READERS RESPOND

AT ISSUE: Voters will go to the polls June 6 to cast their ballots on

Measure A, Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s proposed $110-million

school bond. After today, the Daily Pilot will not publish any more

letters to the editor regarding the bond.

I am totally unsympathetic to fund-raising in the Daily Pilot’s special

report on school bond issues, designed to humiliate the taxpayer into

approving another bond issue and raise taxes to fix “deteriorating

schools.”

Was not the California Lottery system supposed to add millions of dollars

to school budgets? Where is that money? What have school districts done

to reduce administrative overhead and to put the money where it belongs?

Perhaps, if the National Education Assn. were not such a socialist

organization, I might be more sympathetic. In what other capitalist

industry do incompetents have tenure? With all the politically correct

dumbing-down socialist drivel our kids are taught today, our country is

doomed.

Grades of A through F are changed to avoid insulting a student’s

self-esteem. Well, let me tell you something: the working world grades

people with As and Fs. The working world, not protected by socialist

tenure, has and needs intelligent and successful people, as well as

not-so-successful people, to do its work.

No thanks on the bond issue. You will not get another dime out of me by

my vote. The school systems are not failing for a lack of money -- just

for a lack of culture, credence and straight thinking needed to sustain

traditional American culture and continue to develop and enjoy the

success of the American people.

WILLIAM A. MURDOCK

Costa Mesa

Thank you to both the Daily Pilot editorial staff and John Moorlach,

county treasurer, for a rational and analytical assessment of Measure A.

Thank you to Gay Geiser Sandoval for her column which so clearly

describes the difference between the quality education our children

receive and the physical condition of their daily environment.

Many community leaders, volunteers and parents have spent countless hours

exploring the most beneficial and equitable ways to improve all of the

schools in our district. They have searched for solutions to stop the

slow, steady deterioration of our schools, many of which are more than 40

years old. After much consideration and careful research, they have

developed Measure A.

Other voices in the community may continue to look backward and criticize

the past mistakes of our district. I hope the majority of our citizens

will choose to look forward and educate themselves on a relevant issue

which will have positive effects on our property values, our community

and, most importantly, our children. We in Newport-Mesa have the

opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to future excellence by

providing a safe, modernized learning environment.

LINDA ROBERTS

Corona del Mar

This is just another governmental example of poor management, without the

parties responsible taking the proper steps of correction, but rather

again attempting to coerce the people for increased taxation and debt.

Why should taxpayers bail out the school administrators again when they

continually misappropriate funds through poorly directed and excessive

waste without the slightest correction or admission of error?

Building upkeep and maintenance is a common responsibility that dictates

a certain amount each year should be appropriated and allotted within the

budget. The conditions of the school buildings are not due to years of

use as claimed in their ads, but due to years of mismanagement of funds

and a top-heavy district.

Are our administrators so foolish not to apply such basic financial

principles and concepts? Don’t think for a minute it’s because of lack of

money. You mean to tell me one of the wealthiest school districts in the

state is unable to repair its buildings? How do you explain that? Where

did the funds go from the sale of the various unused sites in the past

few years? Why weren’t those funds applied toward this effort? This is

not some need that just popped up suddenly.

It’s hard to believe these top-heavy districts and their arrogant

administrators. Just look at the overly large and elaborate

administration building on Baker Street. And that is just one

administration building -- there is another one on Kalmus Drive. And they

dare ask you for more. Notice, please, that the administration buildings

are not in disrepair.

No doubt, repairs are needed. However, what kind of message would we send

with a yes vote? Answer: “you don’t have to be responsible -- just keep

doing what you’re doing -- wasting money.”

VAN MCKINZIE

Costa Mesa

Thank you for the excellent special report on the horrific conditions of

our schools. My children graduated from high school more than 25 years

ago and it is appalling that so much maintenance has had to be deferred.

I blame it primarily on Proposition 13. Your report also shows how much

planning has gone into preparing for a bond issue as a way to correct

these conditions.

We should all be grateful to our current school board for an excellent

job in planning for this bond election. Now the rest of us need to do our

part. Mark our calendars for June 6, and then vote yes.

DOROTHY YOUNG

Costa Mesa

The thing that frightens me about all the hullabaloo on the pending bond

decision to be made by voters of Newport-Mesa Unified School District is

the almost complete absence of the theme of accountability. Many of the

severe material conditions and defects reported by “eyewitnesses” in the

Pilot’s special report must have been reported to principals, to

administrators and eventually to the school board. The belief expressed

by a bond leader that a “community, financially capable as Newport Beach

and Costa Mesa” is responsible for the deterioration which is said to

exist is unfair and takes the onus of responsibility off the shoulders of

the elected school board.

Above, I use the word “frightens” because of the fear that we may be

witnessing in this case is the same kind of reluctance to assume

responsibility that we’ve seen before from our leadership in Washington,

D.C. It would certainly be reassuring to those citizens being asked to

come up with $163 million (taxes pay for the entire sum) if someone on

the board could tell us how this ugly situation came about.

LEFTERIS LAVRAKAS

Costa Mesa