Tustin School District Must Give New Superintendent a Chance

I have been employed as a teacher in the Tustin Unified School District since 1968. I am a resident of Tustin and have two children who attend school here.

Many times in the past 12 years of strife and gloom, I have considered seeking employment elsewhere. I have chosen to stay here for two main reasons. First of all, my children cannot leave Tustin schools unless I take them somewhere else. I can run away from the problem, but they can’t. Second, I want to stay in Tustin and help make things better for them and the other students who reside here.

For the first time in years, I have a true feeling that positive change is occurring. I do not want to see the spark of enthusiasm currently found in the district destroyed again.

I was looking forward to a year of peace and tranquility, where my attention would not be drawn away from my teaching assignment. However, once again, I find myself in the midst of turmoil over a school board election.

I was a member of the teachers’ association for many years, but I dropped my membership this year due to philosophical differences over the new contract settled in June.

I am tired of people saying that “the union” controls the school board. In my opinion, the union controls nothing except some contract language. The members of the present board who are “union” members vote as individual citizens using their own conscience as a guide and are not voting as “puppets” of some outside interest group.

If these outside people were actually in control, perhaps the deplorable state of morale in the district would have improved long ago and not just recently.

Let the new superintendent have the continuing support of a positive, forward-looking school board. We need to have trust and open communication now--not scorn and secrecy. Help us all keep the dream alive. Reelect Jane Bauer and Gloria Tuchman.

LEE COLLINS, Tustin