Are They High?

The smoke from medical marijuana dispensary controversy may have spilled over to the Claremont Unified School District's meeting last Monday night. At least, that's the only explanation we can find for some of the things the school board does - they're stoned!

Apparently, the Claremont Board of Education has decided to ban peanut butter sandwiches from Claremont schools. Or so reported the Daily Bulletin yesterday.

This action is being taken in order to protect the 49 peanut-allergic district students (out of 6,858 total K-12 enrollees) from the possibility of anaphylactic shock. The board not only wants to ban peanut products from Claremont schools, but they want to discourage students from bringing their own peanut products to school.

Now, we understand the seriousness of peanut allergies and the potential for serious complications and even death, but come on! P & J sandwiches are the All-American lunch, not to mention an inexpensive, semi-healthful food. So we have to ask, "Are they high?"

This is really the Claremont 400 at their hysterically Orwellian best - thought speak! food crime! The school district has always been the 400's playground, and they've beaten down any criticism by declaring anyone who questions the Board of Education's wisdom as anti-kid: "Why do they hate children?"

This really is the reducio ad absurdum though. The Claremont 400, in particular its five Board of Education members, seem to have too much time on their hands. Not content to contemplate the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin, they've taken up the latest educational fad - the peanut-free school. According to the Bulletin, one district representative (and 400 member) gave the reasoning: "'It's the only sensible thing for us to do,' said board member Mary Caenepeel."

We have a better idea. Why not just supply all students with self-enclosing plastic bubbles to protect them from all possible risks - falls, second-hand smoke, Ebola virus, etc....

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In more absurd CUSD action, Will Bigham in today's Bulletin writes that the school board apparently violated the Brown Act during Monday night's meeting.

Of course, this comes as no surprise to long-time school board observers. The Claremont 400 has had little respect for the Brown Act and has fairly consistently sought to conduct its business behind closed doors. In its heyday controlling the city council, the 400's actions earned Claremont a Black Hole Award in October 2000 from the California First Amendment Coalition.

That philosophy no doubt informed the decision to remove the faculty advisor from Claremont High School's student paper, the Wolfpack, as we noted yesterday. One good thing about these small-town Savonarolas' actions - through their attempts at hiding their business from the public eye and at controlling what news gets out, they're helping shape the resolve of a few future journalists and artists who are now students under this absurdist regime.