Responding to Damelio

(Times Herald 9/13/2007)

I read Dr. Damelio's response ("Letter missed the facts," Sept. 11) to Mr. Innes on the editorial page. I feel the need to respond to the response, but it's difficult to decide where to start.

Shall I begin with Dr. Damelio's use of the phrase "a breach in professionalism" as a pointed accusation toward Mr. Innes? I am wondering if Dr. Damelio sees his own public attack on one of his employees as the same sort of breach. Mr. Innes was rightfully concerned to hear that our hiring protocols do not include confirmation of necessary degrees and credentials at the earliest stages of the process. His letter to the editor was a reasonable route to reach the teaching, parent and business community with information and thinking that we all deserve to share.

Dr. Damelio's protective stance in defense of Tish Busselle was ad-mirable (a sort of knight in shining armor). He points out that Ms. Busselle works hard to "keep the media in-formed ... project enrollment ... and determine grade configurations." From a teacher's perspective I would have to question the value of Ms. Busselle's grade configurations. I have 20 years of teaching experience in the Vallejo schools, and I have never seen such manipulation of class configuration, at what I conclude to be the detriment of students. Last year, a student who entered school late in the year (March) was placed in one teacher's classroom and moved to another classroom just weeks later in order to maintain class size averages that could earn state monies for class size reduction. If a teacher questioned the wisdom of moving a child from class to class, for no apparent reason, the answer was "It came from Tish." As a teacher and a parent, I would like to ask Tish to strive for a healthier balance between the financial need of the district and the emotional and educational needs of every student.

I also want to assure the community and Dr. Damelio that no one in our schools could possibly have "forgotten that this school district was $27.8 million in the red 36 months ago." And since this information is seared into our collective memory, some of us wonder how we can afford the largest, best compensated, and most comfortably housed administration in the history of my 20-year tenure. This inflated administration is growing rapidly. Meanwhile, we cannot find funding for sufficient teachers to eliminate class size overages and combination classes.

I am not sure what organization Dr. Damelio refers to when he mentions an organization's Code of Ethics, which he feels Mr. Innes violated.

I doubt that Mr. Innes has violated any ethical code. Certainly, he has not offended the teachers' organization. Perhaps, the "reformed" Vallejo City Unified School District has a code of which I have no knowledge.

Inform me, Dr. Damelio. I am always ready to learn.

Christine Coulter, Vallejo