My phone call with Sharon

Sharon Wallin called me Sunday morning and we had a nice chat about a number of things: the special election, a possible parcel, the Governor's "lies", and the appointment process that brought Gavin Huntley-Fenner his seat.

Of course, Sharon defended the appointment process. I'm not surprised. But she made a decision based on a far more rigorous process than the voters themselves do.

The one admission I got from her -- and I give her brownie points for being honest with me -- dealt with her comments to the Irvine World News that the public in general supported the appointment process. That wasn't my experience from gathering signatures.

Sharon did say the vast majority of the voters didn't really care one way or another. Some voters were strongly for appointing John Burger and others were strongly for the board's appointment. My comment back, "so then your statement in the IWN about the majority of voters supporting the board's decision was inaccurate?" She paused for a moment and said, "well, I don't remember was I said exactly, but yes, you're right."

Again, I appreciate the honesty. I also told Sharon we're on the same side more often than not. And I don't view Sharon as political.

But being someone identified as a petition carrier for the special election effort means people tell me stuff. And the more I know about Gavin and the more I drill down into this statements regarding his non-candidacy, the more convinced I am he's the wrong choice to hold the board seat.

Let's review:

1. Didn't run because he had just started a new job.
It didn't stop him from being active on the IPSF board, which is now set up to be an exclusive fundraising arm for the district.

2. He has a child with special needs.
Hmmm, unfortunate, but then why spend so much time with IPSF and all that goes with it? And why put your hat in the ring for a board seat anyway? The child still has special needs that aren't going to change in '06.

3. He didn't have the money to run.
No one does.

Going back to the special needs child; its' pretty well known in Irvine that the district is NOT helpful or fair when it comes to helping parents of kids with special needs. There's a network of parents who share data and help other parents know their rights. The fact that Gavin has a child with special needs can be viewed in a positive way only if he does everything he can to help make sure that all kids with special needs get the same level of service based on their diagnosis. What I'm saying is, if two kids have the same disorder (and I recognize the no two kids are unlike), then they should both get the same level of service. One family shouldn't get more than another simply because they brought their lawyer to a meeting with the district.

Gavin's position on 3rd grade CSR

This is an email sent by Dr. Gavin Huntley-Fenner, our appointed school board member, to a list of 3rd Grade Class Size Reduction volunteers in January 2004 -- 13 months ago. In a meeting with Legislative Action members last week, I asked Gavin for his position on 3rd Grade CSR and he said he was for it, but it requires financial support from parents annually (wow, that's going out on a limb, huh?)

But look at this letter and what he says about 3rd grade CSR. He defended his decision as the right and moral vote to take when I approached him afterwards. He asked me what I would do. I told him to do whatever I could to save it. Ultimately, it was saved by a group led by Debbie Coven and John Burger. But everyone got to jump on the "we saved 3rd grade bandwagon."

Gavin also mentioned that fundraising efforts this year were lagging and cited the relief effort for the Tsunami as a reason.

I've bolded certain portions for emphasis.

Fellow 3rd Grade CSR volunteers,

I wanted to give you my personal perspective on this issue as someone who has been intimately involved in the entire 3rd Grade CRS process from the first collection of the pilot dollars in the Spring through the collection of unfulfilled pledges at the tail end of the campaign. As an IPSF board member, I've also worked behind the scenes towards IPSF's goal of supporting public school education. Lastly, as a child development researcher I have attempted to stay current on the latest studies regarding the effects of class size on elementary school students.



As many of you are aware, both the school board and the IPSF board have voted to suspend fundraising activity specifically for 3rd Grade class size reduction (CSR), due to legitimate concerns over sustainability and the need to focus all available resources on expanded efforts to maintain CSR for K, 1, 2 and 9th grade. From my perspective, both boards made the right decision from the point of view of maintaining overall educational quality in the entire district. It was a hard decision, but it was the right decision.


As a community, we are in the unfortunate position where every decision of significant financial consequences leaves some children without the optimum support. As the financial bind tightens, good solid programs may disappear. Our community cannot save everything, yet we still can be better off than we are today. For the last two years, we have had pledge drives that are highly dependent on one or two charismatic individuals to initiate and sustain them. Today we never know if there is a commitment to 'at risk'
programs until the money is nearly due. Today we raise money to save one program or another without knowing whether we will have the wherewithal to save that program next year or the year after.



We have the good fortune to have an organization like IPSF that is taking a systematic approach to build sustainable school fundraising. We have a school board that works closely with IPSF and which is open to parental input. Our voices are heard both on the emotional level and on the reasoned and practical level. In every case whether there is one voice or 100 voices, our elected officials and the IPSF board continue to make decisions with all of the district's students in mind.



As parents, all of us fear the negative effects of larger class sizes.
The good news is that CSR remains a massive IUSD and IPSF priority - in significant part thanks to parental support. Other districts in Orange County may eliminate CSR altogether. In Irvine, the recent board votes have established K, 1, 2 and 9th grade CSR as priorities. In addition, both the district and IPSF have effectively pledged to support CSR fundraising in the years to come. This means that, in contrast to other districts in Orange County, in the future class size reduction in Irvine will be more likely not less likely.



Sincerely,

Gavin Huntley-Fenner, Ph.D.





Who am I:



I am a parent of a third grader who is currently benefiting from her smaller class size. I also have a 4-year-old who unfortunately may not be so lucky.
In the past year I worked on the 3rd grade CSR campaign.

a.. I attended the very first exploratory meeting John held at Turtle Rock and I pledged a donation on the spot.
b.. After the 3rd grade CSR kickoff meeting at John's home, I began to call my daughter's classmates, send emails, and approach folks on playgrounds and in front of the school.
I am an IPSF board member.

a.. I joined the board because I wanted to change the course of school fundraising in Irvine from perennial ad hoc pledge drives to a more systematic and productive approach.
b.. I supported the recent CSR campaign to IPSF and the school board despite my hope that as a community we would eventually evolve out of ad hoc drives.
I have a Ph.D. in child development

a.. I spent many years as a professor and researcher studying children's quantitative reasoning and understanding of mathematics concepts.
b.. I have some understanding of the research on the impacts of smaller class sizes.
I agree with the district's prioritization of K, 1, 2 and 9th grades over 3rd

My email to Sharin Wallin, IUSD Board President

Worth reading.....I read Sharon Wallin's comments in the 2/24 edition of the Irvine World News and had to respond. She's written back asking for my number.

Hi Sharon --
Two things:

When you get ready for another go-round on a parcel tax, please know we're still on the same side of this issue and we have traction dating back to the Measure A and Measure B campaigns. I am happy to lend my time and support to a parcel tax campaign that succeeds this time.

But secondly, per your comments in today's paper, you're wrong about what the community at large wants in regards to the special election. We failed because we really only had three people doing any significant signature gathering. I carried my clipboard with me everywhere and collected 125 signatures -- 10 percent. All in 10 minutes a day. I had only 5 "no, I won't sign it" responses and only one from someone I didn't know. Of the five that wouldn't sign, three expressed concerns that the Board would retaliate against their kids or school. One works closely with the district and supported the board. Others who signed wanted the board to know that they had. There is still an undercurrent of anger.

Several residents asked why the petition wasn't a recall of the entire board. I said "we just had an election."

John Burger did not gather a single signature, and frankly, this hurt our efforts too (I told John flat out if he didn't gather signatures to not bother running in a special election). With a little more time and a little better weather, and a few more committed volunteers and we would have gotten the job done and the voters would have decided the seat. I was still collecting signatures as of yesterday.

Many people were *happy* to sign and I had so many, "I'm so glad I ran into you. Can my husband/wife/significant other also sign?" I ran into a number of citizens who weren't registered to vote. I think you missed a huge opportunity to bring these disenfranchised voters/residents back to the tent. I think Carolyn tried to do this, but only after validating the selection process and it comes off as arrogant.

I'm really sorry this effort failed because I know some board members would view this as a validation of your decisions. And if Letters to the Editor in IWN are any indication, the city is split in half on this...there is no overwhelming support for the board's decision to appoint or for a special election. Some mandate.

Quite frankly, I am still waiting for *any* board member to have the intellectual honesty to admit they just didn't want John Burger on the Board. While the California Code did spell out your options, it also says "elections are always preferable." And the board, with Carolyn's urging, chose to ignore the election results. Let's see you adopt new rules to handling future vacancies because this process divided the community.

I'm glad you're relieved we don't have to go through a special election. I'm just disappointed, and worse, I'm disappointed that this board isn't reaching out to the thousands of voters who voted for Burger, Rodarte, Quinlan and others.

Dan Chmielewski

Rhymes with Rockbuster

Just when I had lost hope, my oldest invoice is about to be paid...

I did some work with a great PR firm in Los Angeles for a new video game store in a video store concept; we did some great work and generate a lot of great opportunities, which the client (which I'm not able to name here) declined because the press here is smart and thorough. The client was unprepared to discuss the detail the direction of the stories the LA press wanted to go.

The work was completed in mid September. 30 days net, right? Wrong. Excuses ranging from questions on expenses, to vacation delies, to new accounting systems, to fired accounts receivable employees to "official" vendor status to whatever %^&*( excuse they could come up with. Check was received by the agency TODAY (2/23/05) which means I will get my dough by the end of the week or early next week.

I hope the agency bills this client for "late fees."

In the meantime, make my Video rentals all from Hollywood Video.

Petition Drive

Well, it looks like our well-intentioned petition drive is about to fall short.

I have personally collected 125 signatures without having to stand in front of Target or Albertson's. The rain and cool weather kept people home and we lost a week because we were told we couldn't gather signatures until after Gavin Huntley-Fenner was installed and were then told we had 30 days after the board selected him on Jan 25. Some of our key organizers were ill or away during prime signature gathering times and it looks like its just not in the cards.

It's too bad.

The school board will likely view our failure to get enough signatures as validation for their choice. The reality is there is a strong undercurrent of residents who are still very pissed off at the politics the board played with the appointment and the election results. I am still waiting for one board member to have the intellectual honesty to admit to me that they didn't want John Burger (14,005 votes in November) to take the seat.

So now we're stuck with a board member who didn't run. Note to Gavin: if your new job in March of 2004 made it tough to run in November, how were you still able to be so active on the IPSF board? And you have still been on the new job less than a year...won't your new employers not be happy with the amount of time your school board duties will take? Bottom line: you wanted the seat but didn't want to do thie things any candidate needs to do to run, namely raise money and put your record out there for the voters. And now you get to add "school board member" to your name when you place your name on the ballot in '06.

Just remember, when you do run in '06, you're not running for re-election; you're running to get elected.

basketball update

My boy's 7th grade team, the Cavaliers, won Sunday, defeating the Patriots (which had 4 kids from my sixth grade team last year), 51-37. We have secured second place in the league outright. And we play the Pats in the first round of the tournament again next week.

So my three year coaching record is 22-15. We've had a great season and I will be sorry to see it end. What's even more rewarding to me is how much Alex has improved in those three years. When other kids on our team start talking about the defensive job he did on one player, well, it's better than a thousand wins. Now if we can just work out this kid's shot.....

Hunter S. Thompson

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Hunter S. Thompson, the father of Gonzo Journalism.

My friend John Boehm, a staunch Republican, called and we were able to cite passages from some of our favorite Thompson tomes.

My favorite line from "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72," "it was the feeling you get where you hear your guard dog's throat being ripped out by a werewolf 30 feet from your tent."

Hunter was an acquired taste. And his later work just never lived up to his earlier work.

I instantly thought of two old friends from my days at Proteon, a company in Westboro, Mass. Mark Urbin and Dan Frecehette and I drank Tequila shots and smoked cigars at the revolving bar at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, a historical landmark for Hunter fans. We slept a total of six hours in five days and effectively captured the Fear-and-Loathing days where the Vegas Strip was much smaller and life there was a lot simpler.

I have long tossed my dog-eared copy of "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" but I can promise you it will be on my bookshelf before the week is out.

Rest in peace Dr. Thompson...Or, since you died off a self-inflicted gunshot wound, perhaps I should say, rest in pieces.

IYBL

My boy's 7th grade basketball team will be gunning for a trophy on Sunday. We're the Cavaliers and we're 6-2, firmly in 2nd place. With the right set of circumstances, we can achieve a tie for first, but we have to get some help....I have never had this much fun with a team.

IWN-UCI exhibit

A letter writer in the Irvine World News this week asks Orange County Jews to question their allegiance to the Democratic Party on the basis of an exhibit at UCI. It's sponsored by several conservative groups and is one of the buses destroyed in Israel as a result of a terrorist attack.

The writer asks where the support from the Liberals is on this exhibit.

I have no clue.

Were they (Liberal groups) even offered a chance to sponsor anything? Let's not tie a lack of sponsorship to a lack of support to the cause of anti-terrorism.

But its another example of how a conservative will try to portray Liberals and Democrats as out of touch with mainstream America. And its not the kind of letter that will ellicit much response, even though its clear the writer is only reporting a narrow view. Had the letter said, "the exhibit sponsorship was turned down by liberal campus organization" well, now you have a point. And then how many conservative groups contribute to campaigns on tolerance?

I think the writer can go back to listening to Rush Limbaugh now.

N-Irvine-a

As a writer, I view typos the same way a mechanic views grease under his or her fingernails.

I have fixed some of the typos in my profile, but they have yet to take effect.

School Board election

In the fine tradition of the California recall, the San Diego Mayor's race, the Election 2000 Florida debacle and the Texas re-districting, the IUSD School Board has played the part of the GOP by ignoring the voters and finding away around an election and installed someone who marches in lockstep.

I met Dr. Gavin Huntley-Fenner at an IUSD legislative action committee meeting. Nice guy. Smart, but already polishing those political skills. My first question: where do you stand on 3rd grade class size reduction? His first answer, "I'm NOT getting into a political tit-for-tat" and proceeded to tell the committee how he was all for 3rd grade CSR. I presented an email HE wrote in Jan 2004 where he supported K,1, 2 and 9 grade CSR over 3rd grade. He proceeded with a long and drawn out explanation of his role in voting against 3rd grade CSR as an IPSF board member, but still insisting he supports 3rd CSR.

Sounds like an experienced politician to me.

What's that line about baffling them with bull*&^%?

We had a good discussion, but his excuses for not running still seem lame. He started a new job, he had no funds to run. He has a child with special needs. That's half of N-Irvine-a folks.

I'm not against Gavin, but the guy got 4 votes, not 14,000 and spent no money to run. Any election he participates in going forward, he gets the mantle of "incumbant." Message from the Board..."the election didn't matter, but keep writing those checks to IPSF."

I've already told Sharon Wallin that she's lost my vote for 2006. Time for a change.

If you want to sign our petition for a special election, email me at danc2161@yahoo.com.

Dan

Welcome to N-Irvine-a(TM)

Pronounce it with me...rhymes with Nirvana. A blog about all things Irvine, California, or, as many of my neighbors call it, "The Bubble." Home of beige houses with a red tile roof, immaculate yards, expensive cars, where the stay-at-home mom is revered and where the sound of barking dogs or music at a party at 10PM will prompt a 9-1-1 call.

The title is from a Novel I'm writing loosely based on life here. (it's trademarked, so don't even think about it).

I'm a public relations executive with my own boutique shop. I coach soccer, basketball, and serve as a homeowner's association president (sound familiar: "living in a gated community has many benefits....). My wife works, my kids attend Irvine schools and we have a dog. This city is home. We're happy here and have made a number of lifelong friends.

And its *hard* to be a liberal Democrat in The OC. Irvine is a purple city in a red county in a blue state. In this blog, we'll be having fun with commentary on the Letters to the Editor section of the OC Register and Irvine World News, general comments about the school board and city council candidates.

Let's have fun and not take stuff too personally. If you have no sense of humor or a poor sense of humor, go directly to another site.