As I look at your blog I don’t see the school district website under usefull references. Can you add it?

http://www.Dublin.k12.ca.us

John Ledahl

The following is an email I sent Tim Hall a couple of weeks ago. I received no reply.

If anyone wishes to continue a mutually respectful dialog on this issue, or others, please feel free to email at the address below.

Mr. Hall,

I am writing this to offer myself to you for a frank, candid, and mutually respectful discussion of the issue of a second high school in Dublin. I read your recent blog post, and although you particularly singled me out, I think your concerns are sincere and worthy.

However, I refuse to respond via the blog because of attacks by folks who fail to reveal themselves. I understand the nature of blogs, but you have no idea the vile emails I have received stimulated by the blog. Perhaps if all of us treated people respectfully like you do in your posts we could have a more in-depth look at the problems. You seem to project that value in your comments.

This is not about the upcoming election, If you wish, we can wait to meet until after the election. Whether I win or lose, we can meet because educating our kids in Dublin is my primary concern and has been since I arrived 22 years ago. While I try to state my views openly, they are not entrenched in a stubborn will, but rather in many years of analyzing the problems and coming to conclusions. This is why you typically won’t see me change my positions in the middle of an election campaign. At the same time I have always been open to new information or points of view and have changed my mind on issues. That is what triggered my first response to give a clear argument for where I think we are. In fact, I first got elected on an issue that I was able to get the existing board at the time to change their vote on a boundary dispute. I have also been directly involved in replacing a mediocre Superintendent, censuring a dangerous school board member, and successfully fighting to improve a technology investment that was millions too high – all highly volatile events.

Like you I find it takes considerable words to articulate my thinking. If you wish to meet over coffee, please let me know. Thanks.

Regards,

John

John Ledahl
Vice President, Dublin School Board
ledahljohn@dublin.k12.ca.us

Jing Firmeza,

The past is the past, we’ll just need to leave it behind and pick up the pieces and make best of what we have left. Lets show the world that we can be more than a 2 trick (High Density Housing, Low End Big Box Retail) pony. We can do more, lets scale the same mountains all our neihboring towns are scaling, why be content with standing on a mound built with High Density Housing and Retail. Class A Development, up eschelon of Housing, Top notch school system should be our focus.

Regardless of what studies there are that is fueling the argument against and E. Dublin H.S. We need to look higher, shoot for the stars, set the bar high and do what others have said cannot be done. Don’t take no for an answer. We need to teach and expect that of our Kids. Why be content when neighboring school districts are also scaling and standing on top of high mountains. We’ve scaled the mound here in Dublin, great but now lets shoot even higher and not be content on the mound as being successful, lets scale the same mountains or even bigger ones than our neighbors. Why set our goals so low?

Do the impossible is what I ask the incoming District Leaders, look within and be that pioneer to tread water no other Board Member had dared to, a start of a new progressive ERA of CAN DO, not Cannot Do because someone said so as the current board is in love with.

I applaud the city council that included Mayor Lockhart for our commecial development improvements. I support them with regards to beautification of old commercial establishment and the vision for downtown Dublin. Exception is the West Dublin Bart areas and Windstar development. Windstar is a cluster of more high density with the worse parking ratio. I applaud them for the parks, senior housing, senior center, and keeping a sound fiscal budget. When we throw unfounded mud and attacks to our public servants, it just makes our city more undesirable. We need to sway their votes to us not be us the enemy. I don’t think we can stop growth. We are in the outskirts of the explosion of growth in the metropolitan cities. There is a fine line between a progressive city and being a metropolitan city. That is the challenge. There comes a point where the income generated from commercial establishment and property taxes will impact the type and quality of services we can provide to our residents. I am not even sure at the growth we are in that we might be spending more for services we can provide our citizenry in Dublin. Our police and fire services are excellent. Growth may come at a stiff price to maintain those type of services. We have more challenges as a city for the coming years than slinging mud to something that has happened in the past. We need to work in the future and forget the past.

Jing Firmeza