By Roger Gitlin, EYE ON DEL NORTE – October 11, 2021 The Del Norte Unified School District is forever starving for more Public funding. It is time to hit the DNSUD where it has real impact: the pocketbook. Folks in Del Norte have enormous power which I must candidly reveal is not being exercised. It is time for parents, property owners and all voters to awaken and start flexing your influence in what is being taught in DNUSD classrooms. The latest episode of DNHS students being subjected to a State-approved novel which highlighted the writer's diary of his masturbation habits and experiences is NOT a stand-alone incident. Complaining to DNHS principal Alison Eckart, Director of Curriculum Instruction Leslee Machado or District Superintendent Jeff Harris will not be productive and, in my opinion, a waste of your time. Even complaining to Board of Education members Angela Greenough (past president – the School's website is not updated. President, Don McArthur, Frank Magarino, Charlaine Mazzei and Jamie Forkner will be futile. This entire Board has squandered the opportunity to reject this instruction and other very questionable curricula and choose to ignore very concerned parents' concerns and permit this vile instruction by Certificated staff to continue…UNTIL NOW ! Allow me to share how the public education system works. Districts like the DNUSD derive funding by pupil attendance. When your child is not in the classroom the District loses the revenue for the day(s) the pupil is absent. Considering each student generates over $20,000 for Average Daily Attendance, the funding is considerable. You can clearly see the motivation to put the child in a classroom is revenue-motivated. This immutable fact is glaringly obvious by Superintendent Harris and the Board's zeal to acquire its 37th property tax-exempt building for the purpose of serving the needs of so-called absent youth and putting those kids in a classroom… any classroom within the DNUSD. It matters not if the child is actually learning…The motive is $ not learning. The County Office of Education is moving forward in spending about $400,000 plus an estimated $200,000 for necessary alterations to convert what was once Drs. Duncan turnkey medical office into a 12 cubicle office to build up and derive additional State revenue. The proposed Office will reportedly serve the needs of so-called homeless youth. Del Norte students sadly reside near the very bottom of a State which has and continues to deteriorate its scoring on testing, year after year. The insatiable quest for more money will NEVER stop… unless YOU stop it. Consider joining a group of like-minded parents and organizing and participating in a withdrawal for your child for a period of perhaps a day, a week, a month or longer. The District will not be compensated for the days your child is not in the classroom. The Public has power. You will attract the IMMEDIATE attention of the entire Board of Education and every bureaucrat who derives a paycheck from the District. Consider homeschooling. There are a number of very high quality homeschooling opportunities emerging in Del Norte.More importantly, YOU will cut off the air supply for a District which ignores, discounts and shames you into compliance. AND vote NO on a proposed new $47 million School Bond which may appear on the 2022 ballot. Surveys are circulating as we speak. I am here to help you find your voice. Roger Gitlin Multi-Subject CLAD Certificated Teacher(Retired) Del Norte County District 1 Supervisor (Retired) EYE ON DEL NORTE(Active)