I would like to thank the staff of The Round Table. Over the last two years, the school newspaper has won awards for accurate and balanced reporting of the arrest of three members of SHS faculty. In addition, many teachers and staff have praised the journalistic integrity of the paper. I would also like to point out that The Round Table’s role in the termination of Donna Valentine was cited in the Dougas Report. The report cited the fact that a large majority of the Stamford High students had no confidence in the return of Dr. Valentine. I was impressed with the confidence vote orchestrated by the Round Table of Stamford High students in the wake of the “postponed vote” of the faculty in December of 2014. I was especially impressed with the legal advice that The Round Table had access to, that allowed the vote to be held by the paper. At the time, I wanted to believe that your legal advice to go ahead with the vote was based upon protections of the First Amendment and a free press.

However, after completely reading the entire Dougas Report, on PP 49 – 50 I found the following comment:

“By engaging an attorney to threaten the teachers with a libel suit if they went ahead with their no confidence vote, Dr. Valentine interfered with the rights of the teachers under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. and the parallel provisions in the CT Constitution to conduct a vote of no confidence. When a governmental official hires an attorney to threaten those that work under her not to take a no confidence vote, the very purpose of the First Amendment, to hold government accountable is destroyed.”

I found this particularly disturbing since the lawyers providing The  Round Table are pro bono and the Union’s attorneys are paid with teachers’ dues. It seems that the school newspaper could get credible free legal information in a timely manner while the teachers could not and sadly, still cannot. I have formally protested the legal advice provided by the CEA and the decision to follow that advice by the SEA and want answers as to why I and over 150 faculty members were denied our rights to free speech. It appears that our Union’s legal representation was more concerned about legal threats by a disgraced administrator and her publicly funded attorneys than the basic rights of its members.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the scandal that rocked our school showed that dedicated students and staff can make a difference and that we are truly “The Great School on the Hill.”

Kevin F. Barry

Social Studies