From: Jeremiah Small Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 To: Cc: , PEN , Antonovich , PSN , PW , Percy Clark , Mike Babcock , Prentice Deadrick , Scott Phelps , William Bibbiani , Estaban Lizardo , Peter Soelter , Ed Honowitz , Chris Brandow Open letter to Rene Amy: My name is Jeremiah Small. I am not one to make a judgment based on hearsay, so I resolved to join your discussion group and see what all the fuss is about. Several years ago, the things I heard about PUSD at "cocktail parties" were invariably negative, but when I actually resolved to go look at the schools first hand, I found an entirely different picture. I suspected that the same might be true of your email group. After all, you dubbed it Great Schools. Having read through your list archives for five days now, however, I am confused. What is your group's aim? As an outside observer, I find it really difficult to separate any kind of message you may have from the aggressive, nasty tone of most of the postings I have read. Granted, I have focused mainly on threads from this year, and there are over 16,000 postings in your archive, so I can't say that I have made a comprehensive survey of the tone of your group. Your group is nothing if not prolific. I am making the assumption that this is not a unique couple of months and that tone has been fairly consistent. As such, I have been seriously ambivalent about contributing to this discussion. The following excerpted thread, which is an indirect reference to me, was posted last weekend. I don't know if it is your objective to be intimidating, but imagine if you were John Q public, having just attended a community meeting at a neighbor's house, and then reading about said same meeting in the terms below: *************************************************************** From: Rene Amy Date: Sat Apr 8, 2006 5:57 pm Subject: Clarkowitz to Register Altadena "Meet Dr. Percy Clark and Ed. Board president Ed Honowitz Sunday, April 9, @ 4pm [...]" That's the announcement posted to a brand new 3-member discussion website http://alt.centraldesktop.com/altadena/ dedicated to the "Noyes Elementary Continuation Proposition." Looks like the greatschools list has competition for getting information out, since I'd not heard of this Clarkowitz meet and greet opportunity beforehand. Wonder if Mr. Register, the noted campaign consultant whose parcel tax primer was previously posted to this list, is getting paid for hosting the event... Rene *************************************************************** From: "Mary Dee Romney" Date: Sat Apr 8, 2006 10:18 pm Subject: RE: Clarkowitz to Register Altadena This proves the point that there is no difference between PUSD's management and governance. They're joined at the hip, fused by the political establishment. No wonder there's no accountability. Mary Dee *************************************************************** From: "Jerry Rhoads" Date: Sun Apr 9, 2006 5:54 pm Subject: Yuppie parking lot on Midlothian From the looks of the cars parked in front of Fred's house this afternoon, it looks like a full scale yuppie political convention is in process. Got to wonder if local political types are violating the Brown Act or if Noyes parents/neighbors have descended on Clark and Honowitz. Jerry *************************************************************** Not a huge motivation for me to contribute to your conversation. Reading about my activities being characterized as a "Yuppie parking lot on Midlothian" doesn't give me a warm cozy feeling. Frankly I'm afraid of being run out on a rail by the blood thirsty mob. Be that as it may, I have given it some thought, and if need be, I am ready to take my licks. But I want to state unequivocally, it is not my intent to attack you or anyone. I am positioning myself before you in a stance of "non-violence". I am hoping that we can refocus the discussion, more towards solving problems, and less towards name calling and mud slinging. Is it helpful to belittle Clark and Honowitz with the contraction? Funny and clever as it may be, it doesn't do much for your credibility. And what is the point of Jerry Rhoads making the yuppie comment? By my read, that is a pejorative term, despite the fact that it's literal meaning (young, urban, professional) is in fact mostly true, if you can call Altadena urban, and 95% of those in the meeting young ;) After all, what is the point of local politics? Aren't we all primarily interested in improving our community? How does it help to make a hobby out of knocking it down? I understand that in politics there is a certain awful strategic advantage to occasionally sowing destruction. However, if that's what Rene Amy's political strategy has been, isn't this group a bit of a defeated army pillaging the villagers after the battle has been lost? If so then I realize I am putting myself in the path of a pitiless political machine, and I have resolved to take my public beating if need be. However, I don't think it has to be this way. I am not na•ve to the facts. I realize that this group has made plenty of enemies amongst the status quo over the last few BOE regimes. I know the Mr. Amy and Dr. Clark made an aborted/thwarted attempt to forge an alliance in 2001 or so. I know that Mr. Amy has done plenty of good for the community. I also know that Mr. Amy and friends have been aggressively and relentlessly attacking the district for years now. I agree that watchdogs are an essential part of a democracy. This group, however, seems determined to cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war. It's too much dog and not enough watch. Mr. Amy, as you are not an elected official, we the people have no direct sway over you. You behave in a legal although often difficult to understand manner, so while we can engage you in debate if we dare, we have no direct control over what you are doing, and mostly just stand on the sidelines aghast. One must assume that there is some fundamental passion and goodness that drives you, and that is what I am interested in learning about. I hope that you do not try to change the subject by dissecting my letter like a trial lawyer, but rather pause and consider what it is I am really trying to say. It is not my intent to destroy or discredit you and your organization. I am not presenting myself as any kind of opponent. I extend my hand in friendship. How can we find a way to quell the fighting? My family has been committed to this community and this school district for four generations. My children's 93 year old great-grandmother is alive and well in Pasadena, went to Willard and Wilson and graduated from a PUSD high school. My father-in-law was in the first PHS senior class. My wife was valedictorian at Muir in 1989. My oldest child is five and will be entering a PUSD kindergarten in the fall. As we all know, PUSD is in a precarious time of contraction. In my opinion we are at or near a tipping point. Tipping points are intrinsically both balanced and unstable, presenting enormous opportunity for change. It takes very little effort in one direction or another to determine which way things go. I have a personal vested interest in seeing this district succeed, and I am sure that ultimately you and your group do too. Please, help us as a community to push in a positive direction. At the very least, please take the high road and stop trying to destabilize things. Perhaps even call for a "cease fire". Finally, I have borrowed your closing James Madison quote to close my letter. I think it is incumbent on all of us, including you, to heed this wisdom. I know you have been a long time champion of public access to information, and that you regularly sue the district to achieve said access. Let me point out, however, that thanks to the efforts of champions like yourself, and despite your view to the contrary, I find that boat loads of excellent information is trivially easy to obtain from our district. For example, I view it as no small miracle that I can audit board meetings from my desk. If you look at the video of the last board meeting (March 28th) at approximately time code 04:13:00, you can see the presentation of Dr. Evans, Mr. Rogenstein and Mr. Luce on secondary reform where they make a compelling case for expanded alternative high school programs. As you may have gathered from our website at , I am not in favor of using Noyes as a location for this program, for numerous reasons spelled out on our web site. I understand from your postings that you are opposed to this kind of high school reform altogether, calling it "Educational Apartheid". I assume you saw the presentation I am referring to as well. Perhaps since this is a timely topic, and we are both currently engaged with it, you and I could use this as a spring board to discuss the pros and cons of this draft proposal, how it was presented, how well or poorly district staff performed in drafting the supporting paperwork, etc. without using inflammatory language, and sophistic debating tactics. Strictly a conversation between two concerned citizens about the merits and concerns we might have about a specific staff proposal to the BOE, the process yet to unfold for deciding on this proposal, issues and resolutions available for addressing neighborhood concerns etc. Would you be inclined to engage in such an exercise? -- Jeremiah Small Altadena "A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a Prologue to Farce, or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." -- James Madison