Re “Sheila Silver’s Dismissal Ignites Culver AVPA Student Protest”
Their jaws set firmly enough to withstand a thrust by Gibraltar, about 40 angry parents of crestfallen Culver City High School drama students vented their fury at Principal Pam Magee in sizzling tones this afternoon as often silent adults launched what they promised will be a sustainable fight to re-employ fired teacher Sheila Silver, one of the most popular campus figures.
Momentum for a reversal is building among both students and their parents.
As for the tone of the meeting, “We didn’t have our shoes off and there was no pounding on the table,” a father said. “Importantly, though, there were parents who said ‘I have my checkbook out now, and I am going to write a check to the Sheila Silver Legal Defense Fund.’ Let me tell you, that caused one of the administrators from the Culver City Unified School District, sitting near Pam, to open her spiral notebook and make some notes.
“If you want to know which side walked out of this meeting more highly resolved, it was the parents,” the same dad added. “We are resolved to fight, to claw, to smash, to engage at every opportunity with all of our forces.”
What Do You Have to Do?
“Nobody saw this firing coming, and that is what is so frustrating,” said one mother. “Sheila wins award, award, award, award. Next thing we know she is fired.”
A second-year arts/English teacher and Creative Director of the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts program, Ms. Silver has led her students to the highest awards achievable both seasons. It became known six days ago that she was being let go because administrators did not regard her as a “good fit” for the classroom or AVPA venues.
“Let me tell you how hot this little room at the high school was this afternoon,” said a mother who was there. “You could have cooked a hundred omelettes on the floor and never needed a fire.
“Parents did 90 percent of the talking,” reported a father new to the school this year, “because the principal kept deflecting the questions we asked. I never have seen so many upset people in such a crowded room. Ms. Magee kept saying things like ‘I can’t answer that, not that I am taking the Fifth.’ Or ‘we can’t answer that because we have no authority to do so.’”
“But parents were not buying her non-answers,” said a mother who participated. “They were very angry, very upset. They talked about their children crying when they heard the news. At least Pam extended one courtesy to us. Pam wanted to end the meeting at 2. But many parents had not yet spoken, so she let it go on a little longer.
