Dear Charlene

Dear Charlene ( President of the Nmusd Board of Education),

Following the protocol of a good Newport Mesa Citizen, I am going to compliment you first. Even though last night's board meeting lasted for at least a hundred years., it was good in many ways. I really appreciated seeing the board in action the way the Good Lord and the Brown Act intended. Frankly, if these meetings were that transparent all the time, I would gladly give up a little sleep.

Also, we should all give you props for being nice. You are unfailing nice to everyone who speaks, which is also the way it should be. As I have mentioned before, Dana is also good at that. Even when she is not president, she has a warm smile for everyone.

I have to mention that the superintendent really gave it the old college try in making eye contact with speakers who he feels are not on his side. He now looks down and then quickly looks up, and although the frown does not go away, it’s at least a stab at being respectful.

The time given the Task Force was generous, although the message from administration was clear to expect that the job of the curriculum was the district’s alone.. Although, that clearly has to be the case, it felt the exact like being on district committees in which we thought we were making decisions only to find out that it had already been pre-determined.

I hope the Task Force does not turn out this way.

I am not even going to go on about a member of the board not getting information. It is not only unbelievable, but not unprecedented,. Katrina suffered the same fate. This is not an episode of Mean Girls, it’s a board which literally decides the futures of children.

Just to remind you…

This is about children, little Kinders and six foot four linebackers who are still children. This isn’t about controlling the message, keeping everyone in line, protecting the administration, trying to avoid unpleasant truths, and did I mention protecting the administration? Everyone needs to have ALL information possible and that includes the community. Please make this happen. I think you’re trying, but as my favorite person in the world says, “try harder”.

This letter is getting longer than the meeting last night, but I have just two more things to mention.

One is that continuing to bully Dr. Britt Dowdy is wrong and you all do not want that bully brand to stick to you. Give him the time he needs to inform you, because that’s what he does….tries to inform you.

Your teachers certainly need as much time as the Harbor PTA person, the students, and every administrator who has ever had a thought or two.

Show respect to your teachers and give Dr. Dowdy as much time as he needs. That he is only allowed 3 minutes is a crime.

As much as I enjoy your actually conducting meetings in public, there are those in the community who really do not have the time to wait to speak. Marti O’Meara makes many good points with regard to this issue including the cost of babysitters for young parents.

Please show the community some respect and put the comments at the beginning of the meeting, otherwise it looks like a calculated strategy to keep the community from speaking. Don’t continue to be afraid of controversy.

Sincerely,

Sandy Asper