Dear Editor:
Based on the events at Gilroy High School the past few months,
it has become evident that no consistent process and criteria is
being used for staffing decisions in the Gilroy Unified School
District. It is self-evident that the recent actions of the School
Board do not pass
”
The Front Page Test.
Dear Editor:
Based on the events at Gilroy High School the past few months, it has become evident that no consistent process and criteria is being used for staffing decisions in the Gilroy Unified School District. It is self-evident that the recent actions of the School Board do not pass “The Front Page Test.” Simply put, “Are the decisions they are making ones that we are proud to see on the front page of our local newspaper.” The firing of teacher Kristen Porter is just one event in a series of examples where the Board and the administration at Gilroy High School have failed this test and failed our community.
In voting for a high profile personnel action without ensuring proper documentation, fairness, and consistency, the School Board has delegated their legal and moral commitment and responsibilities and wrongly placed the citizens’ trust in the hands of the unelected, paid administration. This is clearly not what the citizens expect when they vote to place someone on the School Board. The message and perceptions being generated by this Board’s actions, or lack thereof, is also not what our teachers and students deserve. We, as a community, need to demand more.
I find no solace in Mr. Bob Kraemer’s statement that he felt “… very comfortable with our administrative team managing the district and providing to the board the information we need to make decisions” when in fact no information was, in the words of the one and only responsible voice on the Board, Mr. Tom Bundros, “forthcoming.” Failure to ensure a fair and evenly applied process is costing this district time, energy, focus, and money that would be better utilized to improve the state of our classroom experience.
One is forced to ask some serious questions about what is happening at Gilroy High when teachers that use valuable instruction time to show children’s cartoons, put on sexually explicit and distasteful shows, and physically strike students remain in the classroom, but a teacher who speaks out against the system is publicly escorted off campus by the police. None of us will ever know what the real criteria were for Ms. Porter’s firing due the “private and confidential” nature of a teacher termination. Asking the Board for the specifics of this case will not result in the solving of the root problems that plague GUSD schools. What the public does need to cry out for loudly, clearly, and resolutely is a public review of the practices, policies and procedures used to measure GUSD staff performance, not a review of the specifics of this case.
To the greatest extent possible, objective criteria from which to evaluate the hiring of teachers, objective and measurable metrics for evaluating teachers’ performance, objective teacher feedback, and an objective process for making disciplinary, termination or firing decisions must be clearly defined, clearly communicated, and consistently applied.
I strongly believe that we need to force GUSD to pry open its practices and policies and expose them to public scrutiny, input, and alteration. This continued hiding behind “executive session” is counter-productive and serves no one. Decisions CRITICAL to the well-being of our community’s children are being made without public input or oversight. I do not want to know matters that are private and confidential, but GUSD should be able to define the selection and hiring criteria for all GUSD staff as well as define the performance expectations and measurements used for evaluation and personnel decisions.
Arbitrary systems such as this leave the teachers in a state of fear and stifle open input from those in the trenches of education, our teachers, to provide input on how to improve our schools and the educational experience for the children. The parents and teachers must be able to work together in an open environment free of retribution. This action, regardless of what the real reasons are, sends a chilling message to all teachers and parents, “Sit down, shut-up and be quiet.”
It matters little if the message is intended or not, the perception is being delivered loudly and clearly. This Board needs to manage public perception because perceptions matter and effect public participation in the process. I am not willing to accept this message and demand for it to change. I believe that we need to support our teachers, focus on the classroom, and focus on the students. Continued distractions and disruptions such as these, promulgated by an irresponsible and reckless School Board, need to end. We need the district to form a new image around “community educating” just as our police agencies refocused on “community policing” in the 1990s and bring control of GUSD back to the voters.
The community must look at this as a watershed event and demand more from those we elected to represent us. We need a School Board that have the children’s interest at heart and believe that the job of the administration is to provide the resources to make the teachers and the children a success. We need a Board that will act as and extension of the community, accountable to the community, and invite the community in as a FULL partner in shaping GUSD educational process. Finally, we need a Board that will do what is suppose to do, steer this administration the direction the parents and citizens want.
Robert Bickle, Gilroy
Submitted Thursday, March 25 to ed****@****ic.com
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written letter.
