LVUSD should perform survey


My family lives next door to a family with children the same age as our children. At the beginning of COVID stay-at-home, we created a pod so our kids could play together.

We were on the same page with mask-wearing, social distancing and other safety protocols. Now we are all vaccinated. Together, our families are ready to face this new world safely.

After a year of following the science, their kids are back in school for full-time, in-person learning, while ours are stuck in a remote hybrid with less than parttime instruction of only 2.5 hours a day.

Their public school in Malibu is only several miles away from our LVUSD school. What’s the difference? The science isn‘t different on that side of the Santa Monica mountains. The PPE isn’t better near the ocean.

The difference is the politics.

Two weeks ago I watched a LVUSD board meeting for the first time. The lack of facts driving the conversation about why schools are not open for full-time learning was stunning. This board has outright failed to represent the interests of parents.

How do we know the board isn’t representing us? They never even asked. Since the state began opening up months ago, they could have sent out a survey.

Without survey results, the board doesn’t actually know if distance guidelines were or are of concern because they never tried to determine the actual class sizes. Without the numbers, they don’t know if scheduling teachers and staffing is an issue.

Without a survey, their talk is just that—talk.

The board is running out the clock for an immediate in-person, full-time education option with their empty words. They are winning. Parents are exhausted. Yet the voice of our teachers’ union is strong and clear.

The board has let politics get in between children and their well-being, between children and their education. And they have let the community down.

The board members who have not prioritized the interests of parents and their children should be recalled. And if a recall isn’t possible now, they should be voted out at the first opportunity.

Dave Payne
Calabasas