Opinion: Current Del Mar school board deserves credit for many accomplishments

By Corinne Hackbart

Resident, Del Mar

The following letter was submitted in response to a letter to the editor published in this paper last week from Linda Crawford, Janet Lamborghini and Barbara Myers.

Barbara, Linda and Janet, when are you going to let this go? You have been out of this district for how many years? Yes, I will agree that the first few years of the “new board” was a bit distressing, but there was quite a large mess that was left behind due to your “ deferred maintenance.” The board needed to bring in a new superintendent and the one recommended, Sharon McClain, was not the community builder she told the board she would be. There was the Shores Property that needed to be dealt with, the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation was a total debacle, there needed to be a new home for the district offices and there was a real possibility of needing to close schools.

Well, Barbara, Linda and Janet, for whatever reason you have all been so intimately involved with all of these issues befuddles me. Are you still trying to vindicate yourselves? Linda, there are still many emails that can be released regarding your attempted collaboration with the former superintendent Tom Bishop against the “new board” (see past issues of the Del Mar Village Voice for email details) and Barbara, why do you continue to bring up old issues? You were caught with your opponents campaign signs in your garbage can (front page Del Mar Times).

If you look at the district today, as Marsha Sutton stated, this district has some of the highest API scores in the nation. We have a fabulous superintendent who does not want to participate in “drama,” the Shores is sold, debt paid off, a Foundation that has now found a path, the board found a way to not have to close any schools. The only thing that needs to be completed is finding a new home for the district offices and the current board is on top of that.

Those people who left or retired are not the fault of the current board members. Why should we believe the opinion of the old board on this — stop making false statements about why employees left. You do not see them writing letters confirming your false statement because they are not true.

The new board will still have its work cut out for them in terms of the budget and how to make it all go around evenly. They have to negotiate a long-term contract with our teachers and will still need to figure out the declining enrollment and how to deal with that. But, I think if we all look back at the last four years we will see that a lot of stress and distraction took place because change needed to happen and change is not easy. The now “old new board” has handled all the issues that needed to be dealt with a long time ago, dissolving and solving all the past distractions, setting in its place a more peaceful even keel stable environment to continue on this great ride. Steven McDowell would be an asset to have on board to bring in the old knowledge with the new.