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Let’s try to keep politics out of our schools. If we wanted to make an impression on our children about the differences between “right” and “wrong” it certainly would not be accomplished by what members of the community are attempting to do with a school board election.
I was knowledgeable about the search for a school board member to replace the seat that was vacated. In the first place, I did not approve of the abandonment of the school board position for a seat on the city council. That should not be allowed and sets a poor example to begin with. But fortunately, a very qualified and highly likeable person was found to fill that important seat, Kirsten Walsh.
Kirsten was chosen by our elected officials following the legal process. She was the most qualified candidate, having devoted thirteen years of consistent and dedicated service and leadership to Area 5 schools.
She is currently a parent leader at an Area 5 high school, Newport Harbor High School, and supports all schools as a PTA Council member. She was also chosen because she is non-partisan politically and School Board elections are supposed to be nonpartisan. In fact, all city elections and candidates are supposed to be non-partisan.
I was quite surprised to learn that a group of parents are challenging the legal process by presenting another candidate and insisting on a special election that will take $500,000 of our education dollars! Kirsten was fairly chosen over the opposing candidate. Imagine this group of parents having the gall to spend that large amount of money on a do-over!
One last very important point is that I have read several letters about this situation and do not recall the mention of any experience that the opposing candidate has. This is in contrast to 13 years of leadership and parental involvement of Kirsten Walsh. When did we start discounting positive experience as one of the most important qualifications for a job?
Again, these are children we are talking about. Please put aside the politics and select the person most qualified for the position.
Lynn Lorenz / Newport Beach