Dear Editor:
I cancelled my subscription last week. After a few days I’m
ready to say that indeed this was an emotional decision.
Dear Editor:
I cancelled my subscription last week. After a few days I’m ready to say that indeed this was an emotional decision.
The reason was not the sometimes unfounded critical editorials. The decision was also no related to the many letters to the editor complaining about this or that being wrong with our Gilroy Unified School District schools. Receiving critical comments helps us all to reflect and maybe do a better job.
I was extremely disappointed to read a letter from a teacher (?) who included the following line in the anonymous letter: “working together we could accomplish far more than through this heavy handed, oppressive style of leadership.”
How can we work together with someone who is unwilling to step forward?
I would love to speak with this teacher and work together towards better education in Gilroy. Will I be in a meeting next week and wonder which one of the teachers attending the meeting is the anonymous teacher?
But the biggest disappointment and the reason to cancel my subscription is the fact that the editor of The Dispatch actually publishes anonymous letters. Whether or not Mark Derry knows who the teachers are is not relevant. Did he publish the letter after verifying the facts in the letter? Again, this is not relevant, but I also know that he could not have done this because the letter did not contain (just) facts. If more than one person makes similar statements that don’t make it necessarily true. All this does is create or intensify an atmosphere of finger pointing. Where is the accountability in all this?
There may be some extreme circumstances which could warrant anonymous information, but not on the opinion page.
After getting anonymous tips, I have no problem with a reporter doing some investigative work and based on what is discovered decides to write an article as long as it’s not solely based on anonymous information.
Some of you might be aware that I wrote a Web log. People could comment on my writing and these comments are automatically posted. Last week, an anonymous comment was posted to my BLOG. I replaced it with a statement that I don’t allow anonymous postings. The comments were actually very favorable to the district, but as I mentioned: that’s not the point.
I wish for all GUSD employees to get rid of any fear they may have related to their employer, the union, each other, or the unknown. My hope is that we all can work together with parents and the community towards this huge goal of getting all our kids to read, write, calculate, and know our history to the best of their abilities. No sugarcoating, no need to get into “feel good‚ mode” – just be open and honest towards each other whether it’s in e-mail or in a letter to the editor.
I wanted to limit my letter to 500 words, but more thoughts about this and other Gilroy education items are in my web log at http://vanherk.blogs.com.
Rob van Herk, GUSD information and technology manager
Submitted Friday, April 16 to ed****@****ic.com
Editor’s note: The two letters published without names were not submitted anonymously. The authors, employees of the school district, requested anonymity and would not let the letters be published with their names attached for fear of retribution.
