The community is buzzing about the recall of Nativo V. Lopez from the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education. Everyone seems to have an opinion about what all of this means for the district.
Many, including the media, portrayed the recall as a simple referendum on bilingual education and a case of school-site NIMBYism. To those of us familiar with what has been going on in the district, the recall was more a referendum on ethical leadership and integrity in decision-making by school board members.
But what now? What does California's fifth-largest school district do to recover, to produce results? We can begin by cleaning up our act as a board, building more classrooms, improving academic achievement and balancing our budget.
The first step came with the election of new members of the board. Decisions must be based on a careful review of all the facts, not on campaign contributions. Questions from the public must be addressed forthrightly. Board members must respectfully work together.
Most important, board members must stop meddling in day-to-day school district business. The board must adopt an ethics policy that details members' roles and institutes campaign donation limits. There is a lot of dirt that needs to be moved, and not just at school construction sites. The superintendent and the board must review any improprieties related to school district business.
Santa Ana is the second-densest city in the state. It also is built out. Finding unpolluted, affordable and available land is a daunting task. New school construction must be a joint effort between the school district and the city. Innovative approaches, such as building schools or adding classrooms at existing sites, should be explored. Our legislative delegation must work to make it easier to build facilities.
Santa Ana will always be a district that is in the news. Based solely on demographics, we face some of the toughest challenges of any school district in the state. That said, improving academic achievement must be our priority.
Teachers need to be well-trained and supported, and the district needs to consider increasing the amount of instruction students receive. Students should be required to write every day in every class. We need to establish academies that meet Saturdays and after school to serve students who are below grade level.
