Foothills Sentry - November 2023

Foothills Sentry Page 6 November 2023 Family. Friends. Community. We’re all in this together. State Farm, Bloomington, IL 1801073 Ron Esparza, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C79663 827 S. Tustin Ave Orange, CA 92866 Bus: 714-505-3400 ron@ronesparza.com "OUSD Board" continued from page 1 the events of the September meet- ing were followed by the board majority’s hasty acceptance of a legal contract, offered pro bono, to defend them if their parental notification policy (regarding trans students) prompted a law- suit. The Chino Valley School District is being sued by the Cali- fornia Attorney General over a similar policy that the AG says violates state law. An injunction preventing Chino’s policy from taking effect was granted by the courts. OUSD has not been served, but the board majority recognizes it might be next. The Liberty Justice Center is a conservative nonprofit firm that focuses on constitutional law, civil rights and takes on cases with the intent to set legal prec- edent. It has offered to defend OUSD against a potential lawsuit gratis, and says it will seek grants and funding via other nonprof- its to pay for the operating costs of litigation. The firm currently represents Chino Valley. Liberty had appeared in a San Bernardino County court that very morning for a hearing on the Chino Hills injunction. It won on one count, lost on two. “If you think you’re going to need legal defense for something you are doing,” one public speak- er pointed out, “then don’t do it.” Erickson noted a number of flaws in the contract and had questions: A group called Ad- vocates for Faith and Freedom is mentioned in the contract, but who are they, and why are they mentioned? What happens if Lib- erty doesn’t get grant funding to support the lawsuit? Does OUSD pay for that? Is the firm familiar with school districts? How many cases have they won? “Nothing is free,” she said. “There will be costs. OUSD is being used for a political agenda. Their stated purpose is to pursue litigation. They won’t be defend- ing us; they have an overtly par- tisan mission. We’ll have to pay fees for opposing council if we lose. Based on what happened this morning, the likelihood is that we will. This will cost us a lot of money.” Nothing to lose Ledesma noted that OUSD’s policy is different than Chino Val- ley’s, and “we won’t be walking the same street.” He is looking for strong constitutional representa- tion because California is highly political, and using a politicized law firm is “fighting fire with fire.” Other board members were primed to speak on the subject, but Rumsey used a procedural route to end the discussion, and called for a vote. “You skipped right over me,” Yamasaki said. “You are not allowing me to par- ticipate.” “It’s the procedure that is not allowing you to speak,” Ledesma chastened. The vote to contract with the Liberty Justice Center was 4-3 (yes: Ledesma, Ortega, Rumsey, Miner; no: Erickson, Yamasaki, Page) in favor. With its legal liability tidied up, the board moved on to district business. Interim Superintendent Ernie Gonzalez was confirmed as permanent superintendent. The board learned that seven class- rooms in the district are vacant, enrollment is declining in OUSD, as it is statewide, and almost all district schools need work. Most OUSD schools were built in the 1950s and 60s, two in 1951. A few have been modern- ized, but most are showing their age. The district has spent about $133 million on facility improve- ments over the past five years, but much more is needed. Many need earthquake retrofitting, new roofs, security updates, reliable air conditioning and heating. A 2021 Facilities Master Plan iden- tified a billion dollars’ worth of needs on a site-by-site basis. The total Facilities Reserve budget is $29 million. Staff is preparing a worksheet on what each site needs and possible grant funding to help pay for it. A study session will be scheduled to explore and prioritize site upgrades. Sink or swim Transitioning from the discus- sion on aging facilities to a pro- posed 50m pool at Villa Park High, a public commenter report- ed that she had read the Master Plan and understood that it took a thousand stakeholders and hun- dreds of hours to complete. “But,” she said, “there’s the idea that … what if we just bought a pool? I OPD Chief to speak at Covenant Fellowship luncheon Chief Dan Adams of the Or- ange Police Department will be the guest speaker at Covenant Presbyterian Church’s Women’s Fellowship luncheon on Thurs- day, Nov. 16. Chief Adams will address Community Safety and other topics of interest. Chief Adams is an Orange na- tive, and a graduate of Orange High School. He has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Man- agement and has completed nu- merous executive leadership and management courses. He began with the Orange Police Dept. in 1989, and has worked almost ev- ery assignment at all levels during his three-decade career. Dan was appointed Chief in 2021, and now leads a department of 315 people. He serves as Vice President of the Orange County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association, on the Board of Directors for the Cali- fornia Police Chiefs Association, on the board for the Anaheim Ducks Rinks Foundation, and is a member of Orange Elks Lodge #1475. The catered luncheon is open to the community, and will be held in St. Andrew’s Hall on the church campus, 1855 N. Orange- Olive Road, Orange. Men are always welcome to attend. The doors open at 11 a.m., the catered lunch/program begins at 11:30 a.m. The cost is $15 per person, payable in advance. Reservations are required by Saturday, Nov. 11, by contacting Linda at (951) 237- 9888, or registering after church service. To attend the program only at 12:30 p.m., reservations are also required; the cost is $5, payable at the door. Elks sponsor new K9 for Orange PD The Orange Elks Lodge 1475 donated $17,000 to the Orange Police Department for the pur- chase of a new police dog. The lodge’s Police Dog Chairs Elisabeth Carr and Mike Duff presented the check to Police Chief Dan Adams, also an Elk. Since 2006, the program has raised over $69,000 to help the Police Department purchase and train police dogs. This is the sixth K9 the lodge has helped purchase. The lodge raises these funds by member donations and police dog events during the year. Left to right, Exalted Ruler Janine Storm, Chairs Elisabeth Carr and Mike Duff present a check to Police Chief Dan Adams. Trustee Rick Ledesma refused to apologize to Andrea Yamasaki for equating her (and two other board members) with communists. Preliminary schematic drawing of a 50m pool at VPHS. know the schools are old, there have been earthquakes, active shooters, the windows are wrong, the doors are wrong, but a fancy new pool would be so cool.” Costs for the cool pool are an estimated $22,286,668. That in- cludes a supporting building, bleachers, preliminary ground- work and soft costs. A pre-engi- neered Myrtha pool is slightly more expensive to construct than a concrete pool, but life-cycle costs are substantially less; the board majority is leaning in that direction. Trustees Yamasaki and Erick- son both observed that other op- tions, e.g., a smaller pool, refur- bishing existing pools, other fa- cility priorities, had not been seri- ously addressed. They maintained that the reserve fund should be spent on elementary and middle schools, as voters were promised when they approved the Measure S high school bond. The board subsequently ap- proved (4-3) a $1,146,310 con- tract for architectural services. The contractor, PVK, will pro- vide more detailed costs and schematic designs in December. Ledesma plans to tackle the missing preliminaries (stake- holder and community input, consideration of the City of Villa Park, funding for school modern- ization) later. “Once you’ve spent a million dollars, you can’t go back.” Yamasaki advised. The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 a.m. Police Chief Dan Adams