Dee Perry taught two of my children and ran for the school board to promote educational excellence for all Laguna Beach students while bringing an openness to the deliberations of the board. She single-handedly pushed to have board meetings videoed and streamed, giving the residents a chance to see their school board in action. For her efforts to make this board more accountable, she has twice been denied the presidency despite the bylaw of clerk then president. Why? Because she views the students and their parents as her primary customers, not some notion that uniformity of thought is the overriding goal.
Dee was the second highest vote-getter in this past election, with a total of 5,595 votes.
Unfortunately, this carried no weight with other members of the board and the superintendent, who believed they had to stop Dee regardless of how many votes she got. After all, she was a subversive trying to bring accountability to what the board was/is doing. What could they do to deny her what their own bylaws required, namely that she serve a term as president? They mounted a coup. Without changing the bylaws or noticing the public of their intent, they elected someone else. It is clear that this sham “election” was illegal, and worse, antidemocratic.
Justice Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” This board prefers to work in darkness, so somehow the meeting where this chicanery took place was not videoed. Allegedly there was a technical problem, but was there really? Or was the technical problem a central part of a plan to keep the public in the dark about what was being done to disenfranchise those 5,595 citizens and deny Dee the presidency?
Why would they do that? Probably because only the president has the power to put items on the agenda. See BB 9006 No. 4. This is the type of tactic that dictatorships engage in. The LBUSB has managed to put itself in the company of people like Maduro in Venezuela. Is that really the model to emulate for Laguna Beach residence and students?
One of our best and most liberal newspapers, the Washington Post, has adopted a new motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” This is exactly the hope of the current board and superintendent.
I call upon this board to immediately elect Dee Perry as the rightful president of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board.
Emil Monda, Laguna Beach
If you spend anytime in the schools as a parent it is apparent that there is corruption at the very top that is proliferated by the Board President & superintendent, and it is something clearly Dee does not support. Parents have no say in what goes on, despite fake dialogue between the entities. This is a Public school district run amok and it is surprising that the media has not caught on yet. Please VOTE these people OUT next election.
There is a serious stench in this town. Dee is incredible and what they are doing to her is echoed in various areas of our city government. “Fake dialogue” is exactly right. If you raise a concern, you get double speak and BS. “Technical glitches” prevent emails from being received or meetings being recorded. No effort to root out this stuff. There is corruption at the school board & in City Hall. Paid lobbyists influencing staff, claims of kick backs and cash payments to staff. We need the DA to intervene.
The students, staff and faculty have never been more pleased with current administration and leadership. For those of us working in the schools, we consider this the “golden years” for our district, and the strides we have made have been remarkable. We are a top district in the state, and we hope to remain as such with Dr. Viloria at the helm.
Dee has served and earned the right to have a turn at the presidents seat on the Board.
Dee your willingness to act as president and further help kids and the community are commendable. Many in Laguna hope the majority will
grant a tenure of rotation and allow all to contribute to a better Laguna.
paul Merritt