School board was asleep at the wheel...

School board was asleep at the wheel

Bob Whalen, the attorney who sits on the school board, and El

Hathaway the board president, both stated on the record that their

final decision to back out of the MTV deal at Laguna Beach High

School was made after they saw the Janet Jackson episode at the Super

Bowl half-time.

Hathaway made it clear he thought it was a great idea to bring MTV

on campus until the uproar over the video shot seen around the world.

If that is their reason, they should have stayed the course they had

chosen and stood by the principal and the MTV project, just as they

have stood by every other ambush on our community’s public school

values and traditions the superintendent and high school principal

have perpetrated.

If it takes a national media feeding frenzy over a flash of flesh

to make these guys responsive to their own community, then they are

more out of touch than anyone ever imagined.

But the real problem here was that these three highly paid

officials in our local taxpayer funded school system spent what

Whalen described as “a lot of time” negotiating in secret for three

months with a national network to stage a major media event on our

high school campus. The school board went along with it when the

superintendent and principal tried to sneak it through a board

meeting without any prior notice to the PTA or the community, a few

days before shooting was to begin.

We had to sit there and listen to Kathryn Turner, who was

president of the school board while all this was going on over a

period of months, state that the MTV project had nothing to do with

educating students. Whalen agreed, and yet a week earlier they had

approved the project subject to a few tweaks in the contract. We

found out last night that the students who would be featured had

already been chosen, and there are questions being asked about the

role of the principal and the superintendent in that selection

process.

If anyone is disappointed by the loss of what some parents

apparently saw as a shot at stardom for the students who appear on

MTV, don’t blame the parents who demanded the simple courtesy and

respect of being informed and given adequate notice of a major event

at our local high school. Blame the superintendent and the principal

for once again treating the community as an obstacle instead of a

partner in defining the priorities and agenda for the public schools

funded with our property taxes. They tout themselves as agents of

change, but true agents of social change have respect rather than

condescending contempt for the community that has entrusted them as

stewards of the public schools.

It was the superintendent and the principal who killed this

project with the arrogance and ineptness of how they managed the

process, and the school board went along for the ride, backing out

only when they got more reality TV than they could handle, courtesy

of MTV’s Super Bowl stunt.

Finally, the negotiated, commercial, for-profit “production

partnership” document signed by the superintendent, assistant

superintendent and principal as approved by the school board on Jan.

27, states that this project has had “no impact” on the school

district budget. Yet, the same document states that the partnership

agreement “has been reviewed and reworked numerous times by contract

attorneys from Rutan and Tucker.”

If the district pays Rutan and Tucker for legal services, and the

work they did on this matter was paid for by the district, then the

document submitted to the school board and signed by the top three

officials in charge of our high school was false and misleading where

it states that there has been no budget impact.

This is addition to the waste of official time by these officials

whose salaries are paid by the very community whose values and

beliefs seem to be getting in the way of their bold new social agenda

for our town.

The members of the Laguna Beach School Spirit Project approved a

letter opposing the MTV project that was sent before the Super Bowl,

based on the hypocrisy of promoting the MTV image of women at the

same time the principal had imposed a new dress code to promote

“modesty” on campus. Not only does the principal shut parents out of

her decision making, she did nothing meaningful to make students

stakeholders in school modesty standards, and she has marginalized

student government in order to preclude any challenge to her cult of

personality.

The school board hired her without any high school experience

because the superintendent wanted someone loyal to the

superintendent. They got what they wanted.

The students and teachers at Laguna Beach High School and schools

around the nation manage to keep achieving and moving on with their

lives and dreams despite petty school politics. It is too bad school

administrators forget they are there to support the students and

teachers, and start to think they are politicians and celebrities.

At Laguna Beach High School, the lure of celebrity and media magic

finally led them to do something really stupid and it imploded on

them, but this kind of nonsense has been going on with these people

and this school board for too long. The things they have done right

are no excuse for the abuses they have allowed.

HOWARD HILLS

Laguna Beach

School Spirit Project

Board wrong to let MTV on campus

As a life-long resident of Laguna Beach and devoted watcher of MTV

programming for more than 16 years, I am appalled that Laguna’s board

of education will allow the notoriously exploitive people at MTV to

use a precious artist community, its talented students and its

reputable educational institution for a reality show pilot. If the

board members used the time they spent negotiating with MTV’s

producers and lawyers to carefully analyze MTV’s programs, they might

have known what MTV actually represents.

Fortunately for Laguna’s 864 high school students and 25,000

residents, it is not too late for the board to catch up on their

homework and stop reality TV from infecting the community. While

board members may not know “The Osbournes” well, they surely know

that MTV produced the notable lesson on publicly televised indecency

starring Janet Jackson’s naked breast during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The board can effectively uphold Laguna’s educational credibility

and community standards without having MTV’s global audience of

millions associate Laguna Beach with MTV.

JAY STEVENS

Laguna Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter was submitted before the Wednesday

meeting during which the school board decided not to allow MTV to

film at Laguna Beach High School.

Advice on sewer lateral inspections

The local papers lately have been carrying letters from people

commenting both favorably and unfavorably on the city’s proposed

intent to resolve some of the issues surrounding the clogging of city

sewer lines and the resultant spillage into the ocean. I have had an

intimate experience with the problem of a clogged lateral which I had

to address last March, at the cost of $3,000. Following are some

ideas that might help resolve the problems of cost and scheduling

which seem to excite some of our fellow citizens:

* Inspection of laterals: Establish a five-year (or some other

cycle) continuing rotation for the city to inspect by video all

laterals entering the city’s sewer system on a regular basis. I

understand the city expects the cost of this inspection to be about

$250 per lateral. Pay for this by increasing the annual sewer

assessment on each property by $250 divided by the number of years in

the cycle. See below for how to handle cash flow timing.

* Remedial attention to evidence of clogging resulting from video

inspection: Notify the property owner of the problem and furnish

photo evidence. Establish guidelines for what level of problem

requires immediate attention, and a schedule for attending to

clearing the lateral when the level of clogging meets various levels

of degradation. Require the property owner to correct the problem by

dates established in the schedule, or to furnish further evidence

from video inspection that corrective measures are not required.

* Cost of corrective measures: Require the property owner to cover

the cost of clearing the lateral. Offer a program of financing

whereby the city would advance the funds under a bonding program

similar to under-grounding of utilities. Offer the property owner the

option of paying cash in one payment, over three or four quarterly

payments, or by accepting bond financing where the cost of the

corrective measures would be paid by a sewer bond and payment

attached to the property owner’s property tax bill payable over a

term not more than one inspection cycle.

* Inspections at time of property transfer: The city has proposed

that the laterals be cleaned at the time property transfer of

ownership occurs. I suggest that at a minimum, a video inspection and

report on the condition of the property’s sewer laterals be required

of each property transfer, similar to the present requirements for

termite inspection. If a certified lateral inspector determines that

a lateral is more than 50% clogged at the time of inspection (or some

similar requirement), then remedial work would be required before

close of escrow.

* Sewer Fund: The city’s Sewer Fund budget should be increased to

handle not only the lateral inspection project but also the financing

of remedial efforts as outlined above. The city Sewer Fund should

consider obtaining bond funding to cover the costs of financing the

cash flow requirements of establishing the cyclical lateral

inspection program as well a providing a revolving fund to assist

property owners with the remedial work.

I think it is important that citizens respond to this obvious need

to keep our sewers and oceans clean in a positive and forthright way.

There isn’t a free lunch. If we expect to live by the sea then we

need to be responsible to keep our individual impact on the

environment to a minimum.

JAMES S. MCBRIDE, JR.

Laguna Beach

Feds should have been left out

The language of government is obnoxious. It is the dialect of

force, it has the accent of compulsion. It menaces, it threatens

lives, liberties and property. It disrupts quiet anonymous lives. At

its least toxic, it condescends, it preaches.

I am suspicious when I encounter such language.

Roger Von Butow’s letter last week reminded me of the geeky kid in

the front row at last period before the long holiday weekend,

squirming in his seat, arm up desperately waving, “Teacher, Teacher!

You forgot our homework!!”

We are being preached to, cajoled and reminded of the “clear and

present danger,” referring to Environmental Protection Agency special

agents and “pollution discharge elimination system permits” and

assessed civil liabilities.

I won’t engage in the idiot’s debate about a clean environment,

that isn’t truly the point here. Problems can be fixed, issues can be

settled by reasonable and sane people who aren’t shouting at each

other. How is it that beautiful and otherwise tranquil Laguna Beach

is suddenly in the crosshairs of a federal juggernaut as if we were

living in a Love Canal style HazMat zone? Is it possible that this

unprecedented and possibly extra jurisdictional federal intrusion has

been instigated by those who weren’t getting their way fast enough at

town meetings?

Anyone who gets one of those $20,000 letters, and who doesn’t

think it’s “chump change” and is looking for the culprit ... .

Teacher, Teacher!

MATT SMITH

Laguna Beach

What’s up with still-standing poles?

My husband and I live on Glenneyre Street in Laguna Beach. We are

on the corners of Pearl and Flora streets. We were told when we

purchased the home that it wouldn’t be long before the many utility

poles and wires would be underground. It’s been 10 years.

Let us know what we can do to speed up the process.

DOROTHY PARNELL

Laguna Beach

Downtown isn’t a community center

Re: Gene Cooper (“Santa is the celebrity of Hospitality Night”)

and Sandra Thompson (“Talk of Subway flies in face of city’s values.”

Jan. 30, 2004)

Gene Cooper’s continued derogatory comments toward Downtown

businesses are both offensive and wrong headed. His assertions about

“questionable business practices” and “Scrooges” because he could not

get enough free food contradicts his support for Santa and the live

music, both of which are provided by the businesses. Businesses do

not, as he asserts, participate in a “support role.” Hospitality

Night is completely funded and organized by the Chamber of Commerce.

Also wrong is Mr. Cooper’s assertion about blocking the Rotary

bike race. There is no, as he states, “fattening of the purses” in

the Downtown. Maybe he would like to donate a week’s wages to the

Rotary, which is about what the Downtown merchants are asked to do

when the Downtown is closed for an entire day and merchants have a

virtually zero dollar day. (With all the overhead and expenses, most

merchants make their profit on only about four or five days of the

month.) Nevertheless, the merchants agreed to the Rotary bike race if

it were held on a Sunday, but the Presbyterian church would not shut

down their services for a day.

Both Mr. Cooper and Sandra Thompson seem to suffer from the same

delusion that Downtown is some sort of museum or community center. It

should look quaint and only have small unique shops where we can

browse and socialize. Sorry, but that doesn’t work. It doesn’t work

for the merchants and it doesn’t work for the residents. Independent

merchants can no longer make a living selling everyday goods. Today,

mom and pop have franchises. Residents are mostly working people who

commute everyday, who are still raising children and who want to shop

in town. They like the unique shops, but also want good shopping

venues. They like both the Coffee Pub and Starbucks. They like Banana

Republic and Laura Downings. They like Sammy’s and Johnny Rocket’s.

It’s all about balance. Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson is responding

to the majority of residents who want a balance of shopping choices

when she attempts to add some flexibility to our parking requirements

that probably hurt the small independent stores more that the big

franchises.

My advice to both Mr. Cooper and Ms. Thompson is to become a

little more familiar with the realities of modern retailing and the

needs of the vast majority of our residents.

KEN DELINO

President Laguna Beach

Chamber of Commerce

Dog owner takes offense at criticism

I am writing to you in response to a letter to the editor (“Dog

owners should know better,” Coastline Pilot, Jan. 30) by Chris

Wallace of Laguna Beach.

With all due respect Wallace, let’s have some balance. I pay tens

of thousands of dollars in taxes in Laguna Beach. I have no children.

However, I do see the joy that dog or cat companionship brings to

hundreds of people in our community.

Many of those people have not been as lucky as you to have

wonderful families. I am one of those people. Could you please check

and see how much money comes out of my tax dollars to pay services

for your children? Quite a lot. Carefully review your tax bills. You

have the house casino advantage in case you have not noticed.

JAMES MOORE

Laguna Beach

Round of kudos to

Laguna’s planners

Over the past few months I have attended several Planning

Commission meetings regarding the rewriting of the noise element for

the General Plan and most recently the review of the draft

environmental impact report on the proposed senior/ community

center/community clinic. I am very heartened to see the courteous

manner in which the planning commissioners listen and respond to the

public.

I invite the public to check out the future agendas of the

Planning Commission which meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth

Wednesdays of the month. Agendas are usually available on the Monday

before the meeting. The Commission is continuing to diligently review

the report for the senior/community center/community clinic as well

as rewriting the various elements of the general plan.

BARBARA HOAG

Laguna Beach

The Coastline Pilot is eager to run your letters. If your letter

does not appear, it may be because of space restrictions, and the

letter will likely appear next week. If you would like to submit a

letter, write to us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax us

at (949) 494-8979; or send e-mail to [email protected].

Please give your name and include your hometown and phone number, for

verification purposes only.