September 17, 2004
Marty Barofsky, who served for 18 years as a member of the school board (since 1982, but not continuously), resigned on 9-9-04, which in normal fashion was kept secret from the community by the superintendent.
Marty Barofsky resigned after a very contentious school board meeting on September 9, 2004 where he attacked the 7-11 Committee for violating the Brown Act and interrupting public comment on the issue This triggered a breakdown of civility and created a shouting match between the 7-11 Committee members and the majority of the community visitors against the school board.
A careful review of the tape indicated that lost in the noise was an apparent statement from Marty Barofsky that he "got it wrong", which apparently was heard by no one.
He recently opposed the union’s and Mr. Pinkston’s idea to start school a week earlier, blocking our kids from having 4-H exhibits at the AV Fair, with Principal Pinkston threatening to give those students who exhibited their 4-H projects at the AV Fair unexcused absences.
He opposed the superintendent and the board from appointing a 7-11 Committee made up exclusively of people supporting the thrice failed bond attempt for Vasquez.
And additionally, he agreed with Melissa’s analysis of the academic failure of the summer school program and suggested subject oriented sessions instead of by grade level.
But his failure, like the 2 other carryover members and the superintendent, is that he listened too much to the non-resident (of Acton or Agua Dulce) superintendents’ views on what this community wants for a school.
We have now closed our highest rated school, the one with the largest number of permanent classrooms, which was once rated as a distinguished school.
Instead, we have crammed our students into the libraries and stages of High Desert and Meadowlark. We have a total academic failure at Vasquez High, and the list goes on and on.
Its time for Steve Harberson and Fred Heslet to resign or immediately fix the problems they helped created.
The cost of a new school board election is the same as the cost of moving one modular to a new pad, and the district now plans to move 8 or 10 modulars from where they sit at a perfectly usable but empty school.
Acton and Aqua Dulce is a well educated pro-education community. When we turn down three bond issues in a row, pull 1,000 of their kids out of the school district and rise up to shout down the school board, what more do you need to prove that change is necessary.