Request to County Committee
The following is what we presented to the county committee on Wednesday night. We are still awaiting the outcome of this request and another meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 20. I must stress that this request coming 24 hours after the initiation of a recall effort is unrelated. The CUSD board had a meeting set for Tuesday and the county committee for Wednesday. Each of these actions were independent of each other and addressed to separate agencies who set the meetings. The timing is purely coincidental.
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“A year ago, we went to our school board and asked them to discuss and initiate this process to change the way we elect trustees. This was an issue that many of them are on record as supporting. After several months of delays and inaction, we exercised our right to initiate the petition process to get the issue in front of you for consideration. During that time, we were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support for this change by the citizens in our district. People understand that this change will give more political power to the average person who is interested in serving the students in our district as a school board trustee.
At the September 30th public hearing, we worked very hard to convey the importance of this change and our desire to make it happen as soon as possible. We were also encouraged by the fact that our interim superintendent informed us that an election waiver was available from the State Department of Education. The waiver would allow this much-needed change to occur with no cost to the district. We sincerely hoped that our school board would do the right thing and apply for that waiver. Each of them ran on the promise of being fiscally responsible to the taxpayers in CUSD and this was the fiscally responsible thing for them to do.
In the past four months though, that has not happened. We have asked repeatedly at every board meeting and even had the item on the agenda again last night but each time, our requests have been ignored. Even at the original public hearing on September 15, our board did not mention that the teachers, classified, management and PTA had submitted support positions for the waiver. They simply don’t care.
But perhaps what has been most upsetting is the fact that not only has our board of trustees been unwilling to apply for the waiver; they have actually initiated a lawsuit against you, the county department of ed, and the registrar of voters. We pleaded with them on multiple occasions not to waste our district’s limited resources on such a frivolous lawsuit but again, we were ignored. The fact that our taxpayer money will be used to both prosecute and defend this suit is most egregious! Contempt for this committee, for this process and for the California State Department of Education apparently prevails over fiscal responsibility.
We, quite frankly, are still amazed that our district has pursued this as we know that we complied with every requirement as did you in this process. The lawsuit has no merit. However, this is very costly, time-intensive and in no way benefits children or education. It is precious money and time wasted for political purposes which goes against everything that we believe in and support. And the use of public funds for this political purpose truly raises the question about ethics and the legality of this expenditure.
To that end, we are respectfully requesting that you rescind your earlier decision and re-set the election on this matter to November 2, 2010. This was not our first choice, but considering all of the circumstances, we strongly believe that someone must take the high road and put children first. We are very proud to have achieved our goal - to begin the process to change the way trustees are elected in CUSD to the by-trustee area method.
Regardless of what you decide, we want you to know that we support you and respect both you as a committee and this process. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.”
Tags: Capistrano Unified, CUSD, erin kutnick