Coronado High School Flunks Prize Teacher

For students taking writing or literature courses from Chris Skelton, the Coronado High School teacher is a rare gem in his ability to interest them in poets and authors a world away from MTV videos.

Skelton won the “Coronado’s Greatest Teacher” contest this spring because of essays submitted by students to the local newspaper, which sponsored the award. The testimonials he has received from parents whose children now talk of Greek myths and French philosophers at the dinner table must leave his ears burning.

Yet, despite his strong support from students and parents, the Coronado school board has voted not to renew Skelton’s contract for next year, following the recommendation of the high school principal. The move has caused an uproar among parents and students in this tightly knit, one-high-school town insulated by the bay from the rest of the San Diego metropolitan area.

Skelton, as a second-year teacher, has no tenure and thus can be summarily removed without being given an official reason, and the board has consistently declined to give a reason, even though one parent, Marry Marrero, said that at least one board member told her privately during a phone conversation that Skelton is an excellent teacher.

However, at a lively school board meeting Wednesday night, there were strong indications that his grading policies and general demeanor around the close-knit school bothered Coronado administrators because, in the words of one parent, “he doesn’t fit the Coronado image.”

There was talk that Skelton gave too many A’s and B’s to students whom other teachers had labeled “losers” and therefore were seen as incapable of achieving good grades in any class. There was talk that he didn’t socialize with other teachers during the lunch hour but stayed in his room to talk with students needing help or wanting extra work.

“Everyone praises the movie (“Stand and Deliver”), where the teacher Jaime Escalante turns around a whole class of non-achievers,” said parent Nancy Fallin, a former teacher whose son has become excited about literature this year despite a reading disability.

“Yet here we have a fantastic teacher in that mold and they let him go because he doesn’t fit the traditional style of Coronado. What a

tragedy.”

Almost 100 students in Skelton’s classes, ranging from junior English to senior-level advanced placement language and composition, presented signed petitions to the board asking the five members to reconsider their action. After the board declined and refused to indicate why Skelton was not coming back, parents vowed to pursue a recall effort for which they say they already have more than the 1,800 signatures needed to force a special election.

Skelton finds himself in an awkward position, buoyed by the strong show of support from students and parents but worried that Coronado administrators could sabotage his efforts to seek employment elsewhere in the county. The 36-year-old instructor left a career in banking to pursue his first love, teaching, but now is faced with finding a new job to support a wife and 4-year-old daughter, with another child due later this year.

He has chosen not to fight the termination through a formal reconsideration process but to submit an official resignation effective at the end of June. And information disclosed during the board meeting Wednesday indicated that, in return, the district has given him a letter of recommendation toward a new position elsewhere.

“My letter of resignation is in the best interests of everyone concerned,” Skelton said in an interview. “I certainly don’t want to be cast in the role of a demagogue or rabble-rouser. . . . The political situation with the parents is beyond me, even though my situation may have set things in motion.”

Skelton said he knows only from closed discussions with the board that the principal found fault with his keeping of attendance and grade records. But Skelton defended his teaching methods and results, and said the experience will by no means change his attitude toward teaching.

“No way,” Skelton said. “I will still treat kids with honesty, respect, love and integrity and let them know that literature is ideas. I use the Socratic method to show them that the subjects are part of yourself as well as the world. By the very nature of what I teach, I am dealing with philosophy and ideas that require people to think for themselves.

“My tests are completely essay, and I ask such questions as, ‘What purpose does literature serve in a world that is materialistic?’

“I have some unorthodox teaching methods, and Coronado is basically a very conservative community.”

Those methods have paid off well in the view of the parents whose children have studied under Skelton.

“The first thing my son said this year was that the teacher was treating them like college students, not babying them, but making them think and realize their potential,” Irene Snyder said in an interview. “One of my son’s friends who never did well is doing quite well now and spending a lot of time studying.”

Fallin, a former teacher, said that Skelton “knows how to motivate those students who are apathetic, and they are the biggest problem that you face as a high school teacher.

“Mr. Skelton doesn’t just say, ‘All the unmotivated students are troublemakers’ but treats them all as individuals for whom he should put out a tremendous effort. And that just might be a threat to other teachers.

“My son has been coming home and talking about philosophers and the meaning of life and taking an interest in his readings and writing all his essays. . . . I considered that a small miracle.”

Little Dismay

Betty Galbo, a parent as well as a teacher at Taft Junior High in San Diego, told Coronado trustees that a good teacher “will reach children anyway he or she can, and I have walked out of (Skelton’s) class feeling very positive about what he has done.

“I’ve heard that he was considered a threat to other teachers.”

School board members as well as the high school principal have refused to comment on why Skelton was not rehired.

But three longtime Coronado high teachers--from a total staff of about 40--showed little dismay after Wednesday’s debate at Skelton’s fate and indicated some of the possible reasons for the dismissal. One of the teachers, Patrick Bennett, a Coronado history teacher since 1965, had circulated a letter among the faculty supporting Principal Carol Burke in the face of parent criticism over the action against Skelton.

Although Bennett said the letter was not meant to show support for the actual recommendation against Skelton, Bennett believes that Burke must have had reasons to act the way she did.

“I can’t believe that, if he was a good teacher, he wouldn’t be asked back,” Bennett said. “Mrs. Burke has always been knowledgeable, fair and hard-working.”

Another social studies teacher, Duncan Ferguson, said of the strong support by students for Skelton: “Wouldn’t you say that he is a really great teacher if you were getting all A’s and B’s?”

Ferguson said Skelton “never wanted to know anybody . . . . he did not do anything socially with us” and did not often go to the faculty lounge.

And Ferguson and colleague William Seager criticized the Coronado Journal newspaper for its essay contest among students.

“Well, sure it bothers us,” Ferguson said of Skelton’s award, claiming that the teachers have no way of knowing how many essays were received.

Skelton said during an interview that he had been told by the school board during its closed hearing that they had information about his being poor at record-keeping.

“That involved attendance keeping and my grade book,” he said. “I am somewhat of a maverick and not good about attendance, and I know that translates into dollars, so that was a legitimate gripe.

“And, while in some sections of my AP classes, everyone got A’s, everyone earned them. I grade on an individual basis, which sends school administrators up the wall.”

As for socializing, he said, “I would just as soon stay in the room with the kids. . . . That is just my nature.”

But, Skelton added, “The fact is that the things I was cited for are learnable skills for a teacher, and, if I am guilty of anything, it is putting things in the proper perspective and believing that reaching the kids is more important than being an accountant.”