Mailbag - Aug. 22, 2000

It is time for change, now that we are going to spend $100 million on

school repairs.

We must let our new superintendent replace his staff as he sees fit

(“Newport-Mesa’s principal problem concerns parents,” Aug. 10). We took a

long time to find Supt. Robert Barbot, because we wanted a person to fix

our schools.

The first step for Barbot was to give the students a good place to

learn and the staff a nice place to work. Now, let’s replace some

principals. Barbot has to have people who will work on his team, and some

don’t like changes.

It seems we have teachers who refuse to learn computers, and some

principals don’t make them learn, because the teachers have only a few

more years before retirement. What happens to the students who have a

teacher who won’t let them use the computer in the classroom?

We have spent a lot of money on computers with the idea that every

student and teacher would use them. We need principals who have control

over the teachers and don’t let them do their own thing.

There are a lot of highly educated people on Barbot’s staff to set up

programs that will raise our students’ grades, so he needs a strong

principal staff that will make sure the teachers use these programs.

After all, with the low test scores our students are getting, we need

changes. And we look to the superintendent when things happen such as low

test scores.

Let’s get behind Barbot and support his management skills. After all,

isn’t that why we hired him?

JOHN RULE

Costa Mesa

Jury duty can be quite a burden

It is refreshing to find an article singing the praises for being on a

jury (“The blessings of jury duty,” Aug. 19). Perhaps many of us would be

more willing to serve if our court system gives this mandated duty an

easier course to navigate.

The last time I was summoned, I was made to sit in a sparsely

furnished holding area for eight hours waiting for my call. By

midmorning, I had run out of reading material I brought along. Just the

availability of ESPN sports cable-TV channel in the room would have made

the experience less boring.

With our current system, there is also no way to predict how long a

trial may last. While this may be OK for those who continue to earn a

salary in their absence from work, it creates a great financial hardship

for those who must labor daily to make a living.

Even the recently raised compensation of $25 per day for the jurors is

ridiculously low, given that my handyman charges me more than $35 per

hour just to do minor home repairs.

An even greater problem is the loss in productivity, since a simple

jury trial requires the presence of dozens of potential jurors in order

to end up with the chosen few.

I just received my jury summons two weeks ago, telling me to call a

certain number to find out the specifics. A message then advised me to

call again for yet another set of instructions, while warning that I

might be called for jury duty that very same date. Given this short

notice, there is really no time to adjust my appointments or reschedule

my jury duty dates.

At least this time I will be better prepared by bringing along a

portable TV, a briefcase full of magazines and perhaps even a beach chair

in which to while away the hours of potential boredom.

To encourage better citizen participation, our court system could

start by treating each potential juror with more consideration and

respect.

JOHN T. CHIU

Newport Beach

Opponents of Dunes plan have rights too

Robert Badham’s letter to the editor defending his support of the

proposed Dunes hotel chides those of us who oppose the hotel for

resisting development on property we do not own (“Badham defends his

support of the Dunes,” Aug. 10).

Perhaps our former assemblyman should have read the Daily Pilot more

thoroughly before making such a comment. The Dunes hotel would sit on

public tidelands in Newport Beach, to my mind making us all owners of the

land.

But even if Badham had been accurate and the Dunes was to be built on

private land, his statement has some troubling implications. Taken at

face value, it would imply that none of us have the right to object to

any development in our city.

If past City Councils had subscribed to that philosophy, we would have

a freeway through town, waterfront homes with docks on the Back Bay and

high rises all around Newport Bay.

I certainly hope we will soon add the Dunes hotel to the list of

ill-conceived developments stopped by concerned residents of our city.

SUSAN SKINNER CAUSTIN

Newport Beach

A poetic tribute for a principal

I just received a letter from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District

office explaining Principal Allan Mucerino’s departure from Ensign

Intermediate School in Newport Beach. This letter and his departure still

concern me (“Newport-Mesa’s principal problem concerns parents,” Aug.

10).

Unfortunately, what is done is done. But Newport-Mesa, should you ever

find another principal who is an:

Advocate for children

Listener

Loyal

Approachable

Nonprejudicial

Mentor

Understanding

Coach

Enthusiastic

Role model

Innovative

Notable

Open-hearted

treat that principal well. Don’t let him or her walk without a major

fight.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District, you just won the gold!

PAM JACOBS

Newport Beach