School Board Trustee Mike Dunn: still an asshole

I serve on a board, and one thing I know for sure: if the board is going to get anything done well, there has to be a certain amount of cohesion and respect for the board itself among members.

This means communicating with other trustees before you try to build a cabal of opposition or support for one of your pet issues, among others things. Mike Dunn will never be able to conduct himself appropriately, and I think he's too dumb to understand it.

Dorothy Beaubien, president of the Conejo Valley Unified School District board, said she received an e-mail from fellow Trustee Mike Dunn calling on her to "retire with dignity" instead of seeking re-election this fall.

In the e-mail, sent July 4, Dunn told Beaubien that she should retire "or be humiliated and lose the next election."

Which was Dunn's response to Beaubien's calling him out:

In the e-mail to Dunn that he said sparked his July 4 response, Beaubien reprimanded him for sending an e-mail to the charter school president "that was intended for the board" and called this action "unconscionable." She did not elaborate on the communication between Dunn and charter proponents.

"You are either very stupid or very vicious and conniving. Again, you have caused the district embarrassment and made it difficult for the board to work as a unit," Beaubien wrote in her e-mail. "What a sad thing that this community must put up with your antics for two more years."

Whatever you think of her words, Dunn was apparently trying- again- to build his cabal without communicating to other board members.

I'm not privy to their internal workings, but from where I'm sitting I'd say that the proper thing for him to do if he wants to share information with people outside the board is simply this: email the other board members first and say, "I really think we should share this with the parent group," or whomever. In fact, send the communication noting that the entire board wanted it forwarded.

That, however, would not feed Dunn's self-promoted persona of being the sole man of the people on the board. The only reason he does this is to build political division. It has nothing to do with the health of the district.

Dunn "often gets a bad rap, but he is trying really hard to keep communication open with the charter to make sure he understands, and I think other board members are trying to control that communication," Hartsuyker said. "He wants to hear what people say, and I respect that."

No, he's using you.

In his e-mail, Dunn wrote that a former Conejo Valley resident has contributed $8,000 to his political action committee and the Ventura County Republican Party to defeat Beaubien and Didio in November. He wrote that Citizens for a Better CVUSD, another political action committee, "is already running ads against you and Dolores. Blue Ribbon schools are being closed. CVUSD students are leaving our schools to attend other neighboring public schools." [snip..] Dunn "is bringing in the Republican Party, which is trying to deal with a nonpartisan election," Contini said. "One needs to ask, Are we talking about running to win or running to serve?' I don't see anything there about serving kids."

This particular bit of Dunn's positioning is all about division and creating a partisan board. Nothing else.