WHAT’S UP

Steve smith

If there were a law that columnists had to write about Christmas should

their column fall on Christmas Day, this would be an appeal for donations

to my bail. After careful thought and consultation, I have decided to

forgo my planned Christmas column in favor of some breaking news on last

week’s topic: the deliberate denial of Costa Mesa’s West Side

representative, Wendy Leece, to a rightful spot on the leadership circle

of the school board.

Tom Vogele’s letter in response to my last column opened three festering

wounds: the idea that perhaps the district should be split in two, that

money from the Corona del Mar Foundation should be shared by all schools

and that Costa Mesa kids are purposely not getting the same quality of

education as Newport Beach kids. Fine topics, all. The problem is that I

did not discuss them in my column, nor I have I ever mentioned any of

those subjects in any column. Vogele’s letter had an element in common

with the one from Mark Gleason who wrote that Leece’s kids go to private

schools. Not only is Gleason’s argument irrelevant, it’s wrong. Leece’s

daughter, Amy, attends Estancia and Leece has had a child in a

Newport-Mesa school for all, but 3 months of her 5-year tenure. Besides,

if having a kid attending a school in the district were a condition of

office, we’d be without Serene Stokes and Judy Franco. And one other

school board member, Martha Fluor, has a school-age child in a private

school, too.

The common element in the letters is an old tactic. When you have no

defense, you divert attention to another subject, make personal attacks,

or attack the messenger. You do everything except address the issue. So,

instead of a thoughtful explanation of the board’s snobbery, we get a

potpourri of other issues, attacks on Leece and attacks on me. We get

everything, but the truth.

In his letter, Vogele also writes, “...why not simply tell the readers

that the rest of the board is not supportive of Leece’s religious views

and leave it at that.”

I will tell this to readers, but I will not “leave it at that.”

On Nov. 20, 1999, the Daily Pilot quoted board member Martha Fluor

regarding gay and lesbian clubs at school: “Our district has been very

strong in terms of practicing tolerance.” Reporter Danette Goulet also

wrote, “Fluor’s sentiments were mirrored by other board members...”

The truth is, there is only tolerance when it suits the board, even at

the expense of decency and fairness. Wendy Leece should now be clerk of

the board. That she is not is the fault of a narrow-minded, intolerant

group of people who care less about having a large segment of parents

represented than they are in maintaining Newport Beach control over the

school board. Vogele is right about the board’s attitude toward Leece’s

religious views, but denying her the post because of them is childish and

hypocritical.

As clerk, Wendy Leece has no power whatsoever to change anything about

what our kids are taught.

It was also assumed by the board that Leece’s so-called “anti-tax status”

would jeopardize the upcoming bond proposal if she were in a leadership

position. Leece spent a lot of time working and studying all of the

alternatives to the upcoming tax proposal and, surprise, Leece supports

the measure.

“I feel comfortable supporting the bond measure,” she told me, “If the

board follows the direction and recommendation of the Facilities Advisory

Committee (FAC).”

So now, both anti-Leece arguments are cut off at the knees. As clerk she

would have no power to add religious instruction to the curriculum and

she has now come out in favor of the FAC bond proposal suggestions.

Still, Leece is not clerk. The only conclusion left to draw is that this

is an overt suppression of West Side representation.

Denying Leece a leadership spot is a travesty. It is not leadership, it

is censorship. The school board can talk all they want about how tolerant

they are, but talk is all it is. Their actions belie the truth.

And no less than former school board president Jim de Boom, for whom we

should all be grateful that he chose to live in this area, said, “I think

Wendy’s proposal 1/8to avoid a fight over president and vice-president

3/8 and School Board member David Brook’s motion to make Wendy Leece the

board clerk was a good solution. I am disappointed that there wasn’t

enough support for it amongst the board members.”

Missing from the debate has been the West Side Latino voice. Perhaps this

will change as soon as we’re all back in school from vacation and local

Latino community leaders can be contacted to determine a course of

action.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. He can be

reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at dailypilot@latimes.com .