Letter: School board does not deserve misinformation or hostility
To the editor,
– From public comments by Mr. Enney and his supporters which include encouraging insurrection, filing of lawsuits against the school district, and civil disobedience to respond to policies he does not like, by community members; and working with a secessionist group, chaos, and hostility appear to be his end game. He even said at the candidate forum, “I don’t like board meetings because the board needs to tell the School Superintendent and staff what to do.” He seems to want to “break up Paso HS and the school district.” Would a “break up” be productive for improving our schools? Not from my perspective.
I listened to the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum to better understand the candidates’ positions and have been reading letters and articles in the Paso Robles Daily News. The letter by current board president Williams was a breath of fresh air about what leadership really is.
I feel obligated to address misinformation in Mr. Bausch’s March 31 letter to the editor to Paso Robles Daily News. I have never met Mr. Bausch and my only interest in this contest is to see our future generations educated in the best possible manner, and for all students to reach their full potential. Beyond coming from a blue-collar family where neither of my parents completed college, growing up in SLO and attending public schools including Cal Poly, I earned a doctorate in marine biology and did research at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. While teaching at SDSU, I became the pre-health advisor to several thousand students, and directed my own $1-million national health careers opportunity program grant to support minority and disadvantaged students for 6 years. Those students taught me so much that I did not know about other cultures and how many ways there are to learn.
First, Mr. Bausch “alleges” Ms. Alvord, Trustee Gearhart, and PRPE Executive Director Lynett were in a sort of conspiracy to remove Mr. Enney as an appointed board trustee. He seems to hold hostility toward unions in general, and teachers’ unions in particular. The SLO Tribune’s endorsement of Ms. Hollander on March 22nd addressed unions directly: “Teachers’ unions are not going away, and anyone who hopes to hold a leadership position in education should arrive with a collaborative mindset that respects teachers as the backbone of our public school system.” Clearly, Mr. Enney does not wish to collaborate. Additionally, former Board Trustee Arend ( March 6 letter), PRPE Executive Director Lynett (March 22 letter), and 19 signatories (including myself, March 9 letter) addressed, directly each point of misinformation re-iterated by Mr. Bausch.
I am appalled at Mr. Bausch’s insinuation that Ms. Hollander will be like two prior trustees who apparently mismanaged the board. His rationale relies on the actual opposite of Ms. Hollander’s verifiable track record of 20 years of volunteering and working with Paso Robles school administrations, teachers, and students. She routinely verifies information (many letters attest to this), is an independent thinker (running as an Independent, contrary to partisan Mr. Enney) and has successfully overseen $7-million of the Community Foundation’s scholarship funds. No mismanagement here. It is like saying that because Mr. Bausch invoked “wokeness,” a supposed slur, in his March 31 letter, he actually supports social justice.
There are too many issues of misinformation to address all of them, but here are a few more: The rallying cry of “more parental rights!” Mr. Enney, at the candidate forum, espoused the US House of Representative proposed “Parental Bill of Rights,” indicating parents should review all curricula, texts, and library books. Ms. Hollander invoked the idea that parents are the first and best teachers of their children (or should be). And, she actually established the first Raising a Reader (an early literacy program) within the Georiga Brown community, now located in 40 early care and education sites throughout San Luis Obispo County.
Parents’ rights in theory sound quite reasonable but can pave the way for virtually the removal of any book, robbing students of the opportunity to be moved by the imagery of enduring Shakespearean classics like The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Mr. Enney at the candidate forum in response to the question “Is it sufficient to afford a parent to say no to an assigned book rather than ban it?” said, “yes, but if many parents say no, then the book should be banned.” Ms. Hollander is against book bans, as are the vast majority of Americans and, I hope, most Paso Roblans. She supports a parent who objects to reading a particular book to opt-out. The more people get the sense that what sounds good in the abstract, giving parents more say, too easily translates into banning particular books or limiting what kids in a whole school have access to, and the less they like it.
A really important question is, “What about the rights of our students?” as well as, “Why not advocate for all our students?” Student advocacy is exactly what Ms. Hollander has done for 20 years! According to national polls, the parental rights cause is getting harder to distinguish from book bans, which most people see as extreme and unpopular. Why should one parent’s choices be the new rule for all parents? Certainly, this is not a value espoused by our American democracy.
I have to chuckle at Mr. Bausch’s invocation that he supports Mr. Enney “to be an independent leader not beholding to any political party or union, yet able to build consensus.” Mr. Enney is pretty much the opposite of each of those benchmarks. He is proud of his connections to the highly partisan MAGA branch of the state Republican party which makes his robocalls and the New California State Secessionist organization. In fact, Ms. Hollander is running as an Independent, has taken no money from any political party, and has worked in teams building consensus for years. Mr. Enney points to the fact that the PRPE endorses Ms. Hollander, which was because she completed their questionnaire (Mr. Enney did not) and they approved of her responses.
So much misinformation, so little time!
I will close with the number one reason I am voting for Angela Hollander for Paso Robles School Board Trustee: she has done the work with kids, families, teachers, public school administrators, community organizations that interact with schools, school staff, and board trustees over 20 years. Did she establish an early literacy program to boost her own ego? No. Did she sit on school site committees to earn lots of money? No. Does she currently read to 2nd graders every week and manage the Paso Robles High School scholarship application two days/week to boost her visibility in the community? No. Then, why would a retiree put in so much time and effort into supporting public schools as a volunteer? Simply put, she cares about kids, helping them reach their full potential! Ms. Hollander’s webpage, angelhollanderforschoolboard.org lists her five priorities:
- High-quality education
- Safe schools for our students
- Fiscal accountability
- Advocacy for children and families
- Commitment to collaborative partnerships
-Cynthia Lewis
Paso Robles School District Area 5
Editor’s note: Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are the personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.
