By John E. Deasy, Ph.D. Superintendent of schools, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
I want to write to express my opinion and feeling about the recent “open letter to the citizens of Santa Monica‚” from school board member Shane McLoud (SMDP, Oct. 30, page 8). Let me first state emphatically that everyone has the right to freedom of speech and the opinion piece is an example of one of the freedoms our county was founded upon. Furthermore, this is one of the specific freedoms we teach and model in our schools. Along with this important lesson, we also teach about the consequence of expressing opinions. We teach about people like Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and others, as only a few examples of both the power of the freedom of speech and the understanding of consequence for expressing those opinions. And like all citizens of this remarkable community, I also want to exercise my right to share my opinion about what was written. This opinion is not about the author, simply the written word as published in the Daily Press.
I do not share the opinions expressed in this work. I explicitly do not share the opinions about the employees of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified. I could provide numerous examples of why I do not share the opinions expressed ranging from how fast we opened our school in the early morning hours following the devastating Northridge earthquake, the evacuation of the student body during the Malibu fires, the critical response to tragic student deaths, or the intensive communication and parent notification efforts in the early hours of 9/11 (as we were being notified about the loss of parents on various planes). All of these tasks (and of course countless others) were executed flawlessly by our district employees, and most by the employee groups named in the opinion piece. I want the consequence of my opinion about this article to be one of respect, support, and pride for the work of our employees. There are other opinions in column I do not share, but this letter is singularly focused on my co-workers and fellow members of the Santa Monica-Malibu learning community.
Please know that if I had questions about an employee’s skill level I, and all administrators have and will address this privately. And if I had any questions or opinions about the salary level of any group of employees I will address this at the bargaining table and will respect the confidentiality of the bargaining process. I am committed to these principles of respectful civil discourse and thank each of you for what you do for our students daily.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 5, 2004. Read the original PDF.