Saturday local focus: CVUSD and Mike Dunn

Here in the Conejo Valley, we're blessed with good schools. Parents in LA Unified and elsewhere through the state have to weigh scores and hope that they can get their kid into a reasonably good public school somewhere in their district; here there really isn't a bad option.

The schools are different from one another, certainly. One thing that has changed a great deal since I was a CVUSD student is the level of parent involvement. Back in the day, parents weren't involved with schools so much as required to pay attention now and again. Yes, there was the PTA, but kids, for the most part, got up and walked or biked to school and developed their relationships with teachers and brought home report cards. Parents showed up for plays and the occasional conference, and complained to the principle when something got in their craw.

Now parents are everywhere in the school experience. Parents raise money to offset budget cuts. They volunteer in classrooms. We know our kid's teachers- what music they like and maybe where they went to school and how many pets they have, in addition to their teaching style. Parent involvement has a lot to do with the character of your neighborhood school. If you live in a neighborhood with a high concentration of artists, musicians, people who work in entertainment, your school probably has a very strong arts focus. Likewise science, sports, and multi-cultural events.

But the schools also have dedicated, talented, loving staff. I have been thrilled each year with my kid's teachers- all of them different in style and focus, all of them offering inspiration and support, all of them providing life lessons and academic skill to a diverse student population. We also have a really amazing child care program in CVUSD. It costs very little, and surprises me every year with the professionalism of the staff.

When I moved back to TO after years away, I was a mom expecting that the school district would never be able to meet the demands I have for my kid's education. I had been convinced that schools were in such decline, that educational standards were so low, that our family would have to resort to private schools.

I was so wrong. And the school board is primarily responsible for strength of our district.

Standards are, in general, much lower here in the US than I think they should be. Our kids are not required to do enough in depth science, history, geography, etc. The "Three Rs" advocates that I recall from my youth have largely succeeded in shrinking education down to reading, writing, and 'rithmatic. But here in the Conejo Valley, I have seen teachers and staff (and parents) who strive to broaden the curriculum and each child's academic exposure, against painful and repeated budget cuts and increasing testing demands (which focus solely on the "Three Rs").

The biggest fights around here used to be over which math curriculum to teach (and no, I really have no problem with "everyday math"). Used to be. Until Mike Dunn was elected to the school board, giving voice and power to a weird subset of people who seem to have made it their life's work to denegrate and demonize the school board.

Dunn has been a frustrating and very expensive presence on the board since his tenure began. Styling himself as the "voice of the parents" he has sowed division and controversy at every opportunity, slandered the service of the other board members repeatedly, and cost the district thousands and thousands of dollars in legal expenses every time he pulls some bone-headed illegal maneuver. He hates the teachers union, and that has been an ongoing issue, because he won't play by the rules when dealing with them, resulting in more legal costs. He won't even learn the rules, since he considers the training that's been offered him brainwashing.

Two years ago, when elections came around, Dunn had recruited a raft of candidates that would give his views an easy majority. They had a sizable evangelical contingent behind them, not to mention the Stricklands. It was pretty worrisome, for me and families like mine, and the teachers I had come to know and respect so deeply, and the volunteers who work closely with the district and the PTA. In the end, all three incumbents running were reelected, including Dunn. Which said, to me, that residents really didn't know the board, just voting the incumbents because everything seemed to be going ok. There is no other reason that anyone would cast a ballot for both Dunn and Tim Stephens.

There will be another election this fall, and the climate has changed here, dramatically. Due to declining enrollment and repeated state budget cuts, the district made the painful decision to close two elementary schools. It created a panel to review objective data and determine which schools should be closed. The panel worked for several months, as I recall, and then made its recommendations.

Then followed the great school closure fight, which got ugly and classist and racist very quickly (and when one parent group threatens to call the INS on another parent group, I don't know what to call it other than racism). I know that not all parents involved in the fight were into the ugly parts, but still: it was everyone out for themselves, with no regard for what their "win" would mean for other families, or the rest of the district.

My kid came home one day and asked if he could paint "Save " on his clothes. We said no. He could paint "Save ALL of our schools" if he wanted to, but his school staying open meant that another kid's school would close, and we care about that kid, too.

There's still fighting in the works, as one of the schools scheduled for closure is applying for magnet status. For the most part, the biggest hubbub has died down. But hundreds and hundreds of families were following this issue closely and actively- school board meetings had to be held in high school auditoriums. And of those hundreds of parents, I will bet that most of them were getting their first look at trustee Mike Dunn, the "voice of the parents".

Dunn, off course, convinced all of them that their schools could remain open, if only the other board members weren't so stubborn, refusing to look at other options. And his affected persona, his outsider status, his renegade "voice of the parents" act, has been enhanced to a great degree for people who know little else about him, or the other board members, or the work that any of them have done during their tenures.

I have exchanged email with Dunn on several occasions: once, when he was first elected, because I was a bit disturbed by his website (which became another legal issue for him a couple of years ago). Later, we had a few exchanges over the Glencoe high school biology curriculum, which he used in his culture war against all the liberal monsters he imagines under the bed.

I have thought a good deal about whether to publish his words, whether that's really fair game, as when he wrote them, he was writing to a parent, not a reporter. But I decided that he was writing as a public servant, and the public who will choose whether to vote for him and his new recruits this fall should probably know who the man really is, and then decide if they want him having a majority on the board when it makes decisions that affect our kids and their teachers.

So, email 1. I wrote:

Hello Mr. Dunn:

I am a parent, my child has registered in a CVUSD school for the first time this year. I am also a member of my church's Faith in Action group, and we're interested in school board activities, among other things.

I have been researching current members of CVUSD board, as you're new, I have questions regarding some statements you make on your website. I would appreciate your clarification. I specifically would like clarification on the following:

1) Please explain "freedom of all religions".
2) Please explain "support for other traditional family values".

Thank you,

And yes, I put in the part about church intentionally, because I wanted him to be honest. It wasn't a lie, though.

He responded:

Evidence supports my conclusion that groups like the ACLU are trying to purge from this country all public expression of religion. I can also present evidence that suffering in our society is increasing as the influence of religion and moral absolutes is declining. The worst example is the rise in the number of unwed mothers.
I contend that if religion had more influence in the public schools that we would have fewer drug problems, unwed births and disciplinary problems.
To reduce suffering and to promote stable families, I will support freedom of all religions in the public schools. Judism, Christianity and Islam all desent from Abraham and Moses.
All three monotheistic religions promote moral absolutes.
My support for traditional family values is in response to attacks from some secular groups against groups like the Boy Scouts. People like George Soros are aggresively using judicial dictators to promote a Godless humanistic society. They want kaos and no limits on morality.
No right or wrong. Sounds tempting until you look at the rates of unwed mothers, drug abuse and crime in the parts of this country where they dominate.
My primary motive is to make our world a better place to live in. Serving on this school board is one step of many to accomplish this objective. I remember a happier, healthier, country when I grew up in the 1950's.
Thank you for writing me. I would be glad exchange ideas with you.
Sincerely,

This post is long, so I won't comment further. But there will be more.