EDITORIAL

In a week when many people were complaining that the U.S. Supreme

Court had acted too politically, the same could be said for the

Newport-Mesa Unified school board.

For the fourth year in a row, board members snubbed veteran trustee

Wendy Leece and declined to make her the board president, a position

typically rotated among board members.

This snub leaves her as the only member not to have served as either

president or vice president. And she only served half a term as clerk

back in 1997.

In the past, board members have said they were concerned about Leece’s

conservative views, including her anti-tax stance and belief that

evolution alone should not be taught in schools.

Leece is controversial, and we don’t support all of her positions,

either. But we absolutely support her right to say them and see no reason

why being outspoken disqualifies her from becoming what is essentially

the ceremonially leader of the board, or at least one of the three

members who meet most often with Supt. Robert Barbot.

The arrogance of the board majority is appalling. The message being

that if you don’t see things their way, you’re not invited to the party.

But they are forgetting one very important thing. The people Leece

represents from the Westside clearly support her. In fact, she ran

unopposed the last election.

So why don’t her colleagues support her, as well? Lacking a logical

answer, more troubling ones arise:

Are board members ignoring the importance of Westside representation?

Are they intolerant of her religious beliefs?

Or are they really just afraid to let her speak as “board president?”

Failing to do the right thing by giving Leece a position she has

earned, her colleagues should at least give good answers to those

questions.