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Residents of Del Mar/Carmel I want to commend you for greatly adding to the public dialogue about local public education by featuring Marsha Sutton's column in your paper. I wish we had a refreshing columnist like Ms. Sutton on our local newspaper staff (I live in the Sun Valley area of Idaho; Ms. Sutton's column was recommended to me by my sister who lives in Del Mar). Excellence in local reporting about public education seems to be integral to the process of creating real improvement. What a public service Ms. Sutton is providing— the people of Del Mar and Carmel Valley should be grateful. Liz Schwerdtle Hailey, ID In your recent editorial you linked the challenges faced by the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation (DMSEF) with the Del Mar California Teachers’ Association’s (DMCTA) contract with the district. While it is not my role to defend the DMUSD administration or the DMSEF, I was disappointed with some of the assertions you made. Shores property: DM school board members should keep in mind that they have options The Del Mar Union School Board’s decision to force Del Mar Superintendent Tom Bishop out in March came at a surprising time. But, now, after taking a closer look, I believe the decision came at an opportune time — just prior to re-negotiations of the sale of The Shores property. The sale could earn the district $8 million-plus or a great deal more than that, based on testimony given at earlier board meetings, should it fall out of escrow. I wonder what Tom Bishop’s position was on this sale? Timing is everything. After careful consideration, I decided I could not let the editorial written by Marsha Sutton on April 24 in the Carmel Valley News/Del Mar Village Voice get by without my response. As a 15-year veteran teacher, I have never seen such animosity towards teachers by a community newspaper. If the media is being used to further an agenda, then it’s fair play for me to use the media to clarify a few things from Friday’s editorial. In an article on the problems with the Del Mar Foundation, Ms. Sutton managed to throw in several comments that offended many Del Mar teachers. Ms. Sutton started off mentioning that our district has room for “much-needed improvement.” Yet she continued throughout the article suggesting several changes that would only serve to pull us backwards. One key fact she failed to mention is that Del Mar schools receive top scores in the state and in the county. Improvement? Does taking away art, music, computers, and science teachers seem like a way to improve anything? |