EDITORIAL:

Communication: It’s the key to good relations everywhere, and when relations grow sour, often a breakdown in communication is clearly the reason.

So when a popular teacher went missing from the classroom at Estancia High School, students and parents went searching for answers, and the lines of communication grew silent.

Bob Sterling, a college prep teacher, was placed on leave by district officials. The reason? We don’t know. They aren’t talking.

Sterling himself said it was related to a critical e-mail. Something he said shouldn’t warrant the treatment he received.

So what went wrong and how can it be prevented?

Let’s start with the e-mail. While we don’t know exactly what was in the e-mail, what we know from Sterling is that he sent the missive to multiple parties: the teachers union, the district, the school leadership.

We acknowledge that sending e-mails is a common communication tool these days.

But often the tone of e-mails can’t be determined correctly. And e-mails to mass audiences get interpreted several times over.

If Sterling really wished to get his point across, perhaps a one-on-one meeting would have been a better line of communication.

And how about the district and the school’s silence?

When Sterling was missing from the class, his students became concerned enough that they picketed the school, calling for his return.

At that point, the district or Estancia Principal Phil D’Agostino could have offered some sort of explanation about his absence, instead of saying no comment. Declining to comment never serves anyone well.

It just creates more speculation and more ambiguity and leaves the public lacking the full story.

We know D’Agostino and know he is an outstanding school leader. And we are confident that district officials acted in what they believed was the district’s best interest.

But what we are asking for, and parents and students deserve, is more dialogue. Keep the conversation going, and keep it open and honest. Let both sides tell their story. Let us know when teachers cross the line of good conduct, of course paying heed to personnel sensitivities.

Because, with apologies to a famous movie line, what we don’t want to have here is a failure to communicate.