WHAT’S UP -- steve smith

Just when I thought it was appropriate to commend one of its members for

a job well done, which I did last week, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District’s Board of Education reverted to business as usual.

In case you missed it, the board decided last Tuesday night to pass over

Wendy Leece for any of its three leadership positions, the third year in

a row that board members have denied Leece the privilege of a prominent

spot.

David Brooks, to his credit, was quoted in the Daily Pilot as a Leece

supporter.

“I felt it was important we have more representation on the West Side [in

the board’s leadership],” Brooks said.

To her credit, Leece cast one of the 7-0 votes naming Brooks vice

president. Elected clerk was Judy Franco, who has also been president and

vice president during her years on the board.

These events are bad enough. But they’re made worse because the board

ignored a compromise offered by Leece well in advance of the vote. In

order to be a team player and minimize the controversy surrounding her

election to the presidency or vice presidency, Leece wrote each board

member and took herself out of the running for those two positions.

But, she wrote, “I would like you to consider electing me as board clerk

for this next year.”

Why clerk? It so happens that clerk is one of the three officers who

meets regularly with Supt. Robert Barbot.

Without Leece in one of those spots, there is no West Side representation

in these important meetings.

“I can accept the fact I will never be president,” Leece wrote to the

board, “But I feel I am qualified to be clerk.”

Brooks excepted, this is an arrogant bunch. How else to describe a board

that denies a standing member her regular rotation in the leadership

positions not once or twice, but three times?

How else to describe a board that is poised to ask the community for a

whopping $163 million for school repairs but has yet to utter one

syllable of an apology for having to do so?

Leece ran unopposed in her last election as our West Side representative

-- not because of her strong faith or her so-called “anti-tax” stance,

but because she is a person of conviction, a person who won’t compromise

her beliefs.

Over here on the West Side, we believe that character counts.

The last time Leece was snubbed, I told my West Side neighbors that they

were wrong when they insisted that had Leece been a Newport Beach

representative, she’d now be occupying one of those leadership posts. But

I was wrong.

This board has deliberately ignored the West Side yet again. And why not?

After all, many of us don’t speak English and the rest of us are too busy

drinking beer and watching TV to be concerned about our schools.

Too bad for this board. Too bad that its members are afraid of big, bad

Leece, the boogeyman, who wants them to be accountable to all their

constituents, not just the ones in Newport Beach.

The board members will trot out the usual excuses for overlooking Leece.

They’ll tell us that there is no official policy for succession to

office. They’ll tell us that in a leadership chair, Leece’s mouth could

hurt their chances for passing the tax -- sorry, bond measure -- next

March. But the truth is that Leece has about as much influence over the

outcome of that tax proposal as does a busboy at Chimayo.

Think I’m mad? You ought to hear some of my West Side neighbors.

Once again, we’ve got an example of people who’ll tolerate any point of

view as long as it agrees with their own.

Leece wrote it in her letter: “I should not be marginalized because of my

faith or different views and ideas, or because I belong to another school

board group, which also cares very much about the education of our

children. We are all tolerating a lot of ideas with which we don’t

necessarily agree.”

Eight months ago, board member Dana Black wanted to start a crusade to

tell people about the good things going on in public schools. Perhaps now

is the time for our new board president to cross Newport Boulevard and

start the crusade by telling West Side parents how well the district

teaches their kids about this free society and about how we encourage

tolerance and embrace diversity.

This is my open invitation for her to do so while explaining to these

parents they have again been denied proper representation because board

members don’t like Leece’s views.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Replies can

be sent to the Daily Pilot at (949) 642-6086, by e-mail at o7

dailypilot@latimes.comf7 , or to Steve at stsmth19@idt.net.