School board should stay out of politics My family enrolled in the San Diego Unified School District from a private school at the beginning of the 2009 school year. After a full year of seeing how the school board is run, I must tell you I am appalled to see that the school board believes it should have its hand in local and national politics. My understanding is that a school board is to provide education to the district‘s children, not run a register-to-vote campaign or condemn another district’s laws. On Sept. 17, I received two e-mails from the school district regarding voter registration. The first was a test, the second, exactly the same but was the non-test e-mail. While I agree it is important for all citizens to register to vote and actually cast their ballots, I do not agree that it is the business of the school district. In May, [published reports said] “the San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Education voted unanimously to condemn Arizona’s new immigration law and will not let employees travel or do business in Arizona until they repeal the new legislation.” Agree with the Arizona law or not, how does this proclamation help our students get out of program improvement schools? Each of you must know the database of district families’ e-mail addresses is confidential, and should be used only for the business of disseminating district information, not political views or for purchase by outside entities. Board members, get back to the business of educating our children and out of the business of politics. Tacy Armstrong San Diego Kudos to the La Jolla Planning Association The trustees of the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) rejected a request to grant a variance to the coastal zone 30-foot height limit at its September meeting. Not mentioned in the Village News article of Sept. 23 is the fact that the applicant already has a community and city approved plan for a library. Many of the trustees have close ties to the Bishop’s School, the applicant for the height variance. Nonetheless, the trustees held firm and rejected the request to grant a variance to an ordinance created by a citywide referendum and tested all the way through the Supreme Court. No known exception to this ordinance has ever been granted in 30 years in the entire coastal zone where it applies. It is the single ordinance that keeps our beaches from being walled off by a row of high-rise buildings. With its integrity intact, the LJCPA can now go forward in its effort to get the city staff and Planning Commission to respect local planning decisions that are consistent with the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance and the La Jolla Community Plan. Without the trustee’s decision to reject a variance to the 30-foot height limit, the LJCPA would have no credibility. Dave Little La Jolla Prop D promises will likely go unfulfilled The supporters of Prop D (on the Nov. 2 ballot) say 10 reforms that will reduce the city deficit will be enacted before Prop D takes effect — if it is approved by the voters. We now have proof that the 10 reforms are meaningless. The reform, which would allow outside companies to compete against city workers for government jobs, has been tentatively agreed upon by the city worker unions and Mayor Jerry Sanders. In order for a private bid to be accepted, it must be at least 10 percent less that the cost of doing the work with city workers. Additionally, the cost of doing the work with city workers will not include pension costs. Those are the very costs which are heading the city toward bankruptcy. Unbelievable that after four years of negotiation, the mayor has come up with an agreement which will outsource a grand total of zero jobs. We started out with a plan to outsource city work if it was cheaper. The plan now is to outsource if it is 10 percent cheaper than a city worker bid which will not include pension costs. Most unbelievable is that city officials expect us to believe this is progress toward reducing the city deficit. Don French Point Loma