrs. Corella