­

As a former School Board Member, I could not pass up the opportunity to respond to this article.

First and for most­ Dr. Dana Russell, if he has not already done so, owes the principal at El Rincon School an apology.

If Dr. Russell was concerned about her absence at the Open House, he should have brought it up in private with Supt. Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote.

As Board Members, we have one employee, the Superintendent.

We are always supposed to go through her.

Also, Board Members know that we never, never bring up a personnel issue, nor mention any employee’s name at a public meeting, unless it is to give praise to that employee.

In fact, we do not allow any one from the audience to come before the Board and chastise or speak negatively about a school employee.

It is hard for me to understand why two Open Houses were scheduled on the same night. First, the Superintendent discusses the schedule of these events with the principals. The schedule is presented to the Board.

So two groups slipped up.

On another note, it was mentioned in the article that Open House is a time for parents to conference with the teacher about their child.

No, this is not correct.

As a Board member, I was vehemently opposed to this open conferencing. I worked hard to put an end to it.

The purpose of Open House, with the children accompanying their parents, is to show the parents what they have been doing and for teachers to give a short talk on what the students have accomplished and what are the remaining goals for the year.

If parents want to have a teacher conference, they need to set up an appointment for that purpose.

I have been to open houses where the parents would stand in line with their child, and the teacher, in front of everyone, would give an evaluation of the child’s progress whether it was positive or negative.

Shame, shame on parents, teachers or administrators who allow this to happen.

Would they like to have their evaluations given in public — with the other employees listening.

How can we expect our children to understand respect if we do not show by our example?

Please parents, teachers, and administrators:

Do not allow public conferencing to take place at any level.

Do unto others as you would like done unto you.