Dunn is an enemy of public education

Regarding the Sept. 4 letter "Dunn defends his decisions on the board of education," Mike Dunn claims to be an "advocate for the rights and wishes of the parents with children in our public schools."

His statement is demonstrably wrong on at least two counts.

First, Dunn advocates for some parents, not all of them.

Second, according to his July 31 letter, Dunn doesn't actually advocate, he just follows the results of his polls. An advocate is more than a human ballot box. An advocate formulates, explains, proves and defends a position.

Dunn is in the wrong role: he acts as though he's an Assembly member, not a trustee. While Assembly members fight on behalf of their separate constituencies, trustees are supposed to work together to serve their single shared constituency.

The school board has the difficult job of formulating rational, legal and effective policies based on factors such as evidence, public opinion and law.

The board is legally bound to follow a detailed process while performing this job. An effective advocate wouldn't chafe at this process; he would be an expert at following it.

Dunn also mentioned Proposition 8. His support for this baldfaced piece of discrimination demonstrates his disregard for the basic humanity of certain upstanding citizens, some of whom are among his constituents.

This is a country based on rights, and any decent person would present an overwhelmingly objective and convincing argument before daring to deny rights to anyone else. Yet Prop. 8 is neither. It stipulates that the most violent heterosexual childabusing parents are better than the most decent and loving same-sex parents.

My children are well served by upstanding citizens of any sexual orientation.

They are not well served by Mike Dunn.
Chris Habecker
Thousand Oaks