I got a phone call from Temple City Unified School District Superintendent Joan C. Hillard last week. She was responding to my column “Reviving a community near crisis,” Sept. 22, which mentioned the summer crime spree in TC and how those in custody were former TCHS students. I also said I was disappointed with the lack of response from the school district.
Because I live there and my wife and I are raising our boys there and they attend TCUSD schools, perhaps my opinion carried some added weight. I was writing as a journalist, yes, but also as a resident and a TCUSD parent.
Since that column ran, Hillard mailied a letter to the parents with the Back To School Night papers. I did not know of the letter when I wrote my column. Hillard said some letters did not get to parents in a timely manner and that about 400 were delivered late. I eventually did receive it and have since read it.
We had a nice conversation in which she assured me the district has discussed the violent episodes with administrators, faculty and staff numerous times. “It is not being ignored. We are tyring to deal with it as best we can,” she told me. “We are not ignoring it.”
I said in my article, and reiterated to Joan, that the community looks up to the schools in some ways more than it does to City Hall.
I still believe we need to have more dialog between parents, TCUSD and the Sheriff’s Department on how to be on the lookout for bullying, hate speech and hate crimes, and vandalism. Unfortunately, these are all on the rise in Temple City.
Hillard agreed and said: “… we’ve got to be proactive.”
Looking for suggestions: Where do we start?
It is comforting to know that the school did take notice and made an effort to at least talk to the parents of the incidents.