Last night’s meeting of the Fillmore school board proved to be extraordinary. Nearly 100 teachers and parents gathered in the auditorium to admonish the board and, particularly, board member Tony Prado for his letter which appeared in the Gazette the previous week.

Among the few positive agenda items was the introduction of Fillmore’s new Superintendent, Dr. Adrian E. Palazuelos. Dr. Palazuelos addressed the audience briefly. He is a man with a positive personality, eager to take on the challenging responsibilities as head of our school community. Welcome Dr. Palazuelos. We wish you well!

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I had a flurry of focus problems with my camera last night. Many the photos were unusable.

A video of the entire school board meeting will be uploaded as soon as possible. I regret that I left at the break, missing Mr. Prado’s rebuttal to a virtual avalanche of bitter criticism over his letter last week attacking recently retired teacher-counselor, Karen Ashim. Mrs. Ashim’s reputation as an outstanding teacher and counselor was vigorously defended by a dozen members in the audience.

Mr. Prado’s remarks can be heard towards the end of the video to be added soon to the story on the front page.