The San Bruno Beacon

I am saddened by the disgraceful spectacle of grief and humiliation orchestrated by San Bruno Park School District Superintendent David Hutt at the March 12, 2008 San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD) Board Meeting that I attended. Hutt inflicted this forum of pain and suffering on everyone involved by baiting all of the SBPSD Principals with threats of termination. In my opinion, this was a textbook example of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Before the March 12th SBPSD Meeting, Hutt had prepared an Agenda item for SBPSD Board approval threatening the termination of principals in the San Bruno Park School District.

Attachment "A" to Hutt's Resolution 08-03-04 titled, "RESOLUTION TO NOTIFY OF POSSIBLE RELEASE AS CERTIFICATED ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEE" named every Principal in the San Bruno Park School District as a target for termination.

Hutt's proposed resolution, naming all of the District's Principals as termination targets, was carefully crafted and timed to create maximum fear and extreme emotional distress for the Principals and resulted in them being paraded in front of a live television audience over San Bruno's CATV network.

All of the Principals who appeared at the meeting were extermely upset; some were in tears, while others could barely contain the depth and degree of the extreme emotional distress and fear that Hutt had inflicted on them. These fine people were having their livelihoods threatened by a bureaucrat whose actions, in concert with the SBPSD Board, have, in my opinion, devastated the financial resources of the SBPSD and continue to threaten every dollar of taxpayer money that comes under the control of Superintendent Hutt and the SBPSD Board of Trustees.

What are the children who attend school in the SBPSD to think when the Superintendent of the District undermines and humiliates the District's Principals on live television by treating them with such a high degree of disrespect and toying with their emotions to advance his personal agenda?

I have now been informed, by Angela Addiego (one of the targeted Principals), that Hutt may have intentionally orchestrated this spectacle of grief and emotional distress with no real intention of firing anybody. According to Ms. Addiego, after the SBPSD Board voted unanimously against the motion to terminate the Principals, Hutt gave the Principals $5 gift cards and thanked them for coming to the meeting and getting people's attention. Principal Addiego also told me that Mr. Hutt's wife was allegedly telling people that Hutt had no intention of firing anybody and pulled this painful stunt to get the public's attention.

In other words, it appears that Hutt may have set up the San Bruno Park School District's Principals by threatening their livelihood so he could use them as his shills to advance his agenda. This is not only an insult to the intelligence, dignity, and devotion of these dedicated professional educators with whom we entrust the educations of our children; it is also a slap in the face to each and every San Bruno resident and the children who attend school in the San Bruno Park School District.