Readers’ comments: January 19, 2024

Petition supporters aren’t to blame for special election costs
Dear editor:
As a petition signer, I do not appreciate the tone and tenor of your comments [“Special election price tag confirms its idiocy,” January 5] directed towards those of us who supported a special election for the Trustee Area 4 seat on the Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education.
If you are looking for someone to blame for this, look no further than Mr. Llanusa and his merry band. He and his co-defendants should pay restitution towards the cost of the special election as part of their punishment.
Direct your ire towards LA County and the forced use of their systems. A simple paper ballot and local volunteers would have sufficed, a la the Iowa caucuses, for a fraction of the cost
It’s ironic that while some decry saving democracy on a national level, those of us who choose to elect a school board member through the local democratic process are vilified by claims in your paper that political conservatives are “forcing their will” upon CUSD, throwing a temper tantrum, and referred to as idiots. If a special election is so damaging, we should change the guidelines to use local resources, require a larger sample for the petition, or eliminate the provision altogether.
The cost as compared to CUSD’s $100 million annual budget (according to the latest numbers available from the National Center for Education Statistics) represents less that .5% of the district’s total fiscal outlay annually. Surely our board and administrators will cover this cost without too much, if any, impact on the classroom. Private sector boards and executives face these challenges regularly.
My incredulity centers around more serious matters: getting our kids caught up after losing two years of instruction, lack of security at CHS, the defunding and undermining of the SRO, the encroachment of DEI and CRT in the classroom, test scores, achievement standards, and the impact an influx of non-citizens will have on CUSD. These are the critical issues facing our community.
Campbell Wright
Claremont