Letters to the Editor

Former school board members and community leaders support Joan, Shaheen and Kimberly

Despite Saturday morning’s heat wave, four former school board members joined teachers and community leaders to say, “It’s time for a school board course correction. Vote for Joan, Shaheen and Kimberly.”

This slate of three very qualified challengers is supported by every member of the city council, which includes former school board member Bob Whalen. Joan, Shaheen and Kimberly also have strong support from teachers and staff.

Gathered Saturday in support of Joan, Shaheen and Kimberly were Linda Barker, Ketta Brown, Tim Carlyle, Harvey Triebwasser, Betsy Jenkins, Carol Nilsen, MJ Abraham, Jacquie Cohn, Rita Conn, Leanne Englander, Stephanie Mister, Thasa Hauntz-Zuziak, Gary Jenkins, Howard Conn, Kathy Abel, Howard Englander, Bob Mister and Gregg Abel, as well as students Sterling and Tindall.

No matter how you vote in the November elections – either by mail or in person – the future of Laguna’s schools is in your hands. Everyone who came together Saturday agrees: It’s time to flip the board.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

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Guest Letter

Ashley Cintas

Candidate, Laguna Beach City Council

Civility has to apply during the campaign too

At recent candidate forums, the incumbents have repeatedly talked about civility on the current City Council. Mark Orgill, for example, said at the LBAA forum that he originally ran in part because of a lack of civility and believes he helped remedy it. At the Village Laguna forum, Sue Kempf specifically spoke about the importance of being able to disagree without yelling or fighting and creating a healthy public environment.

I agree with that principle. But civility should not only apply once people are sitting on the dais. It should extend to residents, businesses, taxpayers, candidates and the campaigns and supporters associated with them. Civility should apply behind the scenes too.

There are three open City Council seats and nine candidates running for them. When this election is over, some of us may very well be working together. This campaign should be about the issues facing Laguna and the different ideas each of us has for addressing them.

Laguna should be a place where residents can speak up, disagree, question City Hall or run for office with confidence that their businesses, projects and interactions with the city will be treated fairly and independently of their political views.

Like many campaigns, this one has at times become personal, particularly on social media. Businesses and supporters have been drawn into campaign disputes. I have also had conversations related to this campaign that raised serious concerns for me about the potential impact political participation could have on my business.

I have also become concerned about how the city’s public-right-of-way rules for campaign signs are being enforced. City Code Enforcement has removed two of my campaign signs after determining that they were in the public right-of-way and directed me to retrieve them from the Community Development Department.

At the same time, I have observed signs supporting other candidates in locations that appeared to raise similar questions about the public-right-of-way rule. I do not know the precise property boundaries, enforcement history or circumstances surrounding every sign, and I am not suggesting that any city employee intentionally favored or disfavored any candidate.

My point is simply that election rules should be enforced as consistently and transparently as possible so that every candidate and resident can have confidence in the process. I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for one standard for everyone.

This is Laguna Beach, not national politics. We are still neighbors when this election is over.

Let’s keep this campaign about the issues, treat every candidate fairly and let residents decide who they want representing them.

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Letters to the Editor

No kids in schools? This election is still yours

You do not need a child in Laguna Beach schools to have something at stake in this School Board election.

On November 3, Laguna Beach voters will elect three of the five members of the LBUSD Board of Education. In one election, voters will choose a majority of the body responsible for governing one of this community’s most important public institutions.

Those five people do far more than attend meetings. They hire and evaluate the superintendent, adopt budgets and policies, approve labor agreements, curriculum, contracts and major facilities decisions. They also decide what gets funded, what gets deferred and what direction the district takes when priorities collide.

Voters will also consider Measure A, which would authorize up to $83 million in general-obligation bonds for school facility improvements. If approved, it would replace the existing school bond tax as it expires, at an expected rate of about $8.85 per $100,000 of assessed value. The board serving after this election would help decide how that work is prioritized and implemented over time.

That makes this election relevant far beyond households with children in LBUSD.

Parents will live with decisions affecting their children’s classrooms, teachers, programs and school experience. Employees will work under decisions involving leadership, compensation and district policy. Property owners help fund a public school system and have an interest in how public money, facilities and long-term obligations are managed. Every resident lives in a community shaped, in part, by the strength and stewardship of its public institutions.

You do not need to know every line of the district budget or watch every board meeting, but this election deserves more than recognizing a name and filling in a bubble.

Read past the ballot designation. Look at what candidates believe the job actually is. Look at how they approach governance, public money, superintendent oversight and disagreement. Look at the record they have built before asking for the authority to govern.

Three seats. Four-year terms.

That is a tremendous amount of responsibility being decided in a very small section of the ballot.

Whatever conclusions you reach about the candidates or Measure A, reach them deliberately.

This election belongs to all of Laguna Beach.

Erika Hennon

Aliso Viejo

LBUSD Parent

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