Letter: School board actions questioned

Published 8:31 am Monday, May 30, 2022

Where is the reporting from the local paper of record?

On May 25, the OBSD Board of Directors (those that chose to attend) unanimously, without proper notification or public comment, unlawfully approved a school redistricting plan. Had a member of the public not come forward and pointed this illegal action out, this plan would be in place today.

A meeting held on May 11, was shut down for no apparent reason by the board chairperson, without completely addressing all of the agenda items. Those items included the redistricting plan, and an item listed as “facilities.”

We expect our school board members and superintendent to come prepared to meetings, to understand the issues, and to follow proper procedures for conducting meetings. This board clearly does not.

In April, voters overwhelmingly rejected a district recommended, bloated bond proposal. For months we were told of the deteriorating conditions of the district’s facilities. So what’s the next step? There are projects that are clearly needed — those that don’t include closing perfectly good schools, and spending $96 million. Since the bond failure there has been no action taken by the school board to explore other options nor any reporting on this by the Observer.

RICH EVANS

Long Beach