Dear Editor:
I may have been the only one at Wednesday’s Aromas-San Juan School Board meeting who wouldn’t recognize Mary-Ann Tucker (principal of Aromas School) if she stared me in the face.
I’m a newcomer to Aromas. I have no children in her school. Allow me to give your readers and astonished outsider’s view.
For 10 minutes after the Board announced the outcome, the crowd stood and shouted its outrage. Insults, profanity and threats of recalls were launched. The same parents who’d just pledged themselves, hands over hearts, to “liberty and justice for all” became a mob with no use for justice when it was blind to their wishes.
“How could you not listen to us?” was one of the themes. But then again, only the Board was privy to the relevant facts. Those are confidential, as all such personnel matters are.
It’s frustrating not to know the Board’s case, but there’s nothing unusual or underhanded here. Such protections were put in place to protect employees. Would the shouters – or Ms. Tucker herself – wish their own personnel files made public?
“How dare you ignore our demand!” was the scarier theme, the voice of a child in the thrall of a tantrum. These parents had surely had cause to say “no” to their children; had no one ever said “no” to them?
They appear to believe that they should get out of their way. Our era’s decline in civility was on center stage. So was our hyperactive impatience. One woman demanded a Board member resign that instant.
This was my second Board meeting. I’ve seen lots of angry issuing of demands; impassioned, fist-clenching vows to listen and reach out and work on problems rather than merely complain – these I’ve yet to hear.
Frankly, I’d hesitate to entrust my children’s education to adults who get loud, rude, and throw things when faced with a setback. Should any of them get on the Board, they may find that those skills won’t take them very far.
Paul Fleischman
Aromas
