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C
our er i
laremont
claremont-courier.com
City council scuffles over funding El Barrio park event
Story on page 3
Saturday 05-26-12
u
75 cents
The long and short of it...
Story on page 20COURIER photo/Steven FelschundneffClaremont resident Caroline Redfield, 12, practices an aerial silk routine recently at Pilates Studio M in thePacking House. Behind Caroline is the studioʼs owners and one of the teachers Maria Bernhard.
Au Revoir
After 21 years,Harvard SquareCaf
é
closes
Story on page 4
 
With the greatestof ease
Story on page 16
 
Claremont COURIER/Saturday, May 26, 2012
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The Claremont Courier (United States Postal Service 115-180) is published twice weekly by the Courier Graphics Corporation at 1420 N. ClaremontBlvd., Suite 205B, Claremont, California 91711-5003. The Courier is a newspaper of general circulation as defined by the political code of the state of California, entered as periodicals matter September 17, 1908 at the post office at Claremont, California under the act of March 3, 1879. Periodicals postageis paid at Claremont, California 91711-5003. Single copy: 75 cents. Annual subscription: $52.00. Send all remittances and correspondence about sub-scriptions, undelivered copies and changes of address to the Courier, 1420 N. Claremont Blvd., Suite 205B, Claremont, California 91711-5003. Tele- phone: 909-621-4761. Copyright © 2012 Claremont Courier 
one hundred and fourth year, number 40
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Inflated superintendent salary
Dear Editor:I was surprised when I read the highsalary for Claremont’s newly selected su-perintendent of schools—$218,000—which amounts to more than 3 times the$68,397 that the average teacher in Clare-mont makes.Further, in this era of budget cuts andlayoffs, where salaries have remained flatfor most superintendents and teachers inthis state, I was again taken aback by theattached benefit in his employment con-tract that promises a 3.5 percent raise foreach consecutive year of service (based onan annual vote by our local school board).I did some further investigation and,while Claremont teachers’ salaries runvery close to what is our state average,our new superintendent’s salary is con-siderably higher. California superintend-ent salaries average at about $159,000annually.In 2010, for instance, nearby ChaffeyJoint Union High School District’s super-intendent made $172,198, substantiallyless, even though his district is 3 times thesize of Claremont Unified School District,with 942 teachers compared to Clare-mont’s 305.Early this year, I was heartened when aClaremont school board member ac-knowledged in the Claremont COURIERthat there is a serious crisis in value in Cal-ifornia’s public schools—that the qualityof education is being compromised byteacher layoffs, bigger classes, programsthat have been cut; California is now 50thin the nation in terms of class size, 46th interms of spending per pupil.So, I just don’t understand why we con-tinue to vote in pay raises for upper man-agement.
Pamela Nagler
Claremont
Protecting the children
Dear Editor:In regards to the situation at Sumner El-ementary School, I cannot believe amother would put her children throughsuch a terrible ordeal. My heart goes outto them.When I was at school, things like thishappened and in a couple of days youmoved on and forgot about it. Now thosepoor kids have to go to school every dayknowing that everyone knows aboutthem. Talk about cruel and unusual pun-ishment.In my opinion, School PrincipalD’Emilio did exactly the right thing. Heput the children’s welfare first. He knewhow awful it would be for them.I don’t blame the school board, theywere only doing what the lawyers toldthem to do, and I admire Steven Llanusafor standing up.The mother should apologize to Princi-pal D’Emilio—and the children—for allthe harm she has done and beg the schoolboard to reconsider.
Thelma Banks
Claremont
The emotional fragility of children
Dear Editor:I want to voice my support for Mr.D’Emilio in the case of the ClaremontUnified School District’s unjust and un-fair actions against him. I feel that the ac-tions taken by Mr. D’Emilio were entirelyappropriate in the case of these veryyoung children—a 7-year-old girl beingaccused of being a child molester? Exceptfor not reporting to DCFS, most of uswould not think of a pre-puberty/pre-ado-lescent girl as a sexual molester.Mr. D’Emilio’s response was not “im-moral or unprofessional.” His response re-flected his understanding of the fragilityof the emotions of very young children.I knew Mr. D’Emilio when he was thekindergarten teacher for my granddaugh-ter at Sycamore School. I took her to hisclass every morning and sat in the back of the room with several of the parents. Hewas an excellent teacher, all while creat-ing a very pleasant classroom atmosphere.One irate mother should not control theschool board’s actions and decisions to thedetriment of Claremont's future students.I am a retired teacher.
Virginia Lindsey
Glendora
Intern
Jake Bartman, reporter
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Claremont COURIER/Saturday, May 26, 2012
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CITY NEWS
T
he city of Claremont will co-spon-sor the 40th anniversary celebrationof El Barrio Park next month de-spite a lengthy dispute Tuesday night overa possible conflict regarding religion.
Mayor Pro Tem Opanyi Nasiali first called into ques-tion the appropriateness of the city’s sponsorship be-cause the event—set for Saturday, June 16—includes aCatholic mass.The Arbol Verde Preservation Committee ap-proached the city about the $370 co-sponsorship to help with the cost of insurance and equipment such aschairs and tables for the day of the party. The sponsor-ship would save the committee an estimated $620, theysaid.An hour of debate ensued regarding the city’s stanceon donating money to an event with religious ties, a po-tential violation of the First Amendment’s establish-ment clause.The 3-0 vote with one abstention was finally reachedwith city staff’s assurance that it would review the city’spolicies regarding requests that deal with religious af-filiation, to be brought back to the council at a later date.That agreement was the stipulation for Mr. Nasiali’s fa-vorable vote. Overall, the council agreed the event wasabout celebrating the culture of the Arbol Verde neigh-borhood and that the hour designated for a religious cer-emony was an undercurrent.“The mass isn’t there just for the sake of beingCatholic, it’s part of the history,” said CouncilmemberSam Pedroza. “The first Catholic church in Claremontis the rich part of the history of that area.”In addition to the anniversary of the park, the gath-ering will recognize the centennial of the Arbol Verdecommunity and the release of the book
MexicanAmerican Baseball in the Inland Empire
. An openair mass was proposed because of the significance of the former Catholic chapel that once resided in the ElBarrio Park area.Claremont resident Ginger Elliott, former longtimedirector of Claremont Heritage, added her voice to sup-port the sponsorship of the event on a cultural and his-torical note.“I don’t think we’re supporting a religious institu-tion,” she said. “We are simply supporting a culturalidentity that belongs to the people who were connectedwith this park.”Though Mr. Nasiali assured that he is in support of the celebration and plans to attend, he felt compelled tobring up the issue because of his discomfort in not hav-ing a more clear-cut set of guidelines on what qualifiesas events that violate the establishment clause.“I feel uncomfortable just going blindly, picking onerequest after another, and not having specific guidelineson how we make those choices,” Mr. Nasiali said.Under the establishment clause, the government can-not engage in activities that promote or affiliate itself with a specific religious doctrine or religious organiza-tion. However, City Attorney Sonia Carvalho said thatthe city can “provide benefits” without violating the lawif it is determined that the city’s action has a nonreli-gious purpose, if it does not advance religion as its pri-mary effect, and if it does not foster excessivegovernment entanglement with religion.Ms. Carvalho believed none of these were the case inClaremont’s sponsorship of the El Barrio Park celebra-tion. “The overriding purpose of the event is to cele-brate the history of the park and to celebrate MexicanAmerican baseball in the Inland Empire,” she said.“That is the primary, overreaching purpose.”Despite assurances from Ms. Carvalho, Claremontresident Dean McHenry remained unconvinced: “A for-mal mass held under the sponsorship of the city issomething which pushes the boundary of thischurch/state linkage,” he said, suggesting the city spon-sorship start after the mass ends. “Church is clearly in-volved here.”Councilmember Corey Calaycay also remained un-sure, choosing to abstain from the vote altogether par-tially because of his own conflict of interest beingCatholic. Mr. Calaycay said he felt uncomfortable usingcity money to support one religion over another.“This can open up a Pandora’s box,” Mr. Calaycaysaid. “I don’t want to get in a situation where I getcaught because people [feel] I’m playing favorites.”With a “yes” vote from the rest of the council, CityManager Tony Ramos stated that city staff would makea thorough review of the city’s policy on requests in-volving religious organizations in the near future.
General Fund gets a new name
Claremont’s General Fund Reserve has been dividedand renamed to better manage the city’s provisional as-sets.The Claremont City Council agreed Tuesday to re-name the General Reserve Fund to the Operating andEnvironmental Emergency Reserve to better reflect itspurpose. The General Reserve serves as a natural andfiscal emergency account, holding at least 25 percentof the General Fund Operating budget for such scenar-ios, should they arise. Of the estimated $11 millionGeneral Fund balance, about $5.67 million is desig-nated as reserve monies used for these types of emer-gencies.“I look at this as being not only good fiscally re-sponsible behavior, but certainly in that we representyou and your future interests, we are serving that goodalso,” said Councilmember Joe Lyons.With excess, unassigned money in the General Fundbalance, the council also approved the establishment of 2 new reserves: the Maintenance of Operations andEquipment and Facility Revolving reserves. Mainte-nance of Operations will be created to address unantic-ipated projects or costs such as city council-directedprojects, liability not covered by city insurance, andtemporary revenue shortfalls or cost increases not in thecity’s control. The Equipment and Facility RevolvingReserve will be used for purchases that include reno-vations to existing city buildings as well as the re-placement and refurbishment of furniture andequipment within, and safety and emergency responseequipment.Both of the new reserves will be given $500,000 eachof unassigned General Fund money.
Tentative contract reached with police
Mayor Larry Schroeder announced a tentative agree-ment reached in negotiations with the city and boardmembers of the Claremont Police Management Asso-ciation. The potential finalized contract was reachedduring closed session prior to Tuesday’s general coun-cil meeting.The proposed contract will now be taken to theCPMA general membership for a vote. If the contractpasses, it will be brought back before the council for afinal vote at a regular council meeting. The CPMA con-tract, proposed through 2014, is the final contract ne-gotiation needed by employee groups of the city of Claremont.
—Beth Hartnett
news@claremont-courier.com
City sponsorship of event causes heated council debate
COURIER photos/Steven FelschundneffThe city of Claremontʼs partial sponsorship of the 40th anniversary of El Barrio Park inspired disagreementamong city council because the celebration will include a Catholic mass. Councilmembers squabbled over theappropriateness of the cityʼs financial sponsorship of the event, given the separation of Church and state.
GOVERNINGOURSELVES
Monday, May 28
Memorial DayCity offices closed
Tuesday, June 5
Planning CommissionCouncil chamber, 7 p.m.
Thursday, June 7
Police CommissionCouncil chamber, 7 p.m.CUSD board meetingBoard room, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, June 11
Sustainability CommitteeCitrus Room, City Hall,4 p.m.
Tuesday, June 12
Budget WorkshopCouncil chamber, 5 p.m.City CouncilCouncil chamber,6:30 p.m.
 Agendas for city meetings are available at www.ci.claremont.ca.us
CITYCOUNCIL
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