DEAR JOE LETTERS -- Ferryman must do what is best for district

It is quite apparent that once again the controversy surrounding

school board trustee Jim Ferryman has missed the point. In Joseph N.

Bell’s column (The Bell Curve, “Ferryman wants to finish what he

started,” Thursday), the main focus should not be focused on what is best

for Ferryman; it should be focused on what is best for the student

population in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

As a former teacher and adolescent counselor for 13 years, my decision

to leave education, the world’s greatest profession, had little to do

with the changing society or its children. It had to do with the

inconsistencies and hypocrisies of the administration, school boards and

state legislators. What is good for the goose, in our educational system,

is not good for the gander.

In this case, we can all acknowledge Ferryman’s many years of service.

We can all acknowledge that this mistake may help him better his life.

What we cannot forget, however, is the 16- or 17-year-old student who

also has a moment of weakness and is in the wrong place at the wrong

time.

Either Ferryman lives up to the expectation of the district’s

zero-tolerance policy, or the school board should change its cast-in-iron

policy. It is the belief of the board that mistakes are unacceptable. We

all make mistakes, but it is only an issue when we suffer from them.

A student who disrupts our schools or has multiple abuses or

antisocial behavior should be identified and dealt with differently. The

system has programs and schools for these students. Commonplace

adolescent indiscretions are another matter. The district should have on

campus adult counselors that deal directly with the problems facing our

young people. In my years working with an enlightened administration, we

used the age-old good cop/bad cop strategy. One adult threatened and the

other counseled. The outcome was positive and helped many a teenager

through some tough times.

Punishment for the betterment of the student is warranted; punishment

for the mere sake of punishment is a waste of time. When I attended

Horace Ensign Junior High School in the early 1960s, our beloved

disciplinarian and coach, Mr. Jacobson, was allowed to punish us with a

paddle. It was not the sting of the paddle that hurt, but the

disappointment in Jacobson’s voice that was the real punishment. Zero

tolerance gives today’s youth no Mr. Jacobson.

The current school board has an opportunity to deal with Jim Ferryman

in a manner consistent in how they should be treating our kids in the

district. Remove the hypocrisy and do what is best for the children of

the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. If the district believes that

zero tolerance is correct, then Ferryman should be gone. If the district

can look beyond the policy and make policy dedicated to the best possible

opportunities for our youth, then let Ferryman lead the charge.

DUNCAN P. FORGEY

Newport Beach

After reading The Bell Curve, I felt so dizzy, I had to go sit down.

According to this column, those of us who think Ferryman should resign

are teetotalers and bullies with an agenda, and no regard for Ferryman’s

life of public service. No wonder I felt dizzy reading, I think Bell must

have been dizzy while writing it too.

That’s the only reason he would have shared with us the quote from

Mary Ferryman comparing her 53-year-old husband’s drunk driving “mistake”

to the mistakes her elementary school-age kids make in her classroom.

Thankfully, I had recently purchased an antidote: the best-selling new

book “The No Spin Zone” by Bill O’Reilly. I didn’t have to read far

before I began feeling better. To all the teachers, parents, school

administrators and local citizens who have deluged Ferryman with their

support, may I suggest you buy a copy. Better yet, buy two and give one

to Ferryman or Bell. They’re both spinning out of control.

MICHELLE ROE

Costa Mesa