Comments on: Letter: Local media ignored Visalia Unified failures

By: timothy bianco

timothy bianco — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 21:33:40 +0000

As a product of Visalia schools and whose niece is a teacher the schools are the best thing Visalia has going for it. (to me Stan Carrizza should have Not been appointed). the :police, sheriff & courts have failed Visalia. and they don’t know how to run the justice system in California. It’s no wonder kids are not learning with :gangs, drugs & thieves everywhere and kids have to worry because republicans talk a lot about God but do nothing to stand up to the NRA and kids have to worry there parents might get deported. And, Trumps the biggest bully on the internet and that has to effected kids.

By: Saul Travers

Saul Travers — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 14:43:30 +0000

In reply to Papparuchas.

I don’t know which comment you are referring to. When I referenced District leadership and “privacy”, I was referring to the part of this letter from Mr. Jensen which claimed that “…agendas for recent Board meetings included eleven closed sessions to review the management of the district.”

It is my contention that the executive leadership of a school district should be subject to open (to the public from whom taxes are taken) discussion. The public’s right to know how effectively their money is being spent far outweighs the right of school management to “privacy” regarding their employment.

By: Papparuchas

Papparuchas — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 01:36:44 +0000

In reply to Saul Travers.

Saul interesting how the comment you reference was deleted by Valley Voice. Censorship?

By: Saul Travers

Saul Travers — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 16:31:32 +0000

I thank the letter writer for a cogent, well-written letter.
It does raise an issue which I think is corrosive to open government – the idea that discussions of District leadership is a “personnel” issue that demands privacy. This idea is certainly applicable to rank-and-file teachers or librarians or grounds personnel, but it is completely insane when applied to District Superintendents. A school governing board has one job that is above all others – selection of the management team. Discussion of these leaders should always be open to the public. The school board is spending anywhere from $2000 to $4000 on behalf of the typical household from whom that money is taxed. They all deserve more clarity and openness.