To the Editor:
Mr. Prado, you have no dignity.
As a long time member of the Fillmore Unified School District Board of Education, you are certainly aware of the dictates of the Brown Act. At the March 18 Board meeting, you exhibited arrogant disregard of this law and such extreme rudeness that the office of the Ventura County District Attorney was compelled to issue a Letter of Reprimand.
Rather than apologize for embarrassing the Board, the School District, and the people of Fillmore, you chose to blame Karen Ashim, the recently retired high school head counselor, and attempted to assassinate her character. You claim that Mrs. Ashim and her husband have “recklessly damaged” the reputation of Mr. Mesfun, the high school principal. According to legal documents, Mr. Mesfun accomplished this himself. You said that the Ashims had “distorted” Superintendent Nishino’s accomplishments. What has he accomplished in Fillmore? Schools that are failing, students in danger of not graduating because of failed policies, an atmosphere of distrust and fear among teachers and staff, and unanswered questions about the legality of his compensation. You also claim that they have “maligned” the Board. I regret that the Board needed no help in maligning themselves.
Mrs. Ashim’s attendance at Board meetings is motivated by her desire to continue to help students. I applaud her persistence and her courage. Unfortunately, as this Superintendent and Board have often demonstrated, in this district, courage is a punishable offense. She has done nothing of which to be ashamed. Mr. Prado, you had the audacity to suggest that she is racist and even used the phrase “high tech lynching”. For this you should be ashamed. You imply that she purposely didn’t allow certain Mexican students to take AP courses. With a student population of 86% Hispanic students, it would be impossible to deny entry into these classes based on race. Was she a “Gate Keeper”? No, she encouraged all students to take courses that challenged them. There are only so many AP classes. There are only so many students capable of success in these classes. Were mistakes made? Undoubtedly, she is only human. I thought you were above the indecent claim of racism in any non-Hispanic who didn’t agree with you. I regret that I was mistaken. Lastly, Mrs. Ashim deserves more respect than to be referred to as “this woman” which you did twelve times in your diatribe. It convinces me that my contention is accurate.
Mr. Prado, you have no dignity.
Mary Ford

***

To the Editor:
I would like to thank the members of the Rotary Club of Fillmore for their generous donation of $100 to help with this year Arts Show. The donation will go towards the expenses of putting on this years’ event “Euphoria” scheduled for Thursday April 10th at the Memorial Building.
On behalf of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Fillmore High School, thank you!
Rosalind Mitzenmacher
Visual Arts
Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair
Fillmore High School

***

To the Editor:
I would like to thank the members of the Ebell Club of Fillmore for their generous donation of $1000. The donation will help our department with not only this years expenses, but for future art shows as well. The members of the Ebell club have given generously over the years to the Fillmore High School Visual and Performing Arts programs. Thank you for all you have done.
Rosalind Mitzenmacher
Visual Arts
Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair
Fillmore High School

***

To the Editor,
I have known Mr. Russom Mesfun for the past 5 years and I have been fortunate to work with him on a variety of school safety and beautification projects while he and I were at Montera Middle School in Oakland, California. At that time he was the Principal and I was the Chairperson for Emergency Preparedness and VP of Facilities on the PTO board. Together we achieved many improvements that still remain in place to this day. I consider these to be testaments to the validity of our common goals. Those being both the safety of the students and the quality of the school campus environment.
Just to give you a brief background on myself I have been involved in emergency preparedness with schools for many years. I feel it is a need that is for the most part left unattended. I am certified by the State of California as an Emergency Management Specialist and I have managed the Community Emergency Response Program for the Oakland Fire Department which is responsible for a population of 400,000 people. While that program encompasses a variety of avenues, the schools were always my personal preference. When my daughter first started at Montera I was a bit apprehensive of the school . This stemming from the fact that my daughter was coming from a private school and entering a public one . There were no specific reasons attributed to this. It was just a different environment. I will be the first to admit almost immediately, Mr. Mesfun reassured me that I had made the right choice. Not by his words , but by his actions. To give you an example of what I mean, I was on campus the first week of school and I happened to observe him during a lunch period sitting and talking with the students for most of the duration of that period. I had never seen a principal do that before. I have been around many schools in the past where the principal had no visible presence for the entire day. I also noticed as the days passed when I was there that Mr. Mesfun had an easy rapport with the students. He really does care about each individual student.
When I offered to oversee Montera’s emergency preparedness. I can say that right from the very beginning Mr. Mesfun was both supportive and accommodating. We met and discussed what we both had as expectations and as things would go we were both on the same page with student safety being the main focus. He was always willing to listen to my recommendations and place his trust in my actions. From granting me permission to move forward with an idea, to supporting each other at the PTO board meetings with the other members as well as the regular PTO meetings with the school community, to enlisting the aid of the faculty and staff in a support role for a variety of projects. I will honestly say that if it were not for Russom Mesfun I would not have been able to implement the majority of the items that I / we put in place. Here are some examples of his supportive efforts as they pertained to my roles When I reviewed the existing emergency supplies I found most of them were expired. After I acquired funding through the PTO for the updating of those supplies, Mr. Mesfun did not intervene but rather he allowed me to formulate an inventory list and purchase them. On another occasion I suggested we secure another storage container to house additional supplies. He was in favor of that and as a result I secured a second one. On another occasion I approached him and asked if we could schedule a series of disaster preparedness training classes for the teachers and staff. He assisted in that process by making it a mandatory training for all faculty members It became an annual event. When the Oakland Fire Department was searching for a venue to hold their Annual Citywide Emergency Drill debriefing session I approached Mr. Mesfun and he graciously offered the school as a host site.
While my primary focus was on student safety as VP of facilities I was tasked with other projects that yield themselves more along the lines of campus improvements. Projects such as campus beautification , decorative landscaping, benches for the students to use during lunch and break periods. Displaying school banners and art around the campus buildings. Installing a safety “cage” around an exposed gas valve setup. I had suggested we set up a PTO board room where the PTO could hold meetings and store any board related items. Mr. Mesfun was in full support of the idea and secured a storage room which we converted for that purpose. The largest project we worked on together was the acquisition and installation of a campus video surveillance system. He was involved in the planning process as well as the installation portion of it which involved an ongoing collaboration with the vendor. We established a teachers lounge adjacent to the main kitchen area. He supported another parent who established a parent patrol to oversee various areas of the campus. We collaborated on a jacket design and as a result purchased team jackets which served as both a determent and patrol identifier for the students.
As I was on site on a regular basis I was able to see Mr.Mesfun in all aspects of his role as a principal. Most of which did not relate to myself. When there was an issue between two students he always handled it in a fair and professional manner. Some principals would just go to extreme measures such as the use of suspensions to attempt to set an example. Mr.Mesfun would prefer to meet with the parents of both students in an effort to resolve the matter in a more amiable way . While I did mention this previously I would like to reiterate the fact that he genuinely cares about his students and has a driving desire to help them in whatever their need is. On a daily basis he would be out in front of the school both before and after school to direct traffic away and act as a crossing guard to ensure the students were safe. He routinely sat in on classes and observed the teachers to ensure they were adhering to the curriculum
Although I have given numerous examples of ways Mr.Mesfun improved the quality of Montera Middle School, these are primarily related to the area I was involved in. He was equally supportive in every other aspect of the school as well whether it be academics, sports, or the surrounding community. As a result Montera Middle School was awarded the Distinguished School Award by the State of California in 2011.It is worth noting that it was the only middle school to receive the award that year. This brings me back to what I mentioned at the start. Because of the leadership of Russom Mesfun as Principal at Montera, my daughter not only had an easy transition as she entered into the school but over the course of her time there was able to flourish intellectually.
In closing I would like to state that during the course of the three years that I was involved with Montera I have always seen Russom Mesfun conduct himself in a professional manner regardless of the task at hand and he has always had the best interest of the students as his number one priority. I can honestly say the it has been a privilege to work with him and an honor to consider him a friend. If you would like additional information feel free to call me at 510-333-3650
Sincerely,
A Grateful Montera Parent
Jeff Morelli