Dear Editor,

Mr. Lum’s letter to the editor convinces me more than ever we need advisory committees for both the school board and city council.

It is time the citizens rise up and support their neighbors that are having these ‘no common sense’ situations. Several months ago at a planning meeting some neighbors living near Liberty school commented about the parking situation. I heard no comments helping solve this problem.

How about an imminent domain for the property across the street. This property owner has taken lots of money from the citizens in the last 60 years and has not contributed anything to the city.

Yes, we are in dire need of an advisory committee. Please someone come forward and organize.

One more thought! Remember Mr. Lum’s ordeal when you go to the polls to vote for school board members

Lois Vann

Kerman

Dear Editor,

On August 1, the Kerman Unified School district took possession of my family’s home by way of eminent domain. The school district plans to use this property for more district offices and parking spaces. Aside from the principle of having one’s land taken away without consent, what I find even more disconcerting is the egregious, callous manner in which it was accomplished.

In February of 2005, while my father Steve was recovering from surgery, I received a call from assistant superintendent Jim Foley informing me of the district’s desire to acquire the property. After informing Mr. Foley that our family had no intention of selling at that time, he assured me that the district would take possession by any means necessary. Shortly after my father’s death in late March, I received another call from Mr. Foley, not to offer condolences, but instead to express his dismay that the property was rented to new tenants in the interim. Perhaps I presume too much, but I suspect that Mr. Foley was not raised in a small community such as Kerman; otherwise he might have learned the proper way to treat people. He might have learned that a pleasant word, a handshake and sincerity hold as much value to many Kermanites as a legal contract.

But then again, being raised in Kerman does not ensure that one will maintain these small-town values in the future. Take for instance school board president Brian Pacheco of District one. On June 15, 2006, I attended the school board meeting regarding the eminent domain proceedings on our property. California Code of Civil Procedure 1240.030 (b) provides that the power of eminent domain may only be exercised if the project is planned or located in a manner which would be most compatible with the greatest public good and least private injury. At this hearing, I offered Brian and the Board a number of alternative sites and options which might satisfy the district’s needs. These ideas were dismissed without discussion. In fact, when I asked Jim Foley to expand on the other options the district had pursued for their project, Brian ordered Jim Foley not to answer. As a business owner and a taxpayer, I would expect that a publicly-elected official be forthright and open in addressing a very basic question. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

In any case, the school district will have their parking lot. Jim Foley and Roger Halberg will have their larger office. And our board president will be proud of this accomplishment. But how do bigger offices for our superintendent and assistant superintendent equate to higher API scores? How does increasing the number of parking spaces equate to increasing the number of students taking the SAT and going to college? We should not be content with mediocrity. We cannot be satisfied with languishing in the 40th percentile in our API scores. We should not be content with only 24% of our students taking the SAT. We should not be satisfied when our students’ average score on the SAT is 950 (While this may have gotten one into UC Davis in 1986, the class of freshman entering the UC system in 2006 had an average score of 1200). We need our administrators to be accountable for their actions. We need trustees who make decisions not based on what may further their own political career but based instead on what is in the best interest of our students.