[The following message was sent to each of the current Berkeley School Board members and the acting Superintendents]
As President of the Berkeley PTA Council, I write to express a strong concern voiced by our members about the selection of Mr. Heatley as Superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District.
While there have been some concerns raised about his qualifications, this mornings news reports that he actively supported passage of Proposition 8, an objectionable act which invalidates the loving relationship of many of our families, should cause you to immediately terminate plans to offer him this role. If true, and it should be fairly easy to confirm with the Chino Valley School District, this would call into question his ability to build relationships with the diverse families of our schools community, thus, the effectiveness as a superintendent in Berkeley.
The fact that such an important fact was not found in his vetting to date also raises many questions about the process you have taken in recruiting a new Superintendent. We are very concerned that our families have NOT had an active voice in the process, have had limited consultation, and almost no information as the process developed. We hope that you will be more active in your consultation with our families and offer the PTA as one of the
avenues to accomplish this.
We look forward to a full investigation of these reports and what actions will be taken based on the findings.
With Best Regards - Tom Killilea / President, Berkeley PTA Council
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