We need to support our teachers and principals

As a retired teacher who has taught in several school districts in California and Illinois, I feel compelled to express my dismay over the recent decisions of the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees.

The dismissal of two principals at this time in the school year is especially disturbing for several reasons. In this era of tight school budgets, when teachers have been denied salary increases, it seems inconceivable to waste a large sum of money to pay interim principals when contracted principals will continue to receive their salaries for the remainder of the school year.

The demeaning dismissal of one principal is troubling. The inference that she may have done something questionable comes from the following quote from superintendent, Candy Singh, “some questions might not be answerable because of confidentiality issues,” which immediately infers that something improper has occurred.

Most importantly, how does this affect the children who have seen a caring, devoted principal suddenly taken from them? As a parent commented on the article in the Village News on March 8, “My daughters think <a principal> did something terrible to get fired.” She continues with, “You have successfully humiliated a well-respected, well-liked principal of 15 years.”

It appears to me that the decisions made at this time in the school year did not have the best interests of the children, faculty, and parents in mind. We need to support our teachers and principals, not humiliate them.

Patricia Halibozek