The following letter to the editor was published in The Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, November 1, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.
R.B. schools have received enough
The Redondo Beach School Board and Superintendent Keller should be ashamed of themselves. Putting another bond on the ballot four years after the last $140 million Measure C is a slap in the face to all the parents who constantly support the fundraisers, the never-ending cash requests and the Ed Foundation donations.
What’s worse are the deceptive glossy mailers coming to our homes. The latest one, received this week, lists over 200 names of “community leaders and members.” That list includes principals, few if any who actually live in our district, RBUSD administrative staff, including the superintendent, who don’t live in our city and handfuls of business folks who don’t own or operate a business in Redondo. I counted almost 80 names on that list that I personally know don’t live or own property in Redondo.
To further illustrate the deception is the Political Action Committee (PAC) that is behind Measure Q. It’s called “Redondo Citizens for Quality Schools.” When I checked PAC contributions with the county office, I found that the actual people behind this PAC are all developers, land use attorneys and more developers! Almost none of these companies have Redondo addresses either. These developers have given in excess of $60,000 toward funding the Measure Q bond campaign. Are these developers really in it for the “greater good” or because they stand to win contracts, based on their assistance with the bond campaign? If these developers are in it to help R.B. create “quality” schools, then why haven’t they ever donated to our Ed Foundation? I’ve given my last penny to R.B. schools and I’m also voting “no” to Measure Q.
Mitch Kimball
Redondo Beach
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