July 3-July 9, 2014 Page 7

By Steven Fenton

guestcolumn

Where is everyone?

There was unusual silence from the

people mentioned in my column in last

week’s paper. Not from the community,

their voices were very clear. The silence

was coming from Brian Goldberg, Lisa

Korbatov, and Lewis Hall.

Maybe they think if they ignore me,

I’ll go away.

Go away? For the past two and half

years I did. Picking only the most egre-

gious of situations to have private con-

versations with members of the board.

These conversations started to result in a

healthy dose of lip service while the dis-

trict was getting a perpetual black eye.

I can no longer turn my back and

stay silent and neither can the people

who came out of the shadows this

week. Some of them I know, some I

don’t. Some I talk to frequently, some I

haven’t spoken to in years.

However, the invisible thread that

holds all of us together is the undeniable

fact that there is no room in our district

for school board members who don’t

share our values as a community.

Today, I’m writing this column for

our employees who work in fear. Fearful

that they might be the next ones who

are pushed out, publicly ridiculed, or

embarrassed. Are they fearful that they

might be run out of the district if they

give a board members’ child an infe-

rior grade or speak out against a board

policy? I don’t know but fear exists in

our district on a certain level and it

must stop.

I’m also writing for the parents who

might be hesitant to stand up. I’m here

to say, I’m standing up for you, for my

alma mater and for our community as

I won’t be pushed around by former

colleagues with no plan, no vision, no

heart. I’m not afraid

of them or Lewis

Hall, his dog, or his

979 votes from the

November 2011 elec-

tion.

Finally, I’m writ-

ing this column for

the many people who

have said to me “I’m

with you, what do we

do next?”

“WHAT DO WE

DO NEXT?”

The community

has two choices.

Either recall school

board members now,

or wait another 17

months until the next

election (when the

terms of three board

members are up).

Before each and

every one of us can

make this decision,

we need the board to

give us real answers

to the following questions:

LISA KORBATOV: (term ends in

December 2017)

Are you the source of closed session

items being leaked to the Beverly Hills

Courier? If not, would you be open to

turning over your phone records and

personal e-mails as proof?

Can you tell us why you were named

in the Karen Christiansen lawsuit (even

though you weren’t on the school board

when Karen was paid by the district?)

Can you tell us how many district

lawsuits you are named in?

Can you tell us how much money the

school district has spent on attorneys to

represent you?

Has Tim Buresh (or his company

PrimeSource PM, LLC) been paid more

than $2 million for his consulting ser-

vices? If so, can you explain to the com-

munity why?

In an unprecedented move, why did

you vote to remove the principal of El

Rodeo in March of this year?

Why did Marty Powers unexpectedly

quit as principal of Beverly Vista last

month?

LEWIS HALL: (term ends in

December 2015)

Did you leak

confidential infor-

mation about an

administrator to the

LA Times?

If the answer is

no, would you turn

over your phone

records and per-

sonal emails for the

dates in question as

proof?

Why were you

the only board

member to vote

against hiring a law

firm to investigate

the source of the

leak?

Can you tell us

how many district

lawsuits you are

named in?

Can you tell us

how much money

the school district

has spent on attor-

neys to represent

you?

Did you fail to properly fill out your

statement of economic interest filing

(Form 700)?

Did you fail to disclose all financial

interests to the district during your term?

Have you ever asked school district

faculty to use the products and services

of the for-profit business you own?

BRIAN GOLDBERG: (term ends in

December 2015)

In the past five years can you tell us

how much of the bond money has been

used to pay for attorneys, consultants

and public relations firms to fight the

subway?

In the past five years, can you tell us

how much of the bond money has been

used to pay for new construction of

buildings across the district?

Can you tell us why the board voted

in public to hire an independent law firm

(Rutan & Tucker) to investigate the leak

to the LA Times and then in private that

vote was rescinded?

Did any of the two high school assis-

tant principals receive a negative evalu-

ation before you voted to fire them?

Can you tell us whose idea it was to

remove the principal of El Rodeo in the

middle of the school year and why you

voted in favor of it?

During your presidency, can you tell

us why you voted to buy a seven figure

house for the superintendent to live in

but didn’t give our certificated faculty

and classified staff a raise?

During your presidency, can you tell

us why you voted to give a $40,000+

raise to a district office administrator but

didn’t give our certificated faculty and

classified staff a raise?

Can you tell us why this year, you

voted to give the superintendent a new

contract worth approximately $750,000

but haven’t given our certificated fac-

ulty and classified staff a raise?

Can you tell us why you voted to fire

a number of administrators that you

recently hired?

Can you tell us how many administra-

tors have quit the district since you’re

been elected?

Can you tell us how many current

administrators are presently looking for

new jobs?

Here’s where we have no questions.

Our community has love and respect

for the employees of our school district.

No matter what the circumstances are,

we know that many of our employees

were here before these board members

and many of them will be here long after

they leave. Together, as a community

and as a school district we have to end

this culture of fear that goes against our

very nature.

Steven Fenton served on the Board of

Education from 2007 to 2011.

PART II

“The community

has two choices.

Either recall school

board members now,

or wait another 17

months until the next

election (when the

terms of three board

members are up). Most

importantly, before

each and every one

of us can make this

decision, we need the

board to give us real

answers”