As you may imagine I get mail from those who agree and disagree with my positions and opinions—I welcome it and for the most part have enjoyed exchanges and dialogue with those who take the time to send an email and comment.  My Post last month “Michael Ellis: Ignorance or Arrogance” received a lot of feedback, all of it positive (which I cannot say was true of all the feedback from my Pelosi or Gore posts!) to this point.
 
I plan on a follow up Post on Mr. Ellis and the school board next week, but in the meantime I wish to share with you comments made from the podium at the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday May 1st by a Mr. Stu Cahn.  He was kind enough to forward his comments to me and granted permission for me to post in My Front Porch.  Interestingly the teacher’s union run website www.lbusd.com has video of all the board meetings, it will be interesting if Mr. Cahn’s comments will be edited from the video before they put the meeting on the web.
 
Mr. Stu Cahn’s comments Tuesday May 1, 2007 to Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education:
 
I would like to tell you a brief story about a 17 year old Millikan high school student.  He went to a beach party this past Saturday night at Bolsa Chica State Beach with some friends.  The kids had bonfires, ate hot dogs, probably toasted marshmallows.  Just before 10:00 P.M., someone suggested a contest to see whose fire was the biggest.  By this time, all of the boys’ wood was already in the fire pits, so they went looking for more.  Along the edge of the parking lot is a wooden stake fence that was erected to prevent blowing sand from crossing over to the parking lot.
 
This teen-ager went over and pulled 2 stakes out of the sand and threw them into his fire. A second boy walked over, and while trying to pull a stake out of the ground, was caught by a park officer.  The first boy had not been seen removing the stakes, but when he was asked whether he had done so, he said that he had. Both boys were cited for vandalism, and will be appearing before a judge to answer the charges.  It is my belief that both boys will admit what they did, and face whatever punishment the court hands down.  In life, choices become consequences.  Bad choices often mean dire consequences.
 
Most children learn that in elementary school.  Both of these boys made poor choices, and will soon learn what consequences will follow. Teachers, principals, students.  All are held to high standards.  We as parents expect nothing less.  A couple of years ago, Long Beach held it’s collective head high with pride when we were awarded the Broad Prize.  It wasn’t just the $500K that we won—it was the culmination of hard work, brought about by the teachers, administrators and obviously, the students. 

I understand we are in the running again this year.  I wonder if the judges know about our recent problems facing our school board, and if that may have any bearing on the award coming again to our city.

I say problems facing our school board, because each one of the board members should be concerned about the choices each one of you make.  Whether it is business or personal, you are elected officials, and the clock doesn’t stop when you leave these meetings.  Your personal conduct sets an example for the very students whom you represent.  I believe in second chances, with few exceptions.  Murder, child molestation and spousal abuse deserve no second chances.  That said, drunk driving comes dangerously close to being included in that select grouping.
 
There are far too many innocent people killed because of someone making a selfish choice—getting in a car and driving.  When an individual makes that choice, he or she should be man or woman enough to face the consequence.   Like I said, I believe in second chances.  However, if what I have been reading in the papers is accurate, one of our elected board members has, since 1989, had four different chances that became convictions, and is now facing two more court appearances on May 22nd in Torrance and June 12th in Westminster, the latter a very serious
charge.

I am here today to offer up a scenario:  As leaders, the board should be setting good examples for our students 100% of the time.  Giving the benefit of the doubt, maybe an offense that occurred back in 1995 and 1989 should be forgiven.  However, when it appears that two convictions have occurred within the past 4 months, along with two upcoming court dates, I cannot support any board member who looks askance at this type of behavior.  I know that I do not stand alone in my belief, and would hope that anyone who feels the same would write to the Press Telegram, the Superintendent of schools, and the board members themselves, and demand an immediate resignation by Mr. Ellis.  I saw a headline from “My Front Porch” that read:  Michael Ellis: Ignorance of Arrogance?  Doing the right thing takes courage, and if the board cannot make Mr. Ellis understand that it is best for our community to tender his resignation, there is a 6 letter word that begins with “R” that will most definitely get his attention—recall comes to mind.

Just a little P.S.—the boy who admitted to pulling out the 2 stakes is my youngest son.  While I am not at all happy with his choice that night, I am very proud that he was man enough to come forward and admit what he did.  Whatever the consequence will be, he will face up to it, because he was
taught well by his Long Beach teachers in school, and at home, by his mother as well.

Thank you for your time today.
 
Well said Mr. Cahn, and as a parent I admire your son’s dignity and integrity in standing up to his actions.  There is so much adults can learn from our children, in this case Mr. Ellis can learn from your young man.