OUSD Social Media Lawsuit is a Mistake
In The Orinda News (April 2024) an article states that the Orinda Union School District “makes students’ mental health a priority” by deciding to join a to-be-filed lawsuit against social media companies, seeking damages on the theory that such companies cause mental health harm to students, which the District spent money to address.
The causation premise has been persuasively disputed by Candice Odgers in Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2. And in the same edition of The Orinda News, an article asserted “the harmful impact that grade culture has on teenage mental health.”
Filing a lawsuit like this exposes parents and students to disclosure of their emails and to examination of the mental health of students. The “grade culture” article identifies possible defense witnesses to prove an alternative cause.
Is the school district a victim or is it a contributor to the problem, by its incessant insistence that its students are oppressors based on their skin color, and by its celebration of gender dysphoria?
Lack of personal responsibility and failure to limit screen time is a defense. It is time for people to accept personal responsibility and to stop blaming others, and to stop blaming systems and institutions.
The District should not expose parents and students to intrusive examination of students’ mental health in the hope of “financial gain” to the District.
Three things can be true: social media should change; this lawsuit should not be filed; and many things affect students’ mental health.
– Nick Waranoff
Orinda Discriminates Against Some of its Citizens
The City of Orinda is non-inclusive and discriminates against some of its citizens. That is because Orinda labels some roads “private” that are not private.
The definition of private is: the use for one particular person or groups of people only, exclusive, non-public, restricted. None of these words apply to Orinda’s private roads.
Since 1968, I have been a responsible tax-paying citizen. Part of my taxes go to repair Orinda roads. However, only people who own homes on misnomered “private” roads must pay for those roads. Over time, I have paid $21,000 for my “private” road repair and repaving; a road that anyone has the right to use.
Why must I pay more to live in Orinda than my neighbor across the street? I believe that is what the phrase “discriminated against” means.
The recycle truck firms repay a percentage of monies to the city for use of its streets. Private roads get none of the refunds for heavy truck damages. Again, we are discriminated against.
I ended my 31-year teaching career with 22 years in the Orinda Union School District. Our schools teach inclusion and non-discrimination.
Now is the moment the current City Council corrects the ills of their predecessors. Vote to drop the word “private” from selected roads. Assume the same responsibility for all Orinda roads. Only then will we finally be included and not discriminated against.
– Lois Daulman
