Readers have been responding to a debate among Pearland school trustees over a reported gun incident on district property and how the matter was made public.
During a Feb. 9 meeting, district trustees emerged from a closed session to voice opinions on how trustee Suzy Roberts went public with a Jan. 27 incident in which a Dell employee reportedly brought a handgun into the district administration building.
Before the meeting, Roberts had said she had expected to sanctioned by the board, which didn't happen, but other board members criticized her during the meeting.
Trustee Lillian Smith, for one, said that Roberts pushed aside the district’s internal investigation procedures and showed little respect for the board of trustees’ code of conduct.
Chronicle coverage of the issue prompted an e-mail today from district resident Kevin M. Murphy, who wrote: "I'm ... less concerned about keeping secrets than fixing what is wrong."
"My concern is that there's this real culture of silence" in the district, he said in a later conversation. "There seems to be a real concern about not airing the family's dirty laundry."
Other comments from readers (listed below the entries on the following links) have included the suggestion that the district install metal detectors at schools and district facilities and a question on whether the gun incident should have resulted in an arrest.
What is your opinion? Did Roberts err in how the information was disclosed, or should the district have taken steps to inform the public about the incident?
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Comments
I thinK it's been said already ...
Do I believe that Suzy Roberts followed the rules on this one? No, I don't. Do I believe that Pearland ISD employees followed the rules on this one? NO, I know THEY DIDN'T! Am I upset at Mrs. Roberts for "leaking" an email - slightly - I'm much more upset at PISD for attempting to keep another fulb up a secret from the very public that pays their salaries. I've come to a conclusion - there are two types of people in regards to this issue (and most others regarding Pearland +/or Pearland ISD) - 1) Old-schoolers who are upset because the "reputation" of Pearland has been negatively touched in public; and 2) those of us who are more concerned with the safety and education of our children while they are in school than they are of Pearland's reputation. It really does bother me that way too many people are mad at Mrs. Roberts for not following protocol, but those same people can forgive Pearland ISD for not following the LAW - esp. when the PISD's employee's flub could have resulted in people being injured or killed. FYI, there was another shooting in the Columbine School System in Littleton, Co. Fortunately, only two people were shot and nobody died; "this time". What's going to happen the next time a gun is brought onto PISD property? Hopefully, we'll be lucky "AGAIN"!
Climate of deception
Ms. Roberts likely had no choice in her handling of the situation. Pearland School District has attempted to silence her from day one because she doesn't toe the party line, which, in Pearland, seems to be "do whatever it takes to maintain a pristine facade, no matter what happens." From their handling of evaluations and test scores (which are tantamount to cheating at times) to their characterization of anyone who questions their methods as a lone crazy, their every action in the past five years further serves to convince me that they care only about their reputation and not the safety and education of our children.
Ms. Roberts is attempting to draw attention to the fact that scandal after scandal have been covered up, and while her methods might not have been ideal, I am convinced that she resorted to them only because her previous efforts have been squelched. If only more Pearland residents took notice of these practices instead of reading forwarded emails, we might see some actual change that would benefit our kids.
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