Mailbag: Kids are in private school but I can still serve LBUSD
Thanks for providing excellent coverage of Laguna Beach school board candidates and informing readers about debate on federal and state Common Core mandates for local school curriculum.
Curriculum, school finances, personnel policy, community relations — these are the issues that matter. Still, after your article some asked why I am running for school board when my kids attend private school. I was even asked if I can serve when I don’t live inside the old municipal boundaries.
Our school board voted decades ago to include areas outside the historic township in the Laguna Beach Unified School District. We live in the Crystal Cove neighborhood served by the district, pay property taxes that fund local schools, and I am on the ballot because I am qualified and want to serve our public school community.
More importantly, attending public schools from kindergarten through college, working after school from my early teens to pay my way, was the path to a life of dreams that came true. I am running for school board because I love and care about all our kids, and want them to have the same public school opportunities we did.
There is no American tradition more vital to freedom than choice in education. President Obama went to the most exclusive private schools, so did President Kennedy. Private religious school for our children was a private choice that we hope can be respected in this campaign.
I want this election to be about what is best for our public schools, which should be as good or better than any private school. I want this to be about issues and leadership.
I am not a one-issue candidate, but there is no issue in education more vital than curriculum. So I am humbled and honored so many parents and teachers have thanked me for making it safe to finally talk openly about Common Core and other issues.
We do not and should not need to agree on every issue. But we do need new leadership on the school board that makes our deliberative process open and safe for parents, teachers and students, to participate and question school board policies.
No school board member should complain that it’s a “thankless job.” If you feel like that, let those of us thankful to serve find a better way.
Change for the better is how we put kids first.
Annette Gibson
Crystal Cove
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Setting record straight on campaign brochure
This letter is to clarify I am not endorsing Paul Merritt for Laguna Beach City Council. This statement is necessary because Merritt has published a photograph of me on the front page of his campaign brochure, giving the definite impression that I am supporting him.
I have received phone calls from those who have seen the brochure asking me about the photo and my supposed support of Merritt. He used this photograph without my permission, and I am sorry he has put me in the position of having to explain that I do not want my name or image associated with his campaign.
Ann Christoph
Laguna Beach
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Independent, honest candidate is best for Laguna Beach
There have been many letters to the editor about the safety, welfare and disruption for Laguna Canyon residents created by placement of the Alternative Sleeping Location in the canyon. It is obvious; this location has created an ongoing public-safety concern for many residents.
The deaths by crossing the road and lack of a public walkway demonstrate we have been negligent in placing our most vulnerable in harms way, far away from necessary services such as police, fire, hospitals and other public services.
I applaud City Council candidate Paul Merritt for stating his strong opposition to any future development or expansion of homeless facilities in the environmentally-sensitive canyon.
I have sat carefully observing at the many candidate forums held by various organizations and have done research on Merritt that shows he has demonstrated environmental effort during his tenure on the Laguna Niguel City Council. Merritt is a humble man, genuine, thoughtful and forthright with a proven record of having a strong independent voice, which is what is most needed with so many important issues coming to the City Council in the next four years.
He is running as a truly independent candidate, without the endorsement of special interest groups or backing funds by known developers. To his credit, upon request he provided original documentation of his credentials, because he does not embellish or fabricate his education, work history, background or age.
Merritt is the grass-roots favored candidate for those intellectual residents of Laguna Beach who think independently and are not influenced by money or political affiliation, but rather the voice of citizens.
Lorene Auger
Laguna Beach
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So, candidate doesn’t want Village Laguna support?
I was surprised by Rob Zur Schmiede’s letter in the Sept. 19 issue of the Coastline Pilot distancing himself from Village Laguna’s endorsement.
Earlier in September, Zur Schmiede participated in the Village Laguna candidates forum. At a members meeting after that forum, as has been done in past years, the organization endorsed candidates they feel best represented their views. This is a standard procedure for many groups.
I have no problem with Zur Schmiede stating that he is running as an independent, non-partisan candidate, and with him reiterating that fact publicly. However, the overly harsh tone of his letter leads me to think there is more here than that.
Does Zur Schmiede feel the need to reassure other groups in town that he has nothing to do with Village Laguna? Is he telling me that any supporter of Toni Iseman cannot be a supporter of his campaign? Ultimately, is he is telling me that he doesn’t want my support and vote?
The candidate “doth protest too much, methinks.”
Anne Frank
Laguna Beach
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Students should have say in dress code
In 1967, students at Laguna Beach High School walked out of class to protest new dress rules. It was less about what kids wore than fairness. Male teachers humiliating girl students, using rulers to measure skirt lengths, coaches were making boys choose between playing sports and short haircuts.
Fast forward to 2014, and it is déjà vu all over again at LBHS. New campus rules adopted under school board guidelines, interim principal orders teachers to police student grooming. Girls now monitored for exposing bra straps, showing “any amount of cleavage,” and skirt length must be at least “two-thirds distance between hip and knee.” Pants can’t be too baggy or too tight, haircuts and T-shirts can’t “offend” or “distract.”
Talk about mixed messages. The school board voted for on-campus production of the MTV show, and even after it moved off campus due to public outcry, the show modeled a sexualized and boozed up LBHS student lifestyle to a whole generation. The current school board made it worse, wasting public resources lobbying for a Social Host Ordinance that fails to reduce teen drinking but instead lowers relative consequences for drug use.
School board member Ketta Brown, currently a candidate for reelection, was PTA president but failed to publicly oppose MTV’s presence on campus. She also went along with the flawed Social Host Ordinance, and now we have poorly drawn new dress rules to curb the very behaviors the board once promoted by inviting MTV to LBHS.
The school board insists the newly imposed dress rules prepare students for “responsible adult life.” Yet, the new rules raise student and family rights issues and diminish student responsibility for social decisions.
Rewind to 1967, when the school board met with student leaders and agreed students should initiate and enforce dress standards through enhanced student government. It was a great civics lesson.
Students should debate options ranging from school uniforms to well-crafted dress codes at other demographically comparable schools and come up with solutions. Unfortunately, our school board has ignored repeated calls to restore meaningful student government that empowers students to make better choices for themselves.
This newest fiasco is another reason to elect a new majority that models good government for students as well as the community.
Christopher Kling
Platform committee chairman, Laguna Beach Republicans
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Candidate’s volunteer record is political
It appears City Council candidate Rob Zur Schmiede has been hard at work since early 2014 preparing to execute a well-planned résumé to spoon feed residents a good story, just in time for campaign politics.
Zur Schmiede’s campaign flier eloquently boasts he is a “committed volunteer” in the community. However, Zur Schmiede conveniently fails to mention he only recently, in early 2014, signed on to become a Laguna Ocean Foundation tidewater docent and just graduated from the 19th Laguna Beach Citizens Academy in June 2014 in advance of announcing his candidacy for City Council.
The campaign flier appears overly generous since volunteer positions advertised were just completed in 2014. How many hours could Zur Schmiede have completed as a newly trained volunteer?
The citizens of Laguna Beach should give Zur Schmiede credit for his well planned résumé, executed just in time for his run for City Council. His years serving as a bureaucrat on the Planning Commission have taught him how to put together an appearance, if only for appearance sake.
Joe Cockran
Laguna Beach
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No-smoking enforcement appreciated
On behalf of local residents, I would like to thank the Laguna Beach Police and Fire departments for coordinating a no-smoking code enforcement at Alta Laguna Park, particularly during late evenings when out-of-town visitors arrive.
Many residents share my sentiments. The patrol car parked near the 5- by-5-foot no-smoking sign reinforces the message: the danger from fire this time of year is extreme.
Police officers on this temporary but essential patrol are performing a huge fire-prevention service by repeating the no-smoking message to visitors watching city lights from Carolyn Wood Knoll. Besides, sharing a 50-mile panorama on a starry night isn’t bad duty.
Les Miklosy
Laguna Beach