Main Course of Action

By Ali Abdolsalehi

The following are a series of plans and methods of advancement for Laguna Schools

Visiting the school sites, specifically speaking to the students publicly, and learning first hand the problems is also necessity.

Also foreign language should become readily available at the elementary school levels, along with advanced music curriculum and integration, while the child is still capable of learning that particular language to the level of fluency at a young age. The school board MUST also, give the students at the elementary school levels a full day of education. Currently, in some circumstances, our elementary children are only receiving what is somewhat comparable to a "half day" of education. This needs to be amended immediately.

2. It comes down to money and responsibility. Personally I do not believe that the citizens should be held responsible for the mismanagement of school district funds. However no one can deny that the passing of the school bond will aid in the "money aspect of the equation." However I do not feel confident at the moment that that money will not be wasted in the same fashion as other funds have been, being delegated for similar projects in the past. The only way this program will truly work is the establishment of an exceptional oversight committee, in order to gain the confidence that the Moines delegated to the modernization program will be used responsibly and with justifiable and appropriate causes in mind.

3. I do not believe the school board in and of itself has attained in concept "fiscal responsibility." In the time that our district came close to bankruptcy, and forced themselves to cut teachers salaries, the board members stated that they were under the "impression" that all was fiscally stable and sound. The fact is that, impressions are not going to cut it for the future of our children. There must be more interaction with officials in charge of fiscal maters, such as maintaining the Best Chief financial executive officer, that Laguna can afford, and working very closely with that office.

As for maintaining new funds. I have found only one big neglected source of revenue income for the district. We must organize our efforts and start taxing the drug sales at the High School and junior high. With the utmost urgency in mind, we must not hide the fact from ourselves that Laguna Beach has one of the highest drug uses in its schools. I graduated from this establishment and saw the actions first hand, and nothing is being done to educate, terminate, or alleviate, the source, and the desire for such activities. So I just as well assume that since everyone on the district level is "OK" with this, we might as well get Uncle Sam involved and make some additional money to place our teachers under contract again, add additional minutes of instruction, and provide additional classes at all levels.