An Open Letter to Mr. Albert Garibaldi, Superintendent: Banta School District
Mr. Albert Garibaldi, Superintendent: Banta School District
First of all, let me congratulate you on the success of Banta Elementary School District’s charter with the River Island Technology Academy in Lathrop. I have been involved in education for 16 years and have never witnessed the birth of such an ambitious undertaking. Under the leadership of Susan Dell’Osso (Board of Trustee’s President for the River Island Technology Academy ) and Brenda Scholl (Principal of the River Islands Technology Academy) not only has River Islands Technology Academy lived up to all of the hype surrounding its establishment, it, quite frankly, has exceeded all of my high expectations. I am certain that if the Banta School District does not derail its progress, River Islands Technology Academy will be your school district’s greatest educational achievement in its 134 year history.
I am addressing this open letter to you because I have noticed some recent events which lead me to believe that the Banta School District is having a change of heart about its involvement with the River Islands Technology Academy. To put it bluntly, both recent newspaper articles and board meeting minutes seem to suggest that the Banta School District has decided to constrict the future growth of the River Islands Technology Academy in order to pursue a Banta controlled science academy at the same school site[i]. Because River Islands Technology Academy is just in its first year, these recent revelations have caused concern that the Banta School District is playing bait and switch politics with the future of several hundred local school children. I am not sure if this was the original undisclosed agenda or if this is a change of direction taken simply on the advice of Tom Duffy. Regardless, I am personally offended that River Island Technology Academy was marketed to hundreds of local families without mention that the Banta Elementary School District planned on taking over the school site as early as 2015.
While it is refreshing to see that a school district has promoted one of its own teachers to the position of Superintendent, suggesting