The other school board election

Martha Bowden

The Crier’s Oct. 5 Editorial on elections failed to mention an important Nov. 8 election for Los Altos Hills voters who live in the Palo Alto School district - the school board election to fill two vacant seats out of five. The candidates are: Claude Ezran, Barbara Mitchell, Steve Mullen and Dana Tom.

The Terman Middle School PTA is sponsoring a Candidate Forum 7:30-9:00 p.m. today at Terman Middle School Cafetorium, 655 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto.

This is a firsthand opportunity to meet and ask questions of the candidates for the PAUSD Board of Education. All candidates for the two open board seats will be present. Board members serve a four-year term.

All parents and neighbors are encouraged to come and get to know the candidates! Please be informed and vote on Nov 8.

Another side of Proposition 73

The Barchas Family

We were saddened to see your support of Proposition 73. It’s too late to mandate parental involvement in a girl’s life at the point that she faces an unwanted pregnancy and hasn’t told her parents. Understand that only girls with bad relationships with their parents will even be affected by the consequences of this proposition, as the others either have learned to avoid pregnancy or would tell their parents on their own.

If a girl doesn’t voluntarily include her parents in her decision-making process on finding herself pregnant, she should be so entitled, rather than face belated efforts by her parents to intervene.

We would encourage all readers to think through the implications of Proposition 73, which seem to involve government mandated “communication” way too late and imply that it is a bigger evil to interrupt a pregnancy than to force an unwilling and immature child to birth a baby as her “punishment” for having sex.

Important to participate in schools election

Shobana Gubbi

As the parent of two boys in the Los Altos School District and an active participant in the PTA and LAEF, I’ve made every effort to try to decipher how the public school system works. Still, I find it difficult to articulate to my elderly neighbor why the school board is broke each year and how the parents and community need to continuously step up to make it work.

In a few weeks, Los Altos will hold its school board elections. Three seats are up for grabs, and we have seven contenders. There is much at stake for our kids and our community.

In addition to developing policies and budgets to guide the school district and approving curricula, the school board evaluates trends and the needs of the district, renovations and the creation of new schools and programs to address community needs.

Even if you don’t have a child attending one of our public schools it affects you. The school board decides on parcel tax measures to put on the ballot and that has a direct impact on every resident. The indirect impact of how well the school board executes is reflected in school ratings and the value of real estate. A school board that earns and maintains the trust of the public has the potential to sustain and reweave the fabric of community.

So, how do you really find out more about the candidates? A candidate’s Web site will give you a list of qualifications and past accomplishments. I urge Los Altos residents to get educated on school board candidates.

We owe it to our children to make our decision informed and thoughtful.

Banning citizens from meetings?

Irv Drasnin

The Los Altos City Council, on the advice of the city attorney, has given itself the authority to declare what it deems to be citizen misconduct at its meetings to be a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or jail sentence. Furthermore, it empowers the mayor to ban citizens from city council meetings.

Something’s terribly wrong here. Should we conduct our public business with civility? Absolutely. Should we make it a crime if, on occasion, we don’t? Absolutely not. The members of this community should be alarmed by so unnecessary and so odious an action by its elected officials.

Candidates for city council should be called upon to state clearly where each stands on this matter before election day. Members of the city council should immediately rescind this offensive “code of conduct.” Then, they might be advised to consult a Robert’s Rules of Order for guidance and, at the same time, get a new city attorney.