Says school board president is real cause of delay

It is beyond me how Ron Speakman, president of the Pleasant Valley School District board of trustees, can look this community in the eye and claim the 11 individuals involved with the appeal process of the district's application to unify caused the delays by the California State Department of Education and a running up of legal expenses for both PVSD and the Oxnard Union High School District.

Had he let the original petition run its natural course, PVSD would have spent a total of $26,000. Had Assembly Bill 780 not been actively supported and paid for by our district, the expenses would not be at the estimated $500,000 they've run up to this point. AB 780 has slowed the process. The 11 individuals have done nothing but exercise their rights in the legal manner afforded them in the legislation written and paid for by PVSD and are not the ones the finger should be pointed at.

While Mr. Speakman claims to accept the expert, objective information included in reports, his actions have proven that the only reports he accepts are the ones written by consultants paid by PVSD. He certainly didn't accept the report from the county committee that had five of the nine criteria for unification failing. His recent action of abstaining from voting on Val Rains' appointment to the personnel commission is just another example of his selective expert acceptance.

Doug Lowthorp
Camarillo