Letter: St. VeronicaaEUR(TM)s School will suffer without Palitto

The recent capricious decision to dismiss Ms. Teri Palitto of St. Veronica Catholic School is South San Francisco is reprehensible. This decision, which seeks to... "give St. Veronica School an opportunity to grow in new directions,” disregards the fine record of dedication, leadership and accomplishment by her and her faculty. Apparently, the "Power-players” have no appreciation for Ms. Pallitto’s talent, leadership and Catholic identity. She is the epitome of a catholic education in a secular world who has led our youth on the road to wisdom, understanding and love of God.

In spring of 2008, SVCS was evaluated by educators from WASC/WCEA. The school was found to be highly effective. Ms. Pallitto was commended for her outstanding leadership and commitment to the school, and started that by guiding students through their quality Catholic education. The school was accredited with the highest possible term of six years.

For decades our parish has had a profound sense of "community” established through collaboration and fairness, largely by the efforts and leadership of the school and its parents. This cooperative spirit has resulted in an annual successful parish festival and many improvements to the school and parish plant. During this past seven years, Ms. Pallitto has spearheaded many of these upgrades. Remarkably these improvements were made at no cost to the Parish!

Now this sense of "community” has been fractured. The "Power-players” have failed to recognize the goodness that is present in St. Veronica’s vibrant parish in order to seek "new directions.” What a disruptive travesty!

Joan Coleman

South San Francisco