July 10-July 16, 2014 Page 5

By Jonathan Prince

guestcolumn

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

OF EDUCATION:

I can’t pretend to imagine what it feels

like to sit in your chairs. To serve as an

elected official in our education commu-

nity.

To suffer the slings and arrows, to

receive the plaudits, and to bear the respon-

sibility of acting as the temporary stewards

of our school district.

I can’t imagine what it feels like. But I

assume it’s very uncomfortable.

How else can you explain Monday’s

unprecedented use of a public resource

– the PACE email – for purely political

purposes? How else can you explain the

time and money spent with counsel to

fabricate an official response to an op/ed

piece written by a mere civilian in a local

weekly paper?

Yes, I assume it’s uncomfortable up

there and I don’t envy your position.

But I do have a few questions.

First, as a parent in the BHUSD, I trust

that when I get a PACE email it will be

important information about my child’s

experience at school. It will be about edu-

cation. Or security and safety. Or about

teachers and teaching. But yesterday, for

the first time, this educational and infor-

mational tool was abused by the Board and

our Superintendent. It was used to respond

to Steven Fenton’s opinion column in

Beverly Hills Weekly. Not to respond to

a law suit. Not to respond to action taken

against our board or our district. But in

response to a few column inches in a local

paper. Why? Why abuse this tool in order

to defend yourselves?

Second, we’ve been waiting for months

– five and counting – to get the results

of the investigation into the board leaks

to the LA Times and to the Beverly Hills

Courier, leaks which are ongoing as even

more closed session information continues

to find its way into those papers. We’ve

been told that such actions take time, that

there is due process, and that counsel must

play a role in such decisions. Time, as in

nearly six months to respond to the leak.

And now we hear that our community may

never hear the results of that investigation.

Yet, you managed to be ridiculously fleet

of foot in your response to Mr. Fenton’s

op/ed piece. We’ve never seen this board

move so quickly. In only one business

day, you managed to respond – I imagine,

as a writer, myself – after multiple drafts

and after counsel was consulted. Which

leads me to ask why certain transparencies

take so very long to come to light, but this

defensive cloaked retort came about in

only one day?

Third, why did you choose to respond

in the first place? Mr. Fenton is a commu-

nity member, a civilian, with an opinion.

Even if you took umbrage at his tone, why

respond? Even if you disagreed with his

interpretation of the facts, why respond?

In point of fact, even if Mr. Fenton’s

interpretation of the facts was flawed or

biased, would he be the first member of

this community to write a personal edito-

rial in a local paper based on less-than-

perfect facts? Indeed, would he even be the

first reporter from a local paper to do so?

And, to be honest, would he even be the

first elected official or even school board

member to make public statements or judg-

ments or even take action, based on less

than entirely honest or realistic appraisals

of events? In responding so quickly and

publicly to Mr. Fenton’s criticisms, you’ve

done nothing more than give him credibil-

ity. They say that “nothing seduces like a

denial.” Well, we are seduced. Which leads

me to my final question.

Although you cleared up a few terms of

art – and administrator wasn’t “fired,” her

contract merely “expired.” Another admin-

istrator wasn’t “fired” – she “resigned.”

A principal wasn’t “fired” – he was “pro-

moted.” But your clever use of terminology

continues to obfuscate the reasons behind

such moves. Did the

administrators want

to stay? Or were they

asked to resign? Did

they want such promo-

tions? I understand you

feel that Mr. Fenton

may not have gotten

all of his terminology

right, nor his facts in

the way that you see

them, but he did ask

important questions.

Questions that deserve

a response which is

honest and real. This

board – notably two

of you in your sec-

ond terms – has made

transparency your call-

ing card. You have

loudly claimed that

you want nothing more

than honest and open

conversations, clean

processes, and – as the

famed Supreme Court

Justice said – “a little

sunlight.”

I ask you: is the

PACE email we all

received an example of

such transparency? Or

is it continued obfus-

cation? Is it an hon-

est and open examination of the issues

brought forth by Mr. Fenton, or a defensive

response that uses clever legal loopholes

and verbal gymnastics in order to explain

away such criticisms? Is it sunlight? Or just

cloud cover?

Either way, I ask you to stop. On behalf

of all of those parents and families you

emailed on Monday, please stop. Stop

suing and being sued. Stop attacking and

defending. Stop acting as a board run

by personal and official legal counsel.

Stop treating professional educators as

employees who “report” to the board.

Stop stooping to such lows as responding

to a personal letter in a local newspaper

using the privileged tool of our families’

private email addresses. Stop listening to

rumors and innuendo. More importantly,

stop spreading them.

Stop all of it. And start doing what I hope

you really wanted to do when you first ran

for office. Act as a Board of Education.

Hire excellent teach-

ers and give them

a safe and creative

environment in which

they can teach. Hire

superb administra-

tors and staff, and let

them run the schools

without micro-man-

aging and invasive

personal issues.

Build and rebuild our

school buildings, as

well as the programs

inside of them - both

in the educational

curriculum and in

the important athletic

and extra-curricular

areas that are vital to

the experience of our

students. Live up to

the claim you make

in your response, that

you are “working dil-

igently to make our

district the envy of

the nation,” instead

of the punch-line to

some stale joke.

No, I don’t know

what it feels like to

be sitting in your

chairs, but I imagine

if you get back to

acting with integrity as the temporary stew-

ards of an 80-year-old district, if you get

back to thinking about the students first, if

you get back to the transparency and hon-

esty that you say are your calling cards, if

you remember that the Superintendent may

indeed report to you, but that you report to

us – the people of this community – then

those seats will be a lot more comfortable.

Jonathan Prince is the immediate past

president of the BHEF

“If you get back to

acting with integrity

as the temporary

stewards of an 80-year-

old district, if you

get back to thinking

about the students

first, if you get back to

the transparency and

honesty that you say

are your calling cards,

if you remember that

the Superintendent

may indeed report to

you, but that you report

to us – the people of

this community – then

those seats will be a lot

more comfortable”

to attend all meetings six months prior to

the start of their term.

The recommendations will be formally

adopted at the July 29 City Council meet-

ing.

BHBA Barristers hosts free monthly legal clinics

The Beverly Hills Bar Association

Barristers is continuing their free monthly

legal clinics on July 12 at the Redwood

Room at Roxbury Park from 10:00 a.m.

to noon.

Volunteer BHBA Barristers attorneys

will be available to answer basic legal

questions about consumer law, landlord-

tenant law, small claims, business dis-

putes, wills and trusts, and other legal

issues.

The next free legal clinics will be on

August 2 and September 6, and are held

on the first Saturday of each month, or

the second Saturday if the first weekend

is a holiday.

Visit www.bhba.org or call (310) 601-

2422 for additional information.

Government Affairs Committee to host Allen and Fluke

The Government Affairs Committee

will host

C a l i f o r n i a

State Senate

c a n d i d a t e s

Ben Allen

and Sandra

Fluke on July

17 from 8:00

a.m. to 9:15

a.m.

Attendees

will have the

opportunity

to meet both

candidates and hear their qualifications

and their vision to represent Beverly Hills

in the state

senate.

The event

will be

held in the

Chamber of

C o m m e r c e

Boardroom

on 9400

South Santa

M o n i c a

B o u l e v a r d

and two

hours of free

parking will be available in the Beverly-

Briefs cont. on page 9

briefs cont. from page 4

Ben Allen Sandra Fluke