Time for a Change at Orange Unified School District
With the announcement of Phil Martinez's bid for a seat on the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees so begins our local campaign season. Martinez is the guy who lost the school board election to controversial Trustee Steve Rocco in 2004. Not only did he manage to lose to Rocco the first time around, he also lost a bid for a seat on the Orange City Council last year.
Despite his losing record, his inarticulate comments at the board meeting, and his apparent desire to be elected to anything, I suspect Martinez will win by garnering the "anyone but Rocco" vote unless someone else throws their hat into the ring.
How sad. Is this what we are now reduced to in selecting our school board trustees-the one who will do the least harm?
I propose we open the field to a wider number of candidates by eliminating the requirement that a school board candidate must reside in a designated trustee area. As it stands, candidates for school board must reside in one of seven geographic trustee areas. However, voters throughout the Orange Unified boundaries vote for their favorite candidate in each trustee area. So, if Martinez is the only candidate originating from Trustee Area 6 to oppose Rocco, voters in all the trustee areas will have to choose between the two - even if there are multiple, possibly better qualified potential candidates residing in other trustee areas.
Proponents of the current system argue that the residential requirements ensure that students from all schools throughout the district receive representation. They hypothesize that candidates from the more wealthy areas of Anaheim Hills, Villa Park and East Orange would dominate the prospective field of candidates and, subsequently, schools located outside these areas would not be represented.
To those who fear a hypothetical takeover by a wealthy, power-seeking contingent from the east side of town, I ask (borrowing from Dr. Phil) how's the current system workin' for ya lately?
It's a stretch at best to argue that the West Orange area schools have been effectively represented when one considers Rocco's ridiculous tenure. And before him, it was the erratic Bill Lewis who was more interested in clipping his fingernails during the meetings than engaging in meaningful dialogue on the issues. (This is the same Bill Lewis who was charged with felony child endangerment after allowing his 13-year old daughter to drive them back from school pick-up because he had been drinking that morning. Their car hit a bicycling student in a crosswalk.)
Is this the standard we are striving to maintain?
I would also counter that the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees is hardly a political stepping stone for higher office. (More like a political death bed.) It is unlikely that any politically ambitious individuals would seek out a school board seat to further a budding political career. After facing union negotiations, budget cuts, program cuts and angry parents, few OUSD trustees have shown an inclination to continue their public career.
And finally, there is the assumption that only candidates from the eastern ends of the district could win. The City of Orange implements a system like what I'm suggesting. Candidates run for an open council seat or seats and the top vote getters are elected. Of the five members of the current council only two are from East Orange. Perhaps I'm overly naive but it's hard to imagine that someone would put themselves through the wringer if they didn't want to help children-all children-in the district.
Our children deserve the best representation we can find. The bigger the pool of candidates, the more choice we have as parents. The benefits greatly outweigh any perceived downside.
Marjan Bavand Dunn,
Orange, California and OUSD Parent
With the announcement of Phil Martinez's bid for a seat on the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees so begins our local campaign season. Martinez is the guy who lost the school board election to controversial Trustee Steve Rocco in 2004. Not only did he manage to lose to Rocco the first time around, he also lost a bid for a seat on the Orange City Council last year.
Despite his losing record, his inarticulate comments at the board meeting, and his apparent desire to be elected to anything, I suspect Martinez will win by garnering the "anyone but Rocco" vote unless someone else throws their hat into the ring.
How sad. Is this what we are now reduced to in selecting our school board trustees-the one who will do the least harm?
I propose we open the field to a wider number of candidates by eliminating the requirement that a school board candidate must reside in a designated trustee area. As it stands, candidates for school board must reside in one of seven geographic trustee areas. However, voters throughout the Orange Unified boundaries vote for their favorite candidate in each trustee area. So, if Martinez is the only candidate originating from Trustee Area 6 to oppose Rocco, voters in all the trustee areas will have to choose between the two - even if there are multiple, possibly better qualified potential candidates residing in other trustee areas.
Proponents of the current system argue that the residential requirements ensure that students from all schools throughout the district receive representation. They hypothesize that candidates from the more wealthy areas of Anaheim Hills, Villa Park and East Orange would dominate the prospective field of candidates and, subsequently, schools located outside these areas would not be represented.
To those who fear a hypothetical takeover by a wealthy, power-seeking contingent from the east side of town, I ask (borrowing from Dr. Phil) how's the current system workin' for ya lately?
It's a stretch at best to argue that the West Orange area schools have been effectively represented when one considers Rocco's ridiculous tenure. And before him, it was the erratic Bill Lewis who was more interested in clipping his fingernails during the meetings than engaging in meaningful dialogue on the issues. (This is the same Bill Lewis who was charged with felony child endangerment after allowing his 13-year old daughter to drive them back from school pick-up because he had been drinking that morning. Their car hit a bicycling student in a crosswalk.)
Is this the standard we are striving to maintain?
I would also counter that the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees is hardly a political stepping stone for higher office. (More like a political death bed.) It is unlikely that any politically ambitious individuals would seek out a school board seat to further a budding political career. After facing union negotiations, budget cuts, program cuts and angry parents, few OUSD trustees have shown an inclination to continue their public career.
And finally, there is the assumption that only candidates from the eastern ends of the district could win. The City of Orange implements a system like what I'm suggesting. Candidates run for an open council seat or seats and the top vote getters are elected. Of the five members of the current council only two are from East Orange. Perhaps I'm overly naive but it's hard to imagine that someone would put themselves through the wringer if they didn't want to help children-all children-in the district.
Our children deserve the best representation we can find. The bigger the pool of candidates, the more choice we have as parents. The benefits greatly outweigh any perceived downside.
Marjan Bavand Dunn,
Orange, California and OUSD Parent
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