Mr. Sir...

SBCC Trustees in the pocket of News-Press..time for a change!! and where's Lanny?? tending to his plants??

way back in 2007, I wrote a note to SBCC Adult Education VP Pablo Buckelew, who has since resigned....the SBCC incumbents were all in office and when I contacted each of them, they seemed uninterested with my concerns....
Dear. Mr. Buckelew,
Since when is the News-Press dictating to SBCC what programs to allow? After Travis Armstrong of the NewsPress complained in an editorial about alleged bias, the SBCC Adult Education facilitator pulled the plug on a housing series, called "Host". Now, I'm the first guy to want to stop developers from messing up the area, but anybody should be able to offer forums thru Adult Education without censorship, with obvious exceptions. Apparently, some of the folks involved in the program are pro-housing..so what?! Go to the series and debate them instead of stifling the info....what country is this, CHINA?? What is Travis afraid of..freedom of speech?! Pablo Buckelew, VP of Adult Ed, should resign immediately!! My goodness, where's the spine?"

Pablo's response:
Dear Mr. Sir,

Thank you for your email. First, let me assure you that Mr. Armstrong does not dictate policy to us. We were concerned about the balance of the forum as early as last spring and so notified the sponsors. I agree with free speech, but as an educational institution using public funds, we have a responsibility to offer balanced programs that reflect different points of view. Adult Ed is not designed for "anybody to offer forums without censorship...". Rather, it is designed to promote debate on important issues, but in a fair, balanced manner. This has been the policy of Adult Ed for many, many years and is a fundamental underpinning of education in general. The topics of housing, transportation, open space are clearly some of the most important and controversial topics in our community. It is critical that they be presented in a balanced way if it is to be an Adult Ed class, leaving the conclusion to the student. They can also be presented to the public in other forums that are not classes that present a particular perspective.

Sincerely,

Pablo Buckelew

so you see, the local school boards and trustees need to go and stop sucking up to wealthy interests...and you know as well as I know that the News-Press doesn't care squat about students, especially when they want to deny them their right to vote...