MAILBAG - Sept. 14, 1999

This is prompted by the Letter of the Week about Dr. Laura’s

position taken over the offensive skateboarding magazine in Beach Access

surf shop in Costa Mesa (“Dr. Laura meets herself -- Uh oh,” Sept. 4).

Shant Agajanian must not be a parent or a listener of Dr. Laura. As

usual, such personal attacks are not about the content of her position --

sex directed at our young children and in this case young teen boys --

but against her.

I have a 14-year old surfing son, and after listening to Dr. Laura

that day, I went to see what was in my son’s surf magazines. Much to my

surprise many of the advertisements had women in G-strings,

large-breasted women in sexy poses to sell young boys merchandise. I

would not allow a Hustler or Playboy in our home but now we have to watch

for kids sports magazines!!

The early sexualization of our children is the issue. Because Dr.

Laura stands up against sexual material, directed not to adults but to

children, and in this case a teen-directed magazine, she is called a

“hypocrite.” On second thought, becoming a parent can make “hypocrites”

of us all. Think about it!

Concerning the other personal attack, what Dr. Laura did 20 years ago

is not relevant today. She was a consenting adult and it did not involve

children, and it was private. That is a philosophy the president of the

United States holds dear. You might want to check the definition of

“hypocrite” concerning this last reference.

As for striving for a “perfect place,” I thought that was all of our

responsibilities as humans, citizens and parents. What’s wrong with a

“perfect place” where there is concern for children, safe from early

exposure to adult sexuality, especially if it is only aimed to sell

children merchandise?

Once again Dr. Laura was right. Question the motives of people who

want parents to shut up, and accept how it is -- they want us to give up

watching over our children. Sorry Shant Agajanian, but we as parents can

walk out of stores, not buy products and be free to listen to Dr. Laura

and stand up for our children.

VICTORIA S. CUBEIRO

Newport Beach

Open space north of library should stay that way

We left on vacation this July pleased that the Irvine Co. had

dedicated 12 acres to Newport Beach as open space. We were pleased that

the City Council was considering creating a natural park, rather than

turf and playgrounds. We returned to news that the library board plans to

build an arts and education center on the open space behind the central

library. We are not opposed to arts and education, but we oppose building

on dedicated open space. Plenty of venues exist around our city for arts

and education. The Orange County Museum of Art has an entire building

dedicated to that. If a large auditorium is required, Newport Harbor High

School has one. Other schools also have smaller auditoriums. If it’s

determined that an arts and education center is needed at the library, it

could be constructed as a third floor. Open space means no buildings!

Stop debating whether public or private financing should be used to

build, because nothing should be built within open space.

DENNIS AND DIANE BAKER

Newport Beach

Bus shortage problem needs speedy solution

I received a call Sept. 3 from the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District transportation department. It seems the district, despite its

reassurances last year when Costa Mesa zoning was going through the

reconfiguration process, is still having a bus shortage problem. At the

time of the consideration to move the fourth-graders to Davis Elementary,

[superintendent of business services] Mike Fine assured the

reconfiguration committee that the district will have enough funds for

the buses and drivers to handle the additional riders being bused from

their neighborhood schools to Davis.

Then why, I asked the bus driver (according to him, the department is

short on staff, so he is helping with the phones), will my child be

picked up at Killybrooke at 6:50 a.m., not Paularino, our neighborhood

school of attendance? He advised me to call the dispatch and they would

fix the problem. I called the dispatch and was told my son can be picked

up at Paularino at 6:40 a.m.! Why were these students being picked up a

full hour and 40 minutes before school even starts? The dispatch

responded, “It is in accordance to the guidelines that are set...” I can

understand if we lived in a rural area or lived miles away from the

school, but we only live less than a mile away! For the safety of these

students, they should be picked up at a reasonable time by our district

buses. I cannot see or understand why the district would allow our young

9-year-olds to walk down Fairview Road, an extremely busy and dangerous

street, and cross major streets (Baker Street, Fairview Road, Adams

Avenue and Fair Drive). This is in complete disregard to the safety and

well-being of our Costa Mesa zone students by the district and the school

board. Of course, according to another person I spoke with at the

transportation department, these pickup times are set up to cover the

shortage of the staff and equipment and to deter riders and promote

walkers (or take other means of public transportation).

I wonder when the parents of the Costa Mesa zone will finally stand up

and fight for their children against a school district and board that

simply do not care. Will it take a child being injured or killed by a car

while crossing a street, or a child being abducted while walking along

Fairview Road to go to Davis School? I pray for the sake of our young

students that they have a safe school year and the district is

pro-actively (not reactively) fixing the shortage of equipment and staff,

which we were told did not exist in the first place.

DENAMARIE ARELLANES

Costa Mesa

Mesa Verde charter school proposal poses concerns

[The Sept. 2 edition of the] Daily Pilot contained three items which

present a real challenge to the conscience of our community: the homeless

in Talbert Park, the number of special needs children allowed at a school

at Harbor Christian Church, and the proposal to create a charter school

in Mesa Verde. The Pilot does us a service by bringing these issues to

our attention.

As someone who lives in Mesa Verde, I would just like to comment on

the charter school proposal, because I think there are some factors that

need to be considered. No one can be faulted for wanting a better

education for their children. Certainly charter schools appear to be an

attractive alternative. However, if your story is accurate, the

requirement that enrollment would be restricted to a mile radius from

Mesa Verde school would certainly assure that the wonderful ethnic mix at

Adams school, for example, would not be possible.

Those who propose this charter school say their main reason is to stop

the flight of children to private schools. If they feel people are

leaving Adams and California schools (the mile radius) because of poor

teaching or weak administration, (my understanding is that most parents

at Adams school, e.g., feel that the principal and staff are doing an

excellent job), and that they as parent leaders would be better at

choosing curriculum, hiring faculty, managing budgets, etc. That’s one

thing, but if they feel people are leaving because of dissatisfaction

with the “non-neighborhood” student mix, that’s not a very good reason to

start a charter school. If we’re not careful, charter school could become

another name for white flight.

JEAN FORBATH

Costa Mesa

As a parent of three children who attend Adams Elementary School, I

must comment on your recent article concerning the proposed charter

school for Mesa Verde. The leaders behind this drive say they want to

create a neighborhood school in order to lure children back into the

public school system. But Mesa Verde already has a terrific neighborhood

school -- Adams. Not only does our school draw many children from the

surrounding neighborhood, but it has a dedicated, enthusiastic and

talented staff that make Adams a special place for our children to learn

and grow.

The charter school leaders may be surprised to learn that Adams has

exciting extracurricular programs you will not find at many other public

elementary schools -- and certainly not at most local private schools.

For example, we have a hugely popular after-school Science Explorers Club

led by classroom teachers, an award-winning after-school drama program,

an Art Masters -- a performing choral music group -- and a new program

called Classics in the Classroom that uses parent volunteers to expose

children to great composers and their masterpieces in various musical

genres, including classical, opera, jazz and musical theater. In short,

Adams has much to offer our neighborhood children. Even better, Adams is

able to share these educational benefits with less advantaged children

who live just beyond our neighborhood. These children (about half of the

school population), ride buses to Adams from a lower-income neighborhood

in Costa Mesa, creating a wonderful enclave of ethnic and economic

diversity in the midst of Mesa Verde.

And therein, I believe, lies the real motivation behind the charter

school proposal. Unfortunately, certain Mesa Verde parents do not view

such diversity as positive but rather as something to escape. And escape

they do, by transferring their children to public schools in Newport

Beach, or by sending them to private schools, or perhaps next year to a

new charter school whose population is limited to a mile radius within

Mesa Verde.

Such a geographical restriction would eliminate the children who are

currently being bused to Adams. But of course, that seems to be the

point.

We do not need another neighborhood school in Mesa Verde. Opening a

competing public school just blocks away would likely lead to the closing

of Adams because there are not enough kids in our neighborhood to justify

both. If Adams were a bad or mediocre school, I would welcome the

competition. But Adams is a really good school where kids not only learn

the basics, but they are also enriched by broad exposure to the arts as

well as to children whose skin color and cultural background is different

form their own. Thus, all children at Adams get to practice tolerance and

compassion. The charter school folks want to offer character education?

We’re already doing it at Adams. You should come and check us out.

KATHY ESFAHANI

Costa Mesa

EDITOR’S NOTE: The organizers of the Mesa Verde charter school have

dropped their proposal for students within a one-mile radius of the

school to get first priority on enrollment. The proposed school will now

be open to all students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.