Is Santa-Monica school board member Emily Bloomfield fit to serve the second term she’s seeking in the Nov. 8 election? The seven members of the school board decide key issues about our schools and negotiate the pay and benefit contracts for all district personnel. Is it proper for a school board member to steadfastly refuse to speak or communicate with any district teacher, any district teachers’ union representative, any district voter?
The writer of this letter has taught at 16 SMMUSD schools during the past decade, is the senior representative for the largest single unit of the local teachers’ association, has been a district resident since the 1950s and has been active in Westside political and civic organizations.
As a member of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, this writer attended the August SMRR endorsing convention and was the only SMMUSD teacher and SMMCTA union rep present and voting. More than two dozen municipal elected officials and candidates at the SMMR convention spoke with me, but, curiously, Emily Bloomfield refused to do so.
Letters that I subsequently mailed in August and September to Emily Bloomfield’s school board office requesting the courtesy of a reply, have gone unanswered. Does a candidate such as Emily Bloomfield deserve to be returned to office?
Rufus Baker
Substitute Teacher, SMMUSD