Dear Editor, We are stunned. In a recent unsigned letter to the
Morgan Hill Times, Paradise Valley teachers were portrayed as
accepting less than standard performances from our students and of
ourselves.
Dear Editor,
We are stunned. In a recent unsigned letter to the Morgan Hill Times, Paradise Valley teachers were portrayed as accepting less than standard performances from our students and of ourselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. Upon reading the letter it became clear that some information was obviously taken out of context, misconstrued or plainly inaccurate. To touch on just a few of the points:
n Class size – All but one of the upper grade (4th-6th) classes started and has stayed within the districtwide maximums and averages. There is a big jump on class size between third and fourth grade as the state only funds class-size reduction in kindergarten through third grade.
n We are constantly interacting with students individually, in pairs and small groups, as well as in whole class instruction. Quality teaching is not just done one to one.
n We are continually working toward having our students become strong readers, capable writers and mathematical problem solvers, as set out in the California State and national standards.
We are a community of educators. We are passionate about good teaching for children and the continued professional growth of teachers of children.
Teaching staff
Paradise Valley Elementary School
Dear Editor,
This is a response to the letter written in The Times on Sept. 21 regarding the Paradise Valley staff and its teaching practices. Ordinarily I would not take the time to respond to such a poorly written letter, not to mention inaccurate. However, the allegations concerning the Paradise Valley staff’s teaching practices are too serious to disregard.
These accusations are false and at the very least have been taken out of context. Our curriculum is driven by the California State Standards as well as the more rigorous National Standards. You need only to look at our API scores for the last few years to see that most of the students at Paradise Valley are indeed meeting, if not exceeding, the standards.
Our teachers are made up of veterans, as well as new teachers, who continue to learn and grow as a community of professionals. Teachers attend training sessions in the summer, as well as on Saturdays to stay current with best practices. We read a variety of professional literature during the school year and discuss how to implement the new teaching strategies in the classroom.
Every year we assess our student progress and update our school plan defining our goals for the year. The goals are based on a particular area or areas of curriculum. Using the state standards as our guide, we continue to strengthen and broaden our students’ achievement.
To receive such a “jolt” as this from supposedly “concerned parents” at the beginning of the year is truly disheartening. The accusation that the students at Paradise Valley School are not meeting minimum state standards is an insult to the hard working and dedicated educators at this school. Saying “I do not blame the teachers I met with” is a cop-out and blaming the principal for these gross inaccuracies smacks of a hidden agenda.
It is late in the night and yes … tomorrow is another day. The Paradise Valley community will survive the malicious statements made by “concerned parents.” Our students will continue to grow and learn, our teachers will continue to grow and teach and, our parents will continue to support their children in their quest for an excellent education.
I have been an educator for 30 years in the Morgan Hill School District, and I proudly sign my name to this letter.
Carol Ferri, 5th grade teacher,
Paradise Valley
Dear Editor,
I was quite surprised that your paper chose to print the vindictive style letter from the “concerned parents of Paradise Valley.” I have a message for those parents and I hope that you will print it.
In regards to the recent letter to the editor, it is in my opinion that a truly concerned parent would not have gone to the local paper for ‘back-to-school’ concerns. The responsible route would have been to go to Principal James Hamilton for information regarding your misgivings.
Many of the points in your letter are either false or misunderstandings. If you are honestly worried about your children’s academic progress, there are many ways to become more involved in the education process. There are parent volunteer jobs available on campus. Many parents come and “pull” reading groups, correct papers, run copies, shelve books, etc. Helping at school is a true way to measure what really goes on there. Teachers have more time with students when the parents get involved.
I personally am a parent, a volunteer and on staff here at Paradise. I was a student at Paradise the year it opened and so the school means the world to me. I could never work or send my own children to a school I do not believe in. I challenge you to come take a closer look at the wonderful staff we have. Lastly, please get the true facts before accusing our school of incompetence to the whole town.
Catherine Stockam, P.V. Library Clerk
Dear Editor,
I have one major question for the “Concerned Parents” who wrote the letter about their experience at Paradise Valley’s Back to School Night. If you are truly concerned parents why didn’t you address your concerns with the principal and teachers in question. It seems to me that someone truly concerned about their child’s education would want to work with the educators to find a solution to their concerns. I cannot understand why that was not done and instead they chose to take this issue to a public forum.
Secondly, I also have reviewed the Academic Content Standards and have found them to be very detailed and lengthy. The standards for 4th grade Language Arts was 7 pages long. Math was not quite as long but was still 5 pages long. In your letter to the editor you only addressed four “concerns.” I cannot understand how you can possibly decide that the students will not meet standards based on a short, 45-minute session with the teacher. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that you are claiming our students will not meet standards based on concerns over maybe 1 percent of the actual standards? Concerns that I should once again point out were never addressed or clarified with those involved.
Finally, the “concerns” that you address were misinformed at best and downright wrong at worst. I was in that same session with that same teacher and I did not hear him/her say that handwriting would not be taught. What was in fact said was that handwriting will be taught because it’s required by the standards and that they need to know it.
The teacher, however, stated that the students would not be required to use it for all of their assignments. In addition, the “basic math elements” that you addressed were actually elements that were fairly new during the last quarter of third grade. Your child, and mine, probably did in fact do well enough to exceed standards but lost their newly acquired skills over the summer. I don’t know about you, but my daughter didn’t really practice multiplication much during summer break. It’s not that they don’t know it, or that they weren’t taught it, it’s more likely that they simply forgot it over the summer.
Vikki Davis, Morgan Hill
