After a Long Week, Dallas ISD Trustee Edwin Flores Sends an Open Letter of Apology

Below is a missive just dispatched to Unfair Park: Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores's "Open Letter of Apology" -- to Central Elementary fourth-grade bilingual teacher Joseph Drake, who was put on leave after he sent Flores a fist-shaking letter concerning 45 minutes added to teachers' workdays, and to...

By Robert Wilonsky

February 2, 2012

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Below is a missive just dispatched to Unfair Park: Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores's "Open Letter of Apology" -- to Central Elementary fourth-grade bilingual teacher Joseph Drake, who was put on leave after he sent Flores a fist-shaking letter concerning 45 minutes added to teachers' workdays, and to teachers and supporters who believe Flores overreacted by forwarding that letter to district higher-ups. The letter speaks for itself.

"I feel very bad about it," Flores tells Unfair Park, and by "it," he means the very public blow-up that followed his decision to send Drake's letter up the chain of command. "I certainly had no expectation it would turn into what it turned into. But as soon as the process begins in a public entity [like the DISD], there's nothing you can do or say after that." The apology, he says, is "the polite and honorable thing to do."

It was sent separately to Drake, Flores says. "And I've offered to meet with him in private. If he doesn't want to, I understand."

DISD Trustee Edwin Flores's Open Letter of Apology

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