Trustee Actions Draw Criticism

* The staff of Emilie Ritchen School is writing this letter in response to the article, “Beleaguered Oxnard Trustee Gets Support from Some Parents,” April 26. There is not a teacher among the staff at Emilie Ritchen School who maintains that inappropriate behavior to parents or any member of the community or any member of staff--or anyone at all for that matter--is acceptable and defensible. That is not, nor has it ever, been the issue that rankles.

The issue is this: It is not acceptable, appropriate or legal for a member of the Board of Trustees to publicly identify an employee of the Oxnard School District for purposes of reprimand or to threaten an employee publicly or otherwise, or to criticize or evaluate an employee’s performance publicly or otherwise. That is not their job and it is not their place and it is not something that we, as teachers, accept.

If, in fact, a trustee found that something an employee did was questionable, that trustee should go to that employee’s supervisor and suggest that the incident be investigated. That is not what Trustee Arthur Joe Lopez did. He took it upon himself to identify and humiliate an employee of this district and that is the issue.

We all know that in the heat of the moment, it is possible to say something that we did not mean. Mr. Lopez had the opportunity to apologize to the employee and to all of the teachers and staff at Emilie Ritchen School when he took the podium at the board meeting of April 25. But he did not. Instead, he reinforced his actions and misbehavior and placed an even stronger wedge between himself and the educators of this fine school and this fine district.

JAN TRIPP

Oxnard

The letter was signed by nearly two dozen other members of the staff at Emilie Ritchen School.