Guest opinion: Perception of imbalance in class assignments Guest opinion: Perception of imbalance in class assignments (January 11, 2006)

By Laura and John Hale

Some people reading the Almanac's articles on the complaint filed by Jim Doody with the Menlo Park City School District board about the class groupings at Laurel School, specifically in his son's first grade class, might conclude that Mr. Doody is a spoiled elitist.

That would be a shame, and a mistake, but certainly understandable in light of the board's response to his complaint, and your coverage. It's also one of the reasons those of us who have been in the same situation as Mr. Doody's, one that has existed at Laurel for many years, have not raised the issue.

Jim and his wife Wendy are our friends and neighbors. Jim, an officer in the U.S. Navy, did not lodge this complaint lightly, and not merely because his son didn't get the teacher he wanted. He filed the complaint only after a series of unsuccessful meetings with the principal about his gifted first grade son's needs not being met and his own investigation suggested an issue beyond one class assignment.

As a teacher and attorney, both of us have been active in the district parent, teacher organizations (PTO), site councils and foundation. We appreciate the wrong and unfair perception held by some parents that certain teachers and classes are more desirable than others.

We have also lived through the August anxiety of whether our children will get the "in" teacher. Our own experience in the district has been for the most part positive and our children have been blessed with excellent teachers. Your reporter would find, however, after not a lot of investigation, that there is at least a perception of imbalance in certain class groupings and that many parents suspect that high PTO participation, big donations to the foundation or clout make a difference in class placement. Maybe that suspicion is ill founded. A little digging by your reporter could shed some light on the situation.

The board did a good job of statistical hair splitting to explain away this particular year, conceding nonetheless a higher percentage of Tinsley students in the class at issue. (Interesting to consider also is why in a class of 158 first graders and eight teachers, there are only 17 children in this class).

The Almanac reported everything the board found but missed an opportunity for further investigation. A clumping in a single year of Tinsley students in one class and connected students in others might be a coincidence; similar results over several years suggest something more than that. Apparently, neither the board nor the Almanac's reporter made any attempt to see whether such a pattern exists, as Mr. Doody requested.

Jim Doody is a bright man who chose Stanford for his fellowship over any number of universities, including Harvard, in part because of the Menlo Park school system. Jim assumed the risk of pursuing this action and being painted a malcontent because what he saw seemed unfair and in violation of the spirit of the Tinsley settlement agreed to years ago by the district.

In the board's unanimous decision and your articles, he and we have seen a closing of the ranks against outside criticism. We hope that next year, while Jim is commanding a submarine, the board and others responsible for all of our children will give more serious consideration to the questions he raised. Laura Hale is a nursery school teacher and John Hale is an attorney. They live on Santa Margarita Street in Menlo Park and have one child in the district and another at Menlo-Atherton High School.

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