FEEDBACK

Steve Smith calls for a leader such as Jim de Boom for the Newport-Mesa

school board (“Leaders are to blame for crumbling schools,” Jan. 8). Jim

de Boom served on the board for several years before and after the

bankruptcy of Orange County. He was also the executive director of the

local YMCA during the time the “expansion” plan was started and later

abandoned.

Yes, serious mistakes were made by past boards, but it will be the

students who will suffer for years to come if the school bond measure is

not passed.

HELEN DINKINS

Newport Beach

Steve Smith’s most recent column regarding the proposed school bond is

right on target when he states that school administration and the board

are at fault for the sorry state of our facilities. It’s poor business

management, pure and simple.

Obviously these repairs should have been budgeted long ago. Districts

must plan and set aside money for construction and maintenance of

schools. What happened? It has been made amply clear to many of us that

giving them more money won’t solve their self-induced problems and,

therefore, residents should not be duped by this current district public

relations campaign.

Newport-Mesa has a long history of scandal, mismanagement and

misadventure.

Remember the district embezzlement, the borrowing of $47 million to roll

the dice with Bob Citron, the violations of the Brown Act, the

embarrassing curriculum audit and the disregarding of community advisory

committee recommendations?

The board has never taken responsibility for any of this. And now they

have the gall to ask us taxpayers to foot the bill for a new school bond?

Why haven’t they managed their finances like any other business in the

“real world?”

The bottom line here is that we have school buildings in a state of

disrepair due to poor district financial oversight and, as usual, too

much money being spent on administrative salaries and perks rather than

programs and modern facilities for kids.

Yet it’s the school bureaucrats that say the public is at fault because

we are too greedy to come across with more money. We already pay more

than is necessary in taxes and where has it gotten us in Newport--Mesa?

I will not vote for a school bond until the district can demonstrate that

the “prudent man rule” is being followed just as it is by all those who

have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers. And we still are

customers, aren’t we? At least that’s what good old Mac Bernd used to

tell us. Thank goodness the founding fathers saw the wisdom of creating a

system of checks and balances so that it will take a two-thirds majority

to pass such an ill-advised measure.

KENT S. MOORE

Corona del Mar

Steve Smith, before you write another column challenging the need for a

school bond and the current Newport-Mesa school board’s ability to manage

the bond monies, please think long and hard about the personal

responsibility you will assume for the outcome of our children’s future

education.

If the bond does not pass, what will our options be? We need a bond for

the very reason that there are no other options. Will you be able to look

the children of our community in the eye and tell them you did the right

thing as they sit in leaky facilities, with nonfunctional bathrooms? What

will your response be to students who are not able to experience hands-on

science because of nonfunctioning outlets in science labs?

As a newspaper columnist you bear a disproportionate responsibility to do

and say the right thing. You have the power and venue to persuade. Please

don’t take this responsibility lightly.

You may not agree with the school board’s past decisions. Many of us have

disagreed with the board on multiple issues. But is shutting down the

bond an appropriate way to signal your disagreement with the school

board? Will it do the right thing for the children of our communities?

The proliferation of parent fund-raising groups across the district is

evidence of the desperate need for school funds.

Parent and community fund-raising groups are not a Newport Beach-only

phenomena. Wilson Elementary in Costa Mesa just completed a multiyear

effort to raise funds for a much-needed playground system. While parents

should be commended on their efforts, it is unrealistic to believe parent

groups can raise the $100 million-plus needed to fix the bricks and

mortar of our crumbling schools. The bond money is essential to ensure

that all schools -- in all communities -- get the repairs they need.

The world is imperfect and so is the school board. For better or for

worse, the school board is the school board and its members are the

people we have to work with on this critical issue.

There are two kinds of people in this world -- those who malign and

complain about the imperfect world around them, and those who take action

to make improvements where they can. Steve, as we approach the crossroads

of this critical bond decision, you still have time to decide what kind

of person you will be.

KIM PAWELL

Newport Beach