Hayward strike updates
By knoceda
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 4:39 pm in General, Hayward, Schools.
The Angry, Tired Teachers — a group of Hayward educators led by art teacher Andy Knight — recently recorded its original song “Teaching in a Hayward School,” inspired by the labor negotiations.
Meanwhile, teachers and the district continue to meet at a negotiation session that began at 1 p.m. today, with Paul Rouse, coordinator of state mediation, and County Superintendent Sheila Jordan mediating.
Check back here or pick up Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Review to get more information regarding the negotiation’s outcome.
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April 18th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I would like to respond to Mr. Vigil on his comments made in Tuesday April 17 paper. He states that schools are the safest place for students during the Teachers Strike. I would first like to let Mr Vigil know that there is no safer place than my home for my child. Second I would like to let Mr Vigil know that he should maybe sometime visit some of the schools he supervises. At one school, the front doors have been removed, where there used to be doors is now air. Anyone can walk through the classroom area. Believe me I have done it. Also I would like to let Mr. Vigil know that the subs or babysitters as I call them, are not stopping people like the regular staff would have. If Mr Vigil does not believe this, he or his reps can contact me and we will go to any school of his choice. He will find out the schools are no longer safe as he calls them. Also I would like to let Mr. Vigil know that his first concern should be are the students being taught. Mr Vigil, this is not happening. Giving the children work sheets is not teaching. If that was the case you would not need qualifications to teach. Anyone can hand the students a work sheet and collect them when they are through. I wonder what the State Board of Education would say about handing out worksheets to Hayward Students. Does this qualify towards their credits? I think it is a strectch because my child’s worksheet was no more than an 8th graders work. My child is a senior in high school. 3 weeks ago she was getting chanlenged by her teachers. They gave her work past her level. Not below her level. I would like to suggest to Mr. Vigil that maybe this is the reason so many parents have not sent their chldren to school. The kids are not being taught currently if they do go to school. Also the question at hand, do these work sheets give them normal credits? The state tests are coming up. Are the students being prepared for these tests? I doubt that. So Mr. Vigil if you can convince me that by sending my child to school that she is going to learn like she did 3 weeks ago then I will gladly send my child to school. Also Mr. Vigil I would like to let you know that you are not running Exxon Mobil. A school distrct she not be looking to make a profit or even break even. It should be the goal of a school district to educate it’s students to the best of it’s abilities. Can you say you are doing that right now, Mr. Vigil? I am thinking no! But like I said I have an open mind. I can be convinced. You pick the school site and I pick the day and we both can go and get these answers. Lastly to the elected school board members, hopefully you will not be up for reelection during my lifetime. I would rather vote for a rock than anyone currently on the school board. I hope everyone in Hayward has learned a lesson. Maybe if we all would have voted during the last school board election things would be different. Hopefully someone goes to Mr. Vigil’s office and wakes him up to his responsibilities. Also, everyone should know that from associate supertendent to the business and human resource superintendents all received a 16.84 raise. My guess is no one was too concerned with bankrupting the Hayward School District then. Hopefully Mr. Vigil will start earning his raise by at least talking with the unions and parents.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Ultimately teachers want what is best for their students. Having the lowest paid teachers in the Bay Area is a disservice to Hayward students. Raising salaries is a win/win situation for the teachers and the district, however Superintendent Vigil is taking a win/lose stance on the situation. It breaks my heart to see that the administration has begun to manipulate and intimidate parents and students with misleading information and threats of suspension if they choose to support teachers and not cross the picket line during a strike. THANK YOU FAMILIES FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
April 18th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Nathan, please visit my website and contact me. We need to TALK!!
I read that subs at Lorin Eden allowed the kids to watch “Sponge Bob,” while he read a newspaper.
I made a comment earlier about ADA; however, schools received all said money for the year as of March 30th and it doesn’t matter. What matters??? I spoke to an “unnamed,” source who told me that these Administrators received a STEP increase, rather than a SALARY increase at the end of 2006, so as to not draw attention to the fact that they had received a RAISE. WHY are they getting another RAISE???? This was done on the SLY and was very hush-hush. You know, overnight. (?)
I have four kids, 3 in GATE, one who has been in Special Day for one year. He is now in transition, after working hard for positive social/behavioral change. He transitioned back to public school, at the end of February. This STRIKE is delaying his progress of full transition, as he is supposed to be in HIS regular classroom. I’ve chosen to keep him out of that setting as it’s chaotic and unpredictable, something that would cause major set-back for him and his progress. The superintendent and board members don’t want to hear from the community. They don’t care and really don’t have a vested interest in how this effects or impacts the lives of many in Hayward. They have their own political agendas and we really need to remember this the next time we VOTE. I can only say one thing about the Board…Mr. Cook. He has shown compassion and concern, each step of the way.
I do not want the good name of our schools and teachers to go down with the current administration. I’ve heard about several stress complaints surrounding this administration and am requesting answers of the superintendent. My son, AB3632, in transition from a Day Treatment into public school, and I received a phone call from the Superintendent that states, “The safest place for your child is in school….” He doesn’t even know my child, nor does he care. My child needs HIS classroom, where HIS teacher is aware of HIS situation and can help him be successful. He doesn’t need to be placed in a class of 60 students across grade levels.
He has an agenda and it doesn’t concern residents of Hayward, it’s children or school teachers. He can leave, after all is said and done, in his Porsche, instead of Honda….and drive away. This is very sad indeed, and they should be ashamed of themselves. Settle this and get our teachers back to doing what THEY do best, stop playing games. GIVE UP YOUR SALARY INCREASES THAT YOU’VE RECEIVED FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS!!!
Did you all know of this “SILENT,” raise? I think it’s STEP 1 to STEP 2 or DIRECT 1 to DIRECT 2. I have my sources.
We are asking:
give back the raise administrators GAVE themselves
negotiate fair increase for teachers
negotiate fair medical coverage or renegotiate with Kaiser etc. for our teachers
Return messages to the community, stop hiding….
NOW.
My daughter is a senior and her events are being canceled with each day that passes. THIS MUST END NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
April 18th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I would like to see the strike end. I was wondering why the Teacher’s Union doesn’t have a group plan for medical coverage since they don’t receive that perk from there employers, some teachers have wrote that they pay almost a third of their salaries? Blue cross or shield is cheaper with the family plans. I also wonder why the words and sentences from a few highly trained and educated teachers have misspellings and incomplete sentences? Just a question. Finally, I wanted to mention that if I went on strike to ask for more money that my employer would let me go. I am not represented by any Union, therefore I must take what the boss is offering or start looking for another job if I am not satisfied. I just wanted to add my viewpoint from where I stand on this whole out of hand district vs. teacher fiasco.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Aw, forget it! I don’t need a raise. I’ll be satisfied if Barry and Dale give back their raises.
Whaddya say, guys?
April 18th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I somewhat agree with Mikey. Have Barry and Cheryl give it back THEN accept the raise on the table. The Mayor spoke at the Board meeting in March and requested just that.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Dear Voice,
I have a few choice words regarding your comment, “I wanted to mention that if I went on strike to ask for more money that my employer would let me go. I am not represented by any Union, therefore I must take what the boss is offering or start looking for another job if I am not satisfied.”
Your tone is patronizing. Are you suggesting that if teachers don’t like it, they should leave? I think you fail to realize some of the intricacies of our situation. Yes, if you don’t like your pay, then your option is to look elsewhere for work, and the same is true for us. One key difference is that if we go elsewhere, our community loses someone that knows its parents and its children. If, as you suggest, our situation equates to your own, then it follows that teachers will naturally gravitate away from Hayward because of the inferior pay. This creates the potential for a revolving door and fails to address the importance of retaining quality teachers that become integral members of the neighborhoods where they live and work. This is not fair to the communities we know and love. Education is not a business. Your posting asks many questions of the teachers, but where are your questions for the other side? You are entitled to your opinion, but why must you disrespect hardworking professional educators to make your point?
We also wish for this strike to come to an end as soon as possible. We want more than anything to be back in the classroom with our kids, doing what we do best. This is not just about us, this is about the future of public education is Hayward. Thanks to all those that support this just cause.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
The blogger who posted himself as “Voice”, is a little delusional from where I sit. I’m not sure what your profession is, but professionals negotiate their salaries all the time. So whether or not you approached your boss for a raise is not relevant in this case because the demands of educators far outweigh most well-salaried professions in any field.
In terms of the grammatical errors bloggers are making, different types of writing assume different forms of etiquette, for they serve different purposes. Now if this site was a formal academic blog site then okay, whine all you like about the grammatical errors. But on an informal blog site where people are venting their frustration about unfair working conditions, you’ll have to forgive us if a few errors are made. Just a suggestion.
Lastly, the teachers in Hayward are demanding to be treated as professionals, not as ignorant civil servants who martyr themselves at the feet of educational institutions. Fact: District administraors (ooo!, look a typo.) have taken advantage of their position, and have rewarded themselves for being both ineffecient and corrupt. (it’s sickening) Mr.Vigil is, in essence a con artist and a crook, who does not understand that the education of the children in this community requires compromise, humility, respect, and reverence for the people who serve those children.
If you are not in the field of education that may be difficult for you to understand.
April 18th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I would like to make a correction to the second-to-last sentence of my previous posting. It should read, “This is not just about us, this is about the future of public education in Hayward. ”
SUPPORT HAYWARD TEACHERS!!
April 18th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Dear Voice:
I’m not sure if you are pointing out my typos and misspellings or somebody else’s, but that is besides the point.
We are not writing a novel or formal paper here! I think that for the sake of immediacy and to keep this dialogue fluid, we can all agree to do away with a few writing rules.
Lighten up! And by the way,
Why keep your name private?
Spanish is my primary lenguage (I learned English as a teenager) and I would normally run all my writtings through a spell check. I have not figured out how to do it without moving my text back and forth between programs, too time consuming!
April 18th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Let me correct my latest typo, I meant to type writting rules
April 18th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
I never disrespected teachers and I wasn’t suggesting anything but merely giving my viewpoint. For Some questions to the district I have them too. Why would they give the few administrators 17% raises when they already make 6 digit salaries. Since the teachers are the ones that gave up raises in the past to help the district and the community, The teachers should have been the first ones to recieve raises before any administrator. The 17% raises should be revoked and the teachers should be first in line for raises, but not at the cost of bankrupting the district. Finally I am concerned for Hayward as a whole and I don’t patronize people, just voicing my viewpoint from my life. Anybody know the answer to the medical coverage question?
April 19th, 2007 at 4:19 am
to Voice:
You are concerned with typos? It’s called passion; these are people writing in the heat of the moment. Give ‘em a break.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:16 am
Dear Voice,
Thank you for your dignified response to my posting. As to the medical question, there are several answers. First, the union is not in a position to offer medical coverage, as far as I know. Second, we do have the option of opting out of the district offered plans and paying for private insurance as oppposed to the gruop rates negotiated by the district. For some, that is a better option. Family plans are available through the district, and I do believe they are discounted. In terms of how much of one’s salary is needed to make these payments, it depends greatly on the individual, which insurance route they have chosen, and where they are on the salary schedule. The point is that insurance is not included in our salary. This arrangment was originally meant to serve the teachers, becasue (in theory) it makes teachers’ base salaries higher, and their retirement calculations will be based on these numbers. What has happened since this choice was made is that insurance has continued to climb at an alarming rate, while teacher pay has remained relatively flat. Our stiking point with medical coverage is that we pay out of pocket, prices are risising, and this is a rise in the cost of living that the district continues to ignore.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Why does the ADA money lost to student absenteeism not raise the hair on the back of
everyone’s neck? Absentee rates applicable to High School are higher than at middle
school and a bit lower at elementary school. Applied to fiscal year 2005-06 enrollments
those rates indicated annual loss in excess of $5 million.
In his February letter to me, Schimmel seemed to verify that fact but also stated that
‘programs’ were in place to deal with that! What I do not understand is that if 7% daily
rate of absenteeism at high school levels is the result of sucees with those ‘programs’, then
why in blazes do we not devise better programs?
Reduction of absentee rates to half of the reputed rate occuring in 2005-06 would have
gone a long way to meet teacher’s demands and might even have met justification for the
16.8 % KICK (EARNED ( ?) by our famous administrators and even lead to re-election of a
trustee or two !
April 19th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I would like to comment on this “bankrupting the district” phrase that keep coming up, not only from the district but from parents.
There are too many examples I could cite of instances where our administartor’s incompetence have cost the district huge amounts of our tax money, but I will stick to a couple. If I have any facts wrong, please correct me, anybody!
1-My understanding is that the district is going to have to pay 1.2 million dollars BACK to the state because they allowed high school students to take or not take the 4th block of classes, something many students did not do. It was lack of supervision by our administrators that allowed this to happen, now they have stashed away this entire ammount to pay for their mistake even though the state will allow them to pay the ammount over 5 (or6?) years!
In my opinion, they should pay the appropriate fraction of the fine every year, but not “save” the entire ammount off on some account. This money could go towards offering the teachers a better wage. Next year, on a fresh budget, pay another 6th of THEIR mistake. We should not penalize the teachers for their (the administrators’) screw up. I’m affraid that this money will somewhow find its way elsewhere. (Yet another “merit” raise?)
2- Just recently the district settled a law suit filed by the parents of a teenager who got killed by a train because a gate that was supposed to be either supervised or locked and it was neither. You can read about this incident by going to the following link.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_200700402/ai_n18781735
I wander how much district money and resources were spent defending this lawsuit and compensating the parents for the loss of their child. Some of you might take the callous stance that it was the teen’s fault, but teens are not known as being particularly responsible. That is why the district had signed a contract to staff or close the gate, a contract they to ignored and now they expect US to pay for THEIR mistake.
The worst fact about this particular incident is that the gate continues to be open and a danger to the students. I wander how many more dead children Vigil, Schimmel and this school board want in their conscience, before they close the gate if there is not money to staff it.
So, if the district is in the current situation it is in great part because of the inaction of this “dynamic duo” and the board that brought them to run our district. And for this stellar performace they get their exorbitant salaries?
Unfortunatelly the only way we will get rid of these incompetent “leaders” will be to buy them out with yet another huge check, just like the previous superintendent, which i believe cost us about a quarter of a million dollars to get rid off,
Thank you Grant!
April 19th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Hey folks, keep the scales balanced !
If you castigate leadership at HUSD administration for not living in town then perhaps it is time
time to answer the following question : What percentage of teacher’s union mem,bership lives in
the district?
April 19th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Thank you Mr. Kyle!
Mr. Hernandez: I do believe that the repayment of 1.2 million is a result of prior administration and it was the CURRENT administration that appealed to the state of California after receiving a much higher bill. It was THIS administration that got the state to take payments. It was THIS administration that actually brought the district back into the black after prior staff (including teachers) took it upon themselves to make purchases without authorization. It was THIS
administration that changed that thinking! I personally was a president of a high school club and was told that there was no money for purchases. So where were those funds (from prior administration)? Where are the facts that support what did occur and what has been cleaned up?
My understanding is that the last administration dug the hole; current administration climbed back up and has been walking around it. With current demands, we may jump back in. Are you willing to jeopardize that? Put the blame where it lies: with the previous administration.
On the train incident: I too have followed that. comments are unfounded and unsubstantiated. There are always more facts that are not publicly disclosed for whatever reason. Since the judge sealed the case, we as the public, will probably never know all that occurred.
Saying that a teenager is not responsible? Thinking back as a teenager, I felt I knew everything and adults were the bad guys. Has it been that long ago that you too felt the same way?
Again, it is the CURRENT administration that is addressing problems from previous staff and endure ridicule from public that do not have total picture prior to painting it on the wall for viewing. Let’s change it to read: Welcome to Rumorville California…. This strike has started major scuttlebutt since the first picket sign went up.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Angela:
First of all, I did not state that the teen was not responsible, of course she was partially responsible!
I do remember what it was like to be a teen, but that doen’t excuse the fact that the district was and is still is under contractual obligation to staff the gate or close it. Again, it was preciselly because of the way some teens are, that the contract was signed to begin with.
The district only agreed to settle after the judge, who did have all the facts in the case, stated there was indeed enough evidence that the district was more than likely responsible.
About the administration’s fault in the 1.2 million, I include Mr. Peterson in the administration. I could be mistaken, but it is my understanding Mr.Peterson was on the board when they hired the previous superintendents, who put us in the hole.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Hi all,
Part of this isn’t fully related to the strike, but in response to a couple things I’ve read in the comments…
We are planning to update the Jasmin Castro story (settlement between Hayward school district and Jasmin’s parents). What Fernando says is true…the settlement was sealed by the court, but we are still finding out at who’s request it was sealed, and we are also working with our lawyer to get the terms released. Unfortunately, such a process can sometimes be lengthy, because everything needs to be documented and filed, and it takes time to get a response. We are also looking into why the gate at Tennyson remains open.
Also, I’ve seen a few comments, as well as received some e-mails and voicemails, as to why we have not checked on whether the money is “really there” in the district’s budget. In fact, we did this story back on March 25. The thing about the budget is, it’s really subject to interpretation as to whether the money is “really there.” One side says the money is available but earmarked for other things, the other side says the money is there and should be used. There isn’t a definitive person or party who can say whether the money is really there for a pay increase. It seems this was attempted through the use of an outside mediator, who made an independent recommendation as to what — based on their research and involvement — could be done. Here is the story that ran on March 25:
Teachers, district see funds differently
I thank you all for keeping the topic on course after I had to take action. It’s been much better, and a good dialogue is taking place. Thanks for reading the HayWord.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:44 am
I just wanted to give my full support to the teachers! I am a parent of 2 children going to
Harder. One of my children is autistic and attends a SDC class. She has missed speech
therapy and mainstreaming during this strike. My 8 year old misses school period. Dr. Vigil
is not doing enough to end the strike. I would think the low attendance would concern him
enough to end the strike. The voice mail he left district-wide for all the parents was, in my
opinion, obnoxious. I know there is NO instruction being given and I already have a baby-
sitter for my kids.
Wake up Dr. Vigil and end the strike NOW!!!
April 19th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Here we are in the 6th day of Hayward Teachers Strike and nothing has been resolved!
I was somewhat Happy when I heard the on Tuesday and Wednesday, that both sides were talking and at the end of Wednesday nothing had been resolved !!!!! It breaks my heart that my
so who is afraid to go to school with his teacher bieng there, might be forced to go back
to school or spend another year in the 1st grade, becasue now HUSD is threatening him
with that !!!!!
This is my take on it, HUSD just closed down a bunch of schools becasue they needed
to tone down their expenses, but thier is one school that is being Rebuilt —–BURBANK ,
I feel that that school should have been close and another school of choice should have been left open and the teachers could have their rasies ——with the money that would have been used to rebuild Burbank !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our children need to be back in school with thier regular teachers and they need to be able to take thier tests in peace with out all this chaos !!!!!!!
Mr.Vigil needs to wake up and give these teachers what they deserve , so our children can have back what they deserve thier teahcers !!!!!!!!!
April 19th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I have to agree with disgusted Hayward Parent. Unfortunately for me I had to cross the
line yesterday. My son wanted to go to school. He has been on break for 3 wks. It broke
my heart to cross, but some parents really have no choice. Daycare for 3wks then
another week, is too expensive!!!! He is 9 years old, and was very nervous. I am VERY
thankful that his teacher and past teachers came up to the car and talked to him and
that they understood where I was coming from. I hope today will be the last day of
this strike!!!!
April 19th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
HUSD threatened your child with repeating 1st grade? Was this actually said?
If they held back every child who stayed home, they’d have to hold back 78% of the district’s students, which would be about 17,000 kids…..
April 19th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Yes, they did !!!! And that when he returned to school he might face suspesion !!!!!
And when I called Mr. Vigil’s again this afternoon , he still would not take my call,
At this point I feel that Mr. Vigil should be replaced as Superintedent and give someone
else a fair shot at the job, because really at this point all he is doing is pissing teachers and pareants off !!!!! He needs to stop construction ( right all it is is a dirt pile ) on the new Burbank school
and give you the teachers what u guys deserve , so the kids can have back what they
deserve ——their Teachers !!!!!!!!!
April 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
And please people forgive my typos , I have like 6 kids at my house right and
it is very hard to type and control them ,
thanks
April 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I just saw a report that the school district has informed the union that HUSD will be wasting more resources paying attorneys to file a petition with the state public employment board, seeking an injunction to force the teachers back to the classroom.
This is consistent with Dr. Vigil’s public statements that there is no reason why the teachers cannot return to the classroom while negotiations continue. Of course, we all know, HUSD consistently refused to negotiate with teachers until they went on strike. In response to the strike, the district actually acknowledged that its “interim budget” was a sham, and increased its offer slightly.
What has been absent throughout this process is any admission by the district that the have consistently demonstrated a lack of RESPECT for teachers, parents, and students. Presenting a “sham budget,” publicly questioning a teacher whom the administrator hadn’t met, calling parents and claiming that the strike is over (in Spanish only), and claiming that the district is willing to talk and share its books but then barring parents from entering the district offices — this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Dr. Vigil’s and Mr. Schimmel’s lack of respect for teachers has already cost this district more than a MILLION DOLLARS (the increase in the district’s offer so far). It will probably cost much more, because the district is continuing to “play games” with its budget offers — for example, in their most recent proposal yesterday, the district added a second “contingent raise,” by which teachers are promised a retroactive raise if the district’s accounting permits it. Given the recent (and not-so-recent) aggressive manipulation of accounting records to prevent teacher raises, such “contingent” proposals are simply a waste of time.
Some teachers have already resigned since the strike began, and if they are “ordered” to return to the classroom, I assume that dozens more will submit their immediate resignations because they are no longer willing to work for a dishonest employer — and probably 200-400 more will resign effective at the end of the school year.
And that’s not all. If teachers are “ordered” back to the classroom, many parents (our family included) will almost certainly NOT place our children back in classrooms to be taught by teachers who don’t want to be there. At the very least, a large number of parents would almost certainly hold their children out of school for at least one day after the strike ends, to insure that order has been restored and that there is a healthy environment conducive to learning. A substantial number of parents have announced plans to home-school their children for the remainder of the year. It is likely that “declining enrollment” will be accelerated as hundreds of Hayward families find ways to send their students to schools in other districts — something that they would not have done if the district had not deliberately provoked a strike.
Our understanding is that our child’s regular teacher will probably not return to the classroom (for reasons unrelated to the strike), and therefore the “best case” scenario is that our child would be taught by a substitute teacher, who would certainly not get any volunteer help from veteran teachers who have been forced back to work by a court order. Dozens of other teachers will likely resign rather than return to work under a court order, and families whose students are assigned to those classrooms will likely hold hold them home.
So what can the district do to fix this? First, and foremost, Dr. Dale Vigil (superintendent), Mr. Schimmel (assistant superintendent), and the entire school
board need to stand up and apologize for lying to teachers and the public, for disrespecting parents and the public, and for their deliberate provocations that led to the strike. If they refuse to apologize (or worse, issue weaselly statements that merel “regret that people were upset,” as Mr. Schimmel did after sending his insulting email to all of the district’s teachers and administrators), the only forseeable alternative is to pay TWO TO FIVE MILLION DOLLARS in additional salary increases for teachers.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
This whole thing is amazing to me. My children have been in HUSD for the past 13 years (my oldest is a senior). I have watched creative, talented teachers leave the district due to lack of support and better financial opportunities in other districts.
For those teachers who have remained and continue to contribute to our children’s education, who give of their personal time, money and energy to go the extra mile to ensure that our children receive the best opportunities, we as parents have a moral obligation to support them.
These are the same teachers who waived salary increases in the past to assist the district in meeting their financial goals.
At a minimum, our teachers should be paid comparably to teachers in neighboring districts. For those who have hung in there when times were bad, we owe them a whole lot more.
It is said that what we value most receives most of our resources. If we are to keep our current teachers and recruit additional talented staff, we have to provide competitive salary packages. Good teachers with good curriculum and parental support are what increase API scores.
Just my thoughts
April 19th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
On an unrelated topic: I am disappointed at the number of people who are criticizing teachers for typographical/grammatical errors in posts made to the “HayWord” web site. As we all know, the site provides a very small text-entry box, which doesn’t work properly (some characters at the end of each line aren’t even visible). And teachers are spending many hours out in the cold each day, and participate in this forum out of their sense of responsibility and service to the community. (Remember, the teachers are sacrificing about HALF A MILLION DOLLARS EACH DAY that they are on strike — indeed, every day they are out, the district saves about a quarter of a million dollars in salary — which may explain why the district worked so aggressively to provoke this strike.)
Give the teachers a break, please — even if you don’t agree with the strike, even if you think they are overpaid or unqualified or whatever — and stop complaining about typos.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Thanks Mark, I’m glad I’m not the only one to see that the district has provoked the strike and is using it as a means to MAKE money,
Unfortunatelly, we Hayward parents and our kids will have to live with the consequences of Vigil and Schimmels actions, once they are gone to enjoy their fat bank accounts.
We need a new board, NOW
And I would suggest, board members, if you are even involved in the search for new superintendents (and I doubt it!) that we make it a prerequisite that our superintendents live in Hayward and that their children attend Hayward public schools. Maybe then they will indeed work for the better interest of Hayward students.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Update on today’s developments.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Sorry to change the subject, but thank you to all of the students, parents and community members who have gone to great lengths and sacrifice to support us. Simply having someone whose child I taught last year show up on the line this morning to lend me words of encouragement was truly inspiring. These special relationships are why I love my job. I teach the child for one year, but my friendships and mentorships will last a lifetime.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I am so disgusted by the treatment of the Superintendent to the students and teachers of Hayward. I have lived in Hayward for 17 yrs and have 3 kids. I did not send my oldest to Hayward schools as I felt the district was in disarray. She attended school in the Fremont Unified School District. However, she is now a teacher in the Hayward Unified School District! This is the community in which she grew up and wanted to teach her to support and teach Hayward’s students! My oldest son attended Hayward schools until the 9th grade. I had begun to feel better about the district by this time and had my faith restored… until the 9th grade. I pulled him out due to the violence in the school and the fact that I had a teacher and asst principal tell me that they gave my son a failing grade because “he fell threw the cracks”. They had “forgotten” to send home any progress reports to alert me to his failing ways.. I took responsibility as a parent for not following up with my son regarding his homework, etc but I thought we were a “team” (parent/teacher). I put him into Fremont. My youngest son is currently attending a Hayward high school … as I still had some faith in the system.
Well, thanks to everything going on recently, that faith is completely destroyed. My daughter is young.. 25 years old but has not only her bachelor’s degree but also her Master’s degree in education. She can barely afford to live on her own let alone pay for her own medical insurnace. I carried her on my insurance as long as I could. This is tragic. All she wanted to do was to make a difference in children’s lives.. to teach them not only in academics but to instill a work ethic in the youth to be able to contribute to society in a positive manner… to teach them responsibility and respect. How can this happen when her employer is treating her with such disrespect? Not only her but us, as parents!
She wants to stay in Hayward.. she wants to help the community she grew up in…. and they are slowly starting to make her think… maybe it’s time to go elsewhere… so very sad….
It breaks my heart that these officials can so such a lack of compassion and decency. We must all never forget that they are ELECTED officials…. remember their names and let’s make sure they never get elected again.
The district wonders why enrollment is declining… why would any parent want to send their kids to a school where the district refuses to pay the teachers what they are worth? They cannot retain quality teachers at this salary… the enrollment will continue to decline. And the high teacher turn over rate will increase.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
In answer to the person who asked about how many of the teachers live in Hayward? Well unlike our district administration our union’s President and VP both live in Hayward and have grandchildren and children who attend Hayward’s schools. They also went through Hayward schools themselves.
Although some teachers may not live in Hayward, these same teachers have worked in Hayward for many, many years and plan to retire working in Hayward. We have a commitment to the Hayward schools and students.
The majority of Hayward families and the community are union oriented and support teachers.
RE: the injunction. If the district was serious about getting a settlement they would bargain with HEA and not waste time getting an injunction.
Re: typos. It is very difficult to proofread one’s writing in the space given to write. Errors are missed. If we were writing papers etc. there wouldn’t be errors. We are professionals and we are educated.
RE: unions. All workers deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully. Non-union workers should aspire to having a union. If labor had rights in this country, we all would be better for it.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
A Love Letter to Dr. Vigil:
Dear Dale;
How’s it going ? I just got back from the district office today (Fri. April 20th). About 1,500 of my closest friends came by your office to visit you, but I guess you weren’t there to hear our comments. I thought maybe one of your syncophants would come out to visit, too, but alas, no luck. Dale, I was actually moved to tears to see the parents and kids marching to show support for the teachers of Hayward. Guess you were really busy in there trying to figure out where all the district’s funds went, or trying to figure out how to get that darn Spongebob DVD to work(curriculum). Oh well, maybe next time.
You know, Dale, I was wrong about your ability to lead. On the contrary, you have done a great job of leading the community and the students and the teachers of Hayward into a perfect union. Kudos to you on that: the vibe seems to be that Hayward as a whole has never been more united, and we owe it all to you. You have proven yourself to be a great ‘unificator’.
Sorry to hear you don’t have a lot of money. I suppose you’ll have to rescind those 16.84% raises for those administrators. After all, if you truly are broke, everybody will have to shoulder the burden of fiscal mismanagement. But it makes me wonder; shouldn’t you hold the accountants and auditors who work for you accountable for these shortcomings? Come to think of it, if you fired them it would free up some money for the teachers. Just a thought.
Dale, Hayward is lucky you came hear to manage the district, and we are more united in the cause than ever before. Oh, by the way, Dale, this is a public forum. Feel free to log in at any time and chat with your community. It’s all casual and relaxed here: we’d love to hear from you!
Sincerely,
Pete Maloney
P.S. did you like the use of the word ‘syncophant’? Me too! I am, after all, a proud alumnus of the Hayward Unified School District System and its’ fabulous teachers!!!
April 20th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
To “Voice” sorry about the wrong ‘here’ in that last submittal. Heat of the moment and all..
April 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Thank you to all the amazing parents and students who marched in support of Hayward
teachers today. We (the teachers) stood on the sidelines and cheered you as you
found your voices today. Close to 2000 people marched to the District Office and were
given the opportunity to meet with the Administration. Teachers sobbed as former students
marched by chanting, “Si Se Puede!” Just when you think you are all alone out there in
the cold, an amazing tidal wave of community support swept by, energizing everyone in
its path! Hayward United, not divided! You are all in our prayers tonight!
April 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I too have a letter for Mr. Vigil
Dear Mr. Vigil:
Early this week I received a call from you asking me to take my daughter to school. In your mesage, you said schools were safe and that instruction was going on.
In todays’s newspaper I read your statement that “it is unrealistic, impossible to have 180 substitutes come in for 1,300 teachers.”
So, which statement in true? You can’t have it both ways!
Were you lying when you prompted me to bring my child to a school that by your admission is in a “unrealistic, impossible” state of being?
I keep seeing you on the news stateing that you respect Hayward parents, yet you refuse to talk to us or even let us into your office to ask for an appointment with an administrator, or to request information that should be publicly available, like the district’s budget!
Why is the district’s budget not on your web site? Now I know the budget is in the County’s site, why didn’t I think of going there?!
You can say you respect us until you are blue in the face, but we Hayward parents know better!
We Hayward tax payers pay your outrageous salary, and we demand you meet with us. It should not take 2000 parents to get an audience with you! And please, don’t send your secretary out like you have done in the past, while you remain cocooned in your office: that is not only disrespectfull, but cowardly!
April 20th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
As a district employee and parent of a HUSD student, I am torn about how to support the district AND the teachers. But then I realized that we’re supposed to be one and the same.We’re not. It’s US vs. THEM and it shouldn’t be. My son prays every night that the strike ends. It’s really tough for a little kid to grasp. My hope is that today’s Parent Rally for Unity– does just that… put the Unified back in Hayward UNIFIED schools!
April 20th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Kind of reminds me of “Oz, the Great and Powerful”… who was back there pulling levers and making sound effects instead of showing people who he really was.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
i, unfortunately, missed last night’s meeting and todays march to the district. i didnt have a parent available to take me. and i couldn’t go alone. i support my teachers 100%. i know that its hard for them and as an AP student at HHS and an aspiring teacher. i respect them greatly for teaching me the most important lesson in life.
to stand up for what is right.
thanks to all of you.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Hayward Parents Rock! I want to thank you for your incredible support on the march today! It was truly moving to see so many come together united towards getting answers. I am impressed by the ability of the community to create a march on such short notice. It was a very emotional moment for me to see ALL of those parents and students marching in support of Hayward Teachers. Thank you for demanding the answers that the district keeps skirting around. Your voice truly was heard today and I hope that Vigil actually listened! The teachers want nothing else than to be back in the classroom. We hope that the district contacts HEA and actually makes the effort to do some real negotiating. We miss our students! We value your voice in these talks. Thank you again for getting behind this great cause! Viva la huelga! Si, Se puede!
April 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Dear Intern: Thank you to all of you who work so tirelessly and with so little support to
dedicate your lives to teaching. We “veterans” are inspired by your energy and your courage. Keep up the good work. You must have a wonderful support provider!
April 20th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Dear intern,
we the pissed markham parents would like to thank you for not teaching our kids, making them fall behind, for not caring, for not supervising the kids correctly, for letting them get hurt by other students and for really honestly doing the best that you could do!
By the way sometimes the best people can do is not good enough!!!
April 20th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY THAT’S IT’S HARD TO KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN …
First of all, I would like to say that I work at the HUSD’s office.
Teachers, Nurses, Therapists, and all other HEA union members:
Please note that a lot of AEOTE union members sympathize with you. We feel that WE all deserve an explanation from Dr. Vigil as to why he gave himself and other superintendents a raise without thinking of our educators first. If it wasn’t for teachers and students – there would be NO district. Also, why not give everyone an equal raise? Why did it have to be 16.84 (estimate) and not an equal amount for everyone? I understand that you are our superintendents, but why accept such an outrageous amount of a raise? Who do you think you are to feel that you deserve a 16+ and not our teachers. Before I forget, Schimmel needs to be FIRED for the comment he made about our Special Ed teacher. Especially, a teacher that we do not have too many of. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who can’t continue working in the Special Ed Dept. or with Severely Handicapped students because it’s a tough job. It takes a strong spirit to not let ones emotions get in the way. Back to the subject – The Superintendents need to step down and accept they made an error of accepting an undeserving raise. Look @ what they have created!!!!!
I had a few teachers in my childhood and in high school that made a difference in my life. Oh, and there was one that was amazingly hot (soccer coach), but that’s a different story. Hahaha! Just thought I would throw in a little humor.
During my junior year in high school, my family fell into a crisis of domestic violence and this hot teacher of mine 
made everyone read a 2 page article I wrote in the school newspaper. Of course, it was done anonymously because being a product of a dysfunctional home ending in a shelter for women and children of domestic violence was pretty darn embarrassing. Basically, my article was to alert teenagers in my high school the first signs of an abusive relationship. I will always be thankful for this teacher to give me his support and tell me that if my family and I ever needed anything – he would always be there for me. My aunt is also a teacher and last time I was visiting my family I was trying to listen to the speech she was giving my cousins about the difference of talk and speak. I still need a teacher to explain the difference after my 20+ years of age and education. SORRY – I JUST DON’T GET IT, EVEN THOUGH I ENTERED COLLEGE DIRECTLY INTO ENGLISH 1A. SORRY! QUICK NOTE: COUNSELORS, PLEASE INFORM YOURSELVES ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO HELP YOUR STUDENT’S FAMILIES FAIRLY. UNFORTUNATELY, MY SCHOOL COUNSELOR WAS MANIPULATED BY MY FATHER AND WAS THREATENING MY MOM WITH MY ABSENCES WHILE I WENT WITH HER TO THE COURT HEARINGS. My mom at that point was in a deep state of depression and I was her shoulder and strength.
NURSES: My mom is a registered nurse and I am shocked and upset at the salaries of our school psychologists and nurses receive. All the education and hard work required to obtain these careers and you pay them a miserable salary. Mr. Terminator needs to look at this and NOT say, “I will be back” – and he needs to resolve this problem on the spot. One more thing, as I mentioned above, I am a product of a dysfunctional home and after my parents divorced – my mom returned to school. She got her G.E.D., passed the LVN board, and finally became a registered nurse. She has so much respect and admiration for teachers and she respects them equally as they respected her in her late 30′s as a college student. She received so much encouragement that kept pushing her to never give up and that is why her living room is filled with picture frames of 4.0 GPA certificates for each semester she attended college. THANK YOU TO ALL HER TEACHERS! You’re my inspiration Mama. I hope LATINA MOMS are reading this and moms of all cultures who have been through our situation.
MESSAGE: Teachers and other HEA union members, please be kind to your brother/ sister AEOTE union members. A lot of us have been harassed by some of you because you feel as if we are crossing your picket line. We are only doing our job and unfortunately we have to walk around you to get to our offices. We mean no disrespect whatsoever and we all want this resolved ASAP. We feel as if you are looking at us as enemies by facing the district office building and chanting your songs and powerful words. We are not your enemies, but your friends. We feel for the single parents who are out there on the picket lines and we can only imagine what this is doing to your finances. It’s hard to not take it personal when you refer to the DISTRICT as your enemy on the news, newspaper, web sites, and etc; We are all different union members who come together to form a unified school district that includes, teachers, students, accountants, clerks, reception its, mail room staff, custodians, child nutrition assistants, serving kitchen operators, warehouse drivers, security guards, and even that darn superintendent. Mrs. Crummy, when making your statements – please do not say the district – please refer specifically to Dr. Vigil (Question the Dr.), Barry
April 20th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Hello people–can we PLEASE avoid personal attacks!!! It’s getting this discussion no where fast.
How can we support teachers and get a fair settlement? Hopefully, today’s rally did it.
A big thanks to all of the teachers who came down to support us–many of you said thank you to me after Vigil spoke. I was really touched.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Wow – it takes forever for our comments to be approved. Mr. Hernandez or other HUSD teacher, can you please review my comments. BTW – Please tell reporter Yanira Canizales from the 16.84 youtube news stations to please add some new videos. I want to see images of the parent’s rally today. Thank you! Please speed up the process Daily Review – You guys are awesome, but I need to go to WalMart. Hahaha!
April 20th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Thank you, most generous of you,
I for one, sign off this log until a more amicable tone comes back to the dialogue,
Fernando
April 20th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I can’t tell the community enough how heartbreaking it is to have respected colleagues leave year after year because they received a better offer somewhere else–for ex, Coach Moreno at HHS (who was written up in the DAILY REVIEW) leaving HHS for Dublin. Teachers leave us every year. Some leave for personal reasons. Others leave because they do not want to be stuck in a district that disrespects teachers (it is not only a money issue). In any case, it is disheartening to work with beginning teachers, have them become excellent teachers and trusted colleagues, and then have them leave. This affects the education of our students as well as the morale of our schools.
Dale Vigil and his cabinet never planned to stay in HUSD. They planned to make a lot of money, break the union, and go on to do other things (including retire). This feels like robbery.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:43 am
I’m an actual Middle School Student. Soon to graduate. I have been in this district since Second grade and seen it fall slowly. First of all, GATE classes for some schools have been canceled. I have been forced to have classes with students that don’t want to be there or slow down the work pace we should be going at. And of course this strike has had a huge affect on student population at my school. I take an extra class called 0 period which starts at 7:30 in the morning. Since the strike I have been going at my regular class schedule time and NO substitutes are there. INstead I see my friends walking around, going to the gas station, walking to the mall. Every time a teacher in 0 period has to have a training day or is absent for some reason which is not often at all, a sub never comes in. They refuse to work that early which makes me think WOW teachers work that early they should be paid for that.
When the bell rings, all of the students that attended split in two. Some walk inside and many stay outside or go on to walk around Hayward. I go inside because I respect my mom’s choice. They put us in classes of 40-50 students. Usually we read a little article or answer a couple question on an Earth video. Sometimes we just hang out and watch tv or something. Substitutes are very impatient but i dont blame them the classes are chaotic. But still Teachers put up with it every day. Students use electronics and skip to go to the mall or other places like Target, Jamba juice, so on…The only thing I accomplish by the end of the day is a headache.
I just thought you guys needed a perspective from a different view. In my opinion, teachers put up with a lot and they do it with a smile and hospitality. They do so much to Guarantee that I go to college and do well on my test scores. It’s horrible that they are some of the lowest paid teachers around. I hope they get back to classes soon with the Raise they deserve.
And the district is doing many things which I think uncool.
1) We can be punished for missing school
2)Our grade is affected (Even though we arent doing much)
3) There have been calls saying the strike is over and students should go back.
Thanks for Reading
April 21st, 2007 at 12:51 am
IN case you were wondering, the work we do is irrelevant to anything I’ve been studying this year and high doubt I will be tested on. They are simple second grade problems like 200 + 118. As an eight grader, i dont think i need help with the problem and I have not encountered any of those simple problems in my math book.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:55 am
I too, would like to add my thanks to the parents that spent their day marching the two + miles to the district office today in support of the teachers, counselors, and nurses of HEA. It was tough seeing former students (now in high school) out of school, but I respect their decision!! Thank you!!
{Fernando – this is tough writing, into a blank space}
Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue here is whether or not the current Board of Education in Hayward is willing to finish the job they were elected to do. Balance the books, and bring the HUSD into the 21 century!! They have balanced the books, they have found the grant monies to upgrade the technology side (what Dr. Kowal began), they have presented a forecasted budget that sent the county financial baby-sitter home. In the process the members of HEA decided to contributee to the solution by foregoing their COLA and agreeing to a contract that postponed the negotiation of their salaries until after the forecasted budget was accepted by the county.
Now the BOE is falling down in finishing the job with the teachers, counselors and nurses. HUSD received (as did all districts in the state) a special allocation of funds to assist in paying a respectful COLA for their teachers. HUSD has chosen to add these funds to the general accounts and not pass on to the teachers. HUSD has chosen to not address this issue directly in the negotiations with HEA How can our negotiators respond realistically when HUSD cannot even begin at that point!
Mr. Peterson and members of the BOE, it is time that you direct your negotiating team to present a realistic offer to HEA, and not allow your team to show up late to a scheduled meeting and then waste the time of teachers as they move papers around on the table. Direct your superintendento provide you with the daily attendence figures, the actual numbers, not percentages.
Direct your superintendent to meet daily with representatives from each of the elementary schools as to what standards-based instruction is actually taking place in their schools. I already know what what standards-based instruction is not taking place at the middle school site where I teach. Do you??
And, did you know that parents are being threatened by your superintendent if they continue to keep their students home??
[[Kim, [is there anyway that you can increase the size of this window so we can see all of the text as we write???] and thank you for your patience and moderation. ]]
April 21st, 2007 at 6:31 am
Markham parent- I feel for you. I really hope that your situation with your children gets straightened out. You and your children deserve to have the best that public education can offer. I hear your anger. Markham has consistently received a bad reputation and I don’t know why, it’s not fair for any member of the community. Keep fighting for what is fair, and maybe, channel that anger into change. You can end up transforming things fro the better.
Hayward parents, you are beautiful human beings. Thank you for your support. Gracias a todas las familias de Hayward. Ustedes me hicieron sentir orgullosa por vivir en Hayward y trabajar en Hayward.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:07 am
At first, the occasional person that did not support the cause of the teachers bothered me. Over this past week, we have marched on the district, city hall, and shown our presence throughout the city. I think four people gave us the thumbs down. What makes it so easy to ignore these gestures and other unsupportive remarks is the overwhelming amount of people that are on our side. About 80 percent of students are not attending school. Community members are honking their horns, waving, shouting, bringing us food to eat, letting us into their homes, and stopping by the school sites to offer words of encouragement. A moving number of parents took time out of their days yesterday to hold a rally, and then they made their own march to the district. Calls are being made to the district office. Some people are making sacrifices that are incredibly noble. Thank you Hayward community.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:08 am
As a a parent and a teacher I would like to challenge our parents to demand that the Daily Review starts asking Dr. Vigil the hard questions we all want answered. I was in the question and answer session at the district yesterday and found it interseting that very little was mentioned in the paper. Many parents asked questions about the misinformation, to be nice, that the district has been giving the community through ther automated phone system and web site. None of that dialogue has been reported on which is allowing Dr. Vigil to continue his practice of half truths and misinformation to our community. The only thing that Dr. Vigl seems to respond to is the major media outlets because they are allowing him to give his spin without asking hard questions.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:09 am
We appreciate your departure Fernando. I guess amicable tones are in the eye of the beholder. We, as parents and Community members, are seeing both sides, whether you wish to believe it or not. Your quick responses to justify actions (illegal as they may) are done in support of La Huelga! However, your very own verbiage directed at staff administration too has been a bit “vitriolic”.
Let it be known, the bias you demonstrate rather than hearing all sides of the argument, whether to your liking or not, tells me you will NOT ever be a teacher of MY daughter’s in this manner as well as I hope you take this as a learning experience- Not everyone is willing to stand on the sidelines to smile and look pretty for the camera! Parents are putting their foot down now and it’s not to your liking.
You are right about one thing though Fernando: People do need to account for their actions!
Folks: There are always two sides to any debate- pro and cons… Just remember that their will be those that choose to follow to be with the “in crowds” – even during this strike. People are people. But people need to be responsible for THEIR actions and acknowledge their role while particpating.
April 21st, 2007 at 8:38 am
Fernando is not a teacher, that is a missunderstanding, caused by the many people who share our computer. He is a Hayward parent, community member and he volunteers many hours for the betterment of the city we live in.
In regard to interns:
Having been an intern myself, it is the most challenging job I have ever done. The sleepless nights wondering how to best meet the needs of the students. The worry if you are doing it “right”. The hours and hours you spend on your students, classroom, parents, colleagues and then you have your classes so that you may be a credentialed teacher. If you have never done it, you have no idea.
Now as a veteran teacher I mentor new teachers, both interns and credentialed. I work hard offering my knowledge, my experiance, my time, anything they need. I do all of this because even the best credentialling program can only go so far. Like practicing medicine, teachers practice. What works with one student may not work with another. The bag of tricks I have, is still being developed. I do not know a single teacher who doesn’t need help, doesn’t wonder and worry if they are doing all they can so that their students may learn. We talk. We collaborate. We attend many trainings, conferences, workshops, all on our own time.
I am on strike because I want to be in my classroom in Hayward. I want to stay in Hayward. I want to teach Hayward students. I want respect from the Hayward administration. It may seem contradictory to you that I want to teach yet I am on strike, I want better pay and some respect. I could get both if I leave, when was the last time you heard of a teacher’s strike in Pleasanton? It is because the teachers are respected by their administration, and colas are passed on to the teachers, that district understands that in order to keep quality teachers it has to pay them. I know many teachers who have left for better districts. I LIKE it here, I want to stay, Believe me I have looked, and talked to many other districts, I could go anywhere.
April 21st, 2007 at 9:26 am
I am a veteran teacher and a support provider for an intern teacher. I am at a loss to understand the level of rage directed at our interns. I will only speak from my personal experience. My intern spends countless hours preparing lessons, meeting with parents, instructing students, and meeting with both her program supporter and with me to ensure that she is providing her students with, not only her personal best, but THE best education her students are entitled to. She is observed regularly by numerous experienced professionals, both by appointment and by “surprise”, and she has never failed to impress us all with her professionalism and dedication to her class. On top of this, she attends evening classes and staff development workshops and will in 2 short months have her credential. She has taught our veteran teachers a thing or two as well. She deserves your respect. Please do not attack people you do not know personally because of your own experience. And to the rest of the interns out there, your colleagues salute you and support you. Keep up the good fight. Please do not let this year be your defining moment. The children need you.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:01 pm
A blogger brings up a good point. This is a place to talk about the strike, not to point out individual teachers’ faults/shortcomings/perceived failings/etc. If you do so, and you name them by name, they can sue for libel. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on libel. Please keep yourself in check.
April 21st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
The march and rally were NOT events “to support the teachers.”
Michele Reese wrote (in part): “Thank you to all the amazing parents and students who marched in support of Hayward teachers today.”
The Intern also thanked parents, writing (in part): “It was truly moving to see so many come together united towards getting answers. . . . It was a very emotional moment for me to see ALL of those parents and students marching in support of Hayward Teachers.”
I would like to point out that Friday’s rally was not actually about “supporting teachers,” though certainly an overwhelming majority of parents consider themselves as supporting teachers.
Instead, the rally was organized to show the district that parents are concerned and want answers that will help them understand why this dispute was not resolved long ago. Parents want the dispute settled.
Over the past weeks, many parents have complained that they feel as if they have no voice or role in their children’s education, and certainly parents feel “left out” of the current disputes.
This doesn’t just include the “salary” issue that is the ONLY issue on the table that teachers are allowed to negotiate.
Parents are also concerned about the issues of “respect, honesty, and communication” which have been raised by many individual parents, students, teachers, and other community members. Certainly, the exchanges in the “HayWord” forum have demonstrated such concerns, but without any response from district administrators or board members.
To his credit, Dr. Vigil finally came out of his office to greet parents and students, and he patiently and courteously listened for almost four hours. I understand that responded to comments and questions from about 100 parents and students. The news media has not reported on the substance of those exchanges, and although the district videotaped the event, it’s unclear whether that videotape or a transcript will be available to the public (including the majority of parents who attended the rally but were unable to fit into the boardroom, as well as parents like me who could not attend the rally due to work obligations).
My point, again, is that this was not a “rally to support the teachers,” though most parents do support the teachers — instead, this was a rally to demonstrate that parents want answers, and to demand “respect, honesty, and communication” for all participants in the Hayward educational community.
What I don’t understand, today, is why the School Board’s agenda for this Wednesday’s meeting contains no action or discussion item related to the strike — which means that any community “public comments” about the strike (along with all other “public comment” topics) will be limited to 60 minutes total. Nor do I understand why the School Board has not changed the meeting location, though they know that many hundreds of community members want to attend; it seems clear that the School Board wants to exclude the vast majority of community members from the board meeting, and does NOT want to hear from community members.
Under the present circumstances, it is shocking that neither the school district nor the teacher’s union has already arranged for a “community forum” to present information or hear comments from the community. Until Friday, the district turned away parents who sought answers, and of course 95% of Hayward parents were unable to attend the rally, and the district limited seating at Friday’s meeting with Dr. Vigil to only about 150 of the 65,000 members of the Hayward educational community (conservatively counting students, parents, and teachers).
April 21st, 2007 at 2:44 pm
My wife just forwarded this email from HEA President Kathy Crummey:
“Two important events have happened this afternoon. The first is that the District withdrew their effort to seek a court order to halt the strike.
“The second, is that we have a bargaining meeting set for tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, we will be able to reach a settlement with the District.”
April 21st, 2007 at 5:19 pm
a word about intern programs: these programs are needed because many adults who decide to become teachers can not afford to take two years out of their lives without a job while going to school. yes it is a bit harder on the students to have these teachers but schools that hire interns are supposed to be giving these teachers ample guidance and support.
and elm teacher says:
“I am on strike because I want to be in my classroom in Hayward. I want to stay in Hayward. I want to teach Hayward students. I want respect from the Hayward administration. It may seem contradictory to you that I want to teach yet I am on strike, I want better pay and some respect. I could get both if I leave, when was the last time you heard of a teacher’s strike in Pleasanton? It is because the teachers are respected by their administration, and colas are passed on to the teachers, that district understands that in order to keep quality teachers it has to pay them. I know many teachers who have left for better districts. I LIKE it here, I want to stay, Believe me I have looked, and talked to many other districts, I could go anywhere.”
Here, here! I do not live in Hayward [gasp!] but I do have relatives who do. I feel a very strong connection to the students and community. I love Hayward. I do shop here, patronize restaurants here, etc. While teachers get more respect from their district administration in other districts I wanted to teach in Hayward because of the students. I like the diversity, I see a city that is working at revitalizing itself.
And lastly, THANK YOU PARENTS! I was practically moved to tears to see the outpouring of support from parents and students. God bless you! Si se puede!!
April 21st, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I would like to say lets stop taking shots at the interns.. It took a little bit of time for me to let go of my anger and i did. They have alot of things on their plates lets try to give them some understanding too! Instead of being angry at them lets as parents once again offer our support to help the kids and the interns.
I am sorry to the intern my kids teacher that i offended instead of complaining how far they are behind i should be trying harder to help her and the class and mabe if we all do that then are kids wont be far behind when thew go back to school!
They have kids to and have feelings and some are even getting married
soon so besides of the strike they have their own problems as well.
Markham parents : I have had my problems to with the school too but at this point there is only about 34 school days left so lets stop complaing and try to make these last days great for our kids.
April 21st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
lets give the teachers and the interns some support
April 21st, 2007 at 6:51 pm
confounded teacher wrote (in part): “intern programs are needed because many adults who decide to become teachers can not afford to take two years out of their lives without a job while going to school. yes it is a bit harder on the students to have these teachers but schools that hire interns are supposed to be giving these teachers ample guidance and support.”
And of course, “guidance and support” is one of those “follow-through” things that often don’t happen in many districts. In fact, the support provided to an “intern” teacher is far less than the support provided under state programs to first- and second-year credentialed teachers.
I accepted a full-time teaching position as an “intern” in Oakland, and the lack of meaningful support was one of the reasons I quit. After that experience, I strongly believe that the “intern credential” (along with the “emergency credential”) should be eliminated because the required support is simply not provided by most districts.
April 21st, 2007 at 6:54 pm
well if the teachers or district dont offer support then us parents need to. mabe fill us in on things better so we can help the intern to the fullest
April 21st, 2007 at 7:16 pm
This has been an extremely difficult time for everybody — parents, teachers, and especially students. I think that this blog, though contentious, has opened up people’s eyes to the major failings in the education system. It’s important that we see that we can’t place blame on any one person or institution. I have followed this blog and see that people have come together to discuss and try to solve problems, and this makes me proud to be a Hayward educator. Maybe once this episode is past us we can work together to be politically active and enact real change in this country’s education policy! Let’s contribute to real discussion about reauthorization of NCLB! Let’s contact our representatives and let them know how we feel about our kids’ treatment, and what we want to see changed. We can let the world know that the Hayward community is a force to be reckoned with!
April 21st, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Hi Ms. Cienega-
Thank you so much for your offer of support. It really means a lot. One thing that parents can do to help is offer to come in to the classroom and read with each student in the class using a checklist and a set of leveled books. (For kindergarten, it might be practicing vowel pair sounds, consonant sounds, sight words, etc.)
The children really respond to reading and practicing one on one and benefit greatly from daily review. Because of high student to teacher ratios, it is often difficult for teachers to work with students uninterrupted. If a teacher can get 5 different volunteers scheduled for the same time of day every day, this can really work wonders for most of the students.
If you’re not able to volunteer in class because of job constraints or daycare issues, then I’m sure any teacher would appreciate help with reviewing homework. I used to go in to my son’s kinder class and do art projects to help his teacher with open house. Each student was able to work with paints which would have been difficult without close supervision.
Those are just a few ideas. I hope it helps.
April 21st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Lets try this one more time …
This is part 2 of a previous comment I wrote on Friday.
For: Mrs. Crummy
Sorry! May everyone have a wonderful, restful, blessed, happy, and peaceful weekend.
Mrs. Crummy, when making your statements – please do not say the district – please refer specifically to Dr. Vigil (Question the Dr.), Barry (should be fired), Quinn (I do not know much about her), and Petermann. CLARIFY TO THE NEWS THAT THE DISTRICT DID NOT GIVE THEMSELVES RAISES, BUT ONLY THE SUPERINTENDENTS. I did not see a raise on my paycheck! Each day becomes more difficult to deal with some teachers promoting harassment. Taking our pictures? What is that about? On another note, I’ve been hearing through the walkie talkies that roam the offices about all the harassment complaints that have been coming in from parents and substitute teachers. I do, but I don’t understand your anger towards them and the unprofessional behavior that surrounds these harassments. What is up with following a substitute teacher home? It’s almost like being a gang member following someone from another gang. You teach your students that of which is wrong, but yet – look at what you are doing. You are teaching that HARASSMENT IS OKAY! You would suspend students who behave this way. Please do not forget that you are ROLE MODELS of these students that sit in your classrooms. Teach them how to be professionals and respectful! Teach them how to become activists without violence! Did Martin Luther King Jr. promote violence? Did Cesar Chavez promote violence? NO! Why is your union president allowing this to happen? Do not forget we are all here for the STUDENTS! THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO BE A ROLE MODEL AND VIOLENCE IS NOT THE KEY! I think the most emotional moment during this whole time has been the rally of today, Friday, April 20, 2007, which I should feel should be in our history books. FAMILIES COMING TOGETHER FOR EDUCATION! As a Latina, it made me PROUD to hear the chants in Spanish and tears would roll down my cheeks because I have never seen parents, students, and teachers united with such power. I understand your frustration with these negotiations and believe the frustration is equal. I’ve heard of people having nightmares and being scared of coming to work. This is not the atmosphere we want to create! Again, please be kind on the picket lines! WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMIES – WELL – THE SUPERINTENDENTS & THE BOARD ARE, BUT NOT EVERYONE ELSE. Including, the subs – we are all here for you and want you to get the RESPECT you deserve. If you are of religious faith, always remember, “What would Jesus Do?” Think before you say – Something Dr. Vigil doesn’t know how to do, huh? Hahaha Tambien el estupido de Schimmel y muy campante camina por los pacios como si fuera un Dios pero se nota que trae la cola entre las patas. Sorry for the Spanish, but some times that Latin fire comes out better in my native language. Hahaha! Basically, he walks as if he’s God, but you can notice the shame. Thank you for letting me voice my opinions and GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US! May I please have a teacher answer my question of speak and talk? Hehehe!
April 21st, 2007 at 10:02 pm
WOW! I never knew the true value of blogs until this incident occurred. I appreciate the exchange of ideas, the dissenting opinions, the raw emotions, and the truth truth truth truth truth from the heart that is spoken. This has been my community to get me though this hard time. I hope it is over soon, but I hope that the exchange of ideas continues. Don’t let it stop here!
April 21st, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Speechless and confused:
I too am confused: there are two or three streams of comunications going on,
it seems like many of us are in all of them and I wander if we need to stream line down to one blog, now that we seem to be in the same page and keeping focused. I have noticed that when a lot of us are writing, it is easy to miss clarifications, corrections and apologies.
From your reference to the situation with the delivery services…
You must be one the folks that was at the Board meeting when they decided to fire the four drivers…
If my memory serves me right, Mr. Cook was the only one to propose that the board postpone the decission until they had a chance to review the information turned in by your union about an hour before. Under edvice from Mr. Schimmel, the board approved the firing of the drivers 3 to 5, with Mr. Cook and Mr. Frumpkin voting no.
If the Board is going to aprove firing a district emplyees, the least they can do is to take a day to review the information thorowly,
That night I was not proud to live in Hayward.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Sorry for all the typos in my last post, I should go to sleep.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 am
I copied this from the HUSD website. I wonder what this means now and how many more days our teachers will be out on the picket lines.
(Quote start)
April 21, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hayward Unified School District filed a request for an injunction Friday afternoon with the Public
Employment Relations Board (PERB).
The basis for this request is the complete breakdown of the educational process and operations of the
District’s 34 schools.
Additional information was requested of the District with the option to withdraw the current injunction
and submit a new injunction Monday morning.
Hayward Unified School District is withdrawing our current injunction request and will be submitting a
new injunction request to PERB Monday, April 23, 2007.
(Quote End)
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:24 am
Mr. Hernandez & everyone else on this blog:
Do not worry about typos! This is an informal gathering place where we can freely express our feelings and concerns. As long as you get your point across – that is all that matters.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 am
Where is the budget at, i couldn’t find it on the net?
I went to a meeting at night i think on thursday and i heard alot of the teachers side but i would like to see for myself the districts!
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:41 pm
This is a community service and is viewed by members of the area, people do learn about the issues and character of the people responding. To encourage misspellings and other such actions isn’t showing the way for students to achieve to. I did notice that the teachers have done a good job in teaching their students how to use correct wording without typo’s. Even if people are heated with emotions it is still takes a breathe or two to slow down and think out what they are writing, to let your emotions take over can lead to things said that may not be in the best light of how the public perceives the speaker and their community standing. This strike has two sides and sometimes conflicting view points but people must stay focused and honorable.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Voice/Leslie:
Voice: I hope I don’t offend you with my correction, but I think you meant to write “breaths” instead of “breathe”.
So long as we get our points accross in a respectfull manner, let’s forget about punctuation, typos, misspelings, etc. It is not that we “encourage” the missuse of the English lenguage, but under the present circumstances it seems to me expediency and fluidity are more important that correctness.
I sure hope this is the last time we need to address this issue. I rather talk about how we get our administrators and Board to provide the education our students have been missing.
I agree with your last sentence all the way. I for one I’m glad that the general tone of the dialogue(s) going on seems to be generally more focused and constructive.
For this, I appreciate everyone’s latest contributions.
Leslie: You are right, the budget is not easily available. Maybe you missed my post elsewhere, but I have contacted the Alameda County Office of Education about this and they couln’t believe that the budget was not posted at the HUSD’s site. They are supposed to call me back with the answer of where we parents can get this information.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Fernando i have stayed from the blogs because i wanted time to get my own information and facts and with 2-6 year olds and a 5 1/2 month old it has taken me time. I also went to a meeting last thursday but i left early due to me feeling out of place and also i was worried it was going to rain and with my baby i didnt want her sick.
But i looked every where and didnt find anything. Even i tried to research about ms.crummey because at the meeting i heard a wisper that she was still getting paid and i wanted to see if that was true but again i found out nothing.
Is she still getting paid while the teachers are not?
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I forgot to mention but in one of these blogs something stated that a meeting will be today again between the hea and the husd was that true?
Also what is with this legal thing of making the teachers go back to work? Will it not just make the teachers more angry!
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Kevin McNair wrote (in part) that reporter Thuy Vu incorrectlyattributed a statement to him (but not shown on camera), and he also noted her mistake about ADA funding at the end of that segment. We certainly had noted the latter mistake, and I’m glad to hear that you didn’t say what she attributed to you — it certainly sounded like a dumb thing to have said. To be honest, it sounds like her news anchor (who asked her the ADA question to which she gave the wrong answer) is personally opposed to teacher strikes in general.
Hayward High Teacher noticed that I’d previously taught in Oakland, and asked “what [my] connection to Hayward is?” The short answer is, “I’m a parent.”
As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I had recently decided (in 2002/2003) to become a secondary English teacher. At that time, I lived in Pleasanton, and worked as a substitute teacher there nearly full-time for a year, before enrolling in the credential program at CSUH. After one summer of classes, I was hired to work full-time as a 9th and 10th grade English teacher in Oakland. I ended up quitting “mid-year” after five and a half months. I’ve outlined my reasons for deciding not to continue to pursue that career on my personal web site (http://www.markwelch.com/perspective/teach_not.htm); my earlier essay about deciding to become a teacher is also still posted on my site (http://www.markwelch.com/perspective/teach01.htm). I learned first-hand how the lack of support from administrators could undermine education.
I am the stepfather of a fantastic 12-year-old sixth-grader who SHOULD be enjoying her last two months of elementary school at Bowman, but may end up being “home schooled” if the strike continues. Her dad (my wife’s ex) is lobbying to transfer our daughter to middle school in Newark, where the schools are much smaller and have much better test scores. The district has been working hard to encourage us to do so (that is, the district is working overtime to push students OUT of Hayward schools in order to extend the current “declining enrollment” further).
I am also the husband of a wonderful woman who has been working for several years to try to create a PTA/PTO at our child’s school, and who has most recently been working with parents from several schools to attempt to create a district-wide organization for parents/families. What Kary noticed is that PTA/PTO groups are often formed through the efforts of a single parent, and then if no other parents are active, the group collapses when a key parent’s child progresses to another school (as our daughter is about to do). Many parents have complained about the lack of information (or opportunity for parent involvement) in major decisions like the school closures, boundary changes, and labor negotiations. The new group, “Families in Action” (http://www.haywardfamiliesinaction.org/) has an immediate goal of persuading the two sides to settle the labor negotiations, but a longer-term goal of increasing “respect, honesty, and communication” within the district.
This brings us back to the “news media” — despite what you may have seen or read in in news reports on Friday and Saturday, FAMILIES IN ACTION was not formed “to support teachers,” but instead to have parents’ voices heard — the group wants the district and teachers to reach a settlement, and to turn all our efforts to restoring respect, honesty, and communication.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Leslie:
I commend you for your efforts. I take care of my daughters, aged 5 and 7 years, and I can fully appreciate what it takes to raise your kids AND try to be involved with everything that is going on.
I will inquire about whether Mrs. Crummey is getting paid or not, I’m not sure. I’m not even sure if she is a teacher. I suspect that if she is a teacher, she is not getting paid for the days she has been on strike along with everyone else.
It is probably a mute point since she is performing her duties as Union President, and she ought to be compensated for her work, regardless of whether we fully agree of how the strike had been handled or not.
Regarding your question about the negotiations and the injunction: you are correct. HEA and HUSD are meeting today and negotiations are ongoing.
About the injuction: The district withdrew their request for an injuction (apparently they did not have enought information to support their request.) The panel asked for more information. HUSD site does state they intend to file a new request for an injuction on Monday.
You are right, teachers will not be happy to be denied their right to strike and be forced back to work. Not only will they be angrier than they already are, but they will probaly go back to work “contract hours only” This means they will stick stictly to the hours and duties they have to work according to their contract.
Most teachers work many, many more hours that that! They can refuse to advice younger teachers, or correct papers after hours, or do anything not specified in their contract. Since most teachers do put in a lot of time outside of their “contract Hours” , education would not be back to “normal” even with all the teachers back in their classrooms.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Fernando: You are right. If settlement is not reached and the injuction is successful, teachers will “work to rule” if we are forced back into the classroom before we have a fair contract settlement. For high school teachers, that would mean we arrive 5 minutes before school begins and leave 5 minutes after school ends.
I spend upwards of 15-20 hours per week outside of the normal school day planning lessons, grading, meeting with parents, tutoring students, advising clubs, etc. If teachers were to work to rule, it wouldn’t be long before things started falling apart because we all work far more hours than the normal school day.
Hopefully, we’ll settle! As of right now, I’ve not received a call from the union phone tree at my school with any information regarding a settlement.
Let’s keep our finger crossed!
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
My son and I were out shopping today and he asked me if it was safe to
return to school and I said it all depends on the outcome of today’s meeting and
some who claimed to work for HUSD cussed me out in the store and said to me that once
he returns to school he will face being expelled from the Ha ward district !!!! And I went to look at the HUSD website and the meeting scheduled for 4/25 well the discussion of EXPELLING
students is on the agenda !!!!!
What another slap in the face from SUPERINTENDENT VIGIL !!!!!!
Can he really do this to our children ????
I am though being more than disgusted , I am very very PISSED OFF now !!!!!
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
This is crazy i wonder why new parents to the district was not informed of any of this in the begining of the school year.
At the kinder orientation i heard nothing about it. I didnt even find out until the first day of school that it was going to close next year and now that has changed to the following year!
And as i did find out through lots of internet searches it seems to be true that some head officials get their set wages in contracts so they cannot them selves complain for a raise in the middle of their contract! And they cannot automaticly give them selves one.
But another question i have is if the cola money is for all then what happened to field trips I cant speak for any other school but in my kids class they didnt have one and it is the end of the year.
I am taking that is because of the misspent cola money!
So really not only has it affected the teachers but the kids too!
It is our tax money we should know what is going on with it and where it goes!
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
That is a lie they wont expell your child. I have walked in and out of their school also went in and out of the district office and nothing has or will happen.
From one parent to another dont worry that should be the least of your concerns!
I belive march 28 was some cut off date so really during this strike his/her absence is excused.
You can also get that info from the web site i believe.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Please don’t panic about expulsions: the agenda item on the school board calendar for student discipline/expulsions is included for every meeting, as they follow up on cases that have worked their way through the entire district process. It has nothing to do with the strike.
It would be helpful if Dr. Vigil could issue a statement (after admitting this week that the schools are not operating acceptably or safely) clearly acknowledging that ALL student absences during the strike will be “excused” if a parent requests.
While people say all kinds of things during a strike (including bizarre threats intended to persuade parents to send their students to school), I’m quite confident that the district would not be so foolish or vindictive as to attempt to impose discipline on students whose parents kept them home after learning that fewer than 200 subs were available to replace 1,300 striking teachers. Certainly, high school students who came to school nd were told they could leave campus after merely “signing in” should also not be penalized for failing to return to school on subsequent days.
In the extremely unlikely event that the district did attempt this, I’m sure there would be a prompt legal action.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Well all this has done was scare the crap out of my son !!!!!! I have driven him to school somedays and he says “MOMMA , it is too noisy and I don’t want to be here !!!!! And he will cry
because he does want to be in school , he loves school but he can deal with all the chaos,
he is just adjusting to a “NORMAL” , my so nwatched his father beat on me for years , I
finally left the SOB , but it toll a toll on my son and as of right now he can not deal with people yelling and all the damn chaos and what the employee did today in Walgreens was just flat out freaking mean !!!!!! I am in supoort of the teachers , but really this needs to stop because all
it is doing is messing with our kids emotions !!!!!!!!!!!!
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
What I want to know is who’s giving the kids the STAR test?, and if should a child fail the test due to a sub giving it, will it mess up that child’s future down the road because of it? I work for a company that’s union and torn between sending my child to school and getting fined or keeping them home till the teachers go back, from what I hear, what they are doing at school I can the same thing at home, I can play a movie too and tell my kids to write a small report about it too, but that won’t get them a (High School Diploma).
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Sorry for the typos , I think faster than I write sometimes , I am just tired and really
just want all this to be settled !!!!
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
i REALLY know what you mean!
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Hi folks,
Please listen to Hayward Teacher and Mr. Welch, I second their opinion:
Parents, pay attention, this is important,
We need to be on the same page,
United we have strenght:
If you take the time to read back through the last few dozen entries, it looks to me like the district is trying to intimidate us (the parents) into bringing our kids back to school, threatening to hold them back or take punitive action against them, even though the people who make that call (the teachers) have the discretion to make the decision of who is truly ready to move forward or not. As far as I can tell, every teacher who has piped in so far, has stated that they will not hold students back because of abscences during the strike.
From where I stand, it seems to me that Mr.Vigil and his underlings (including principals) are trying to brake the unity amongst us parents just as they have tried to brake the teachers strike with their ridiculuos offers, and their threats of injuctions!
I will be the first parent to sue the district, the county and the state, if they dare bring up the issue of attendance up in any retention hearing. I have been at the picket line since day one, and I can assure that I will be there, along with my two daughters, to support any parent having to deal with this issue!
Think about 20,000 parents sueing the district over this, they have no leg to stand on, don’t let them push you arround over this!
Fernando
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Editor’s note: To clarify, we have asked Dr. Vigil about students being penalized for absences. The answer, which I believe was in Saturday’s article in The Daily Review, is that students will be marked for unexcused absences if their parents don’t call in to say they won’t be at school that day. This is because school is technically still going on during the strike. Therefore, if a child is not going to be in school, the parent needs to call in and let the school know so that the absence is not marked as “unexcused.” -Kim
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Kim: Thanks for this note, I had not heard this before, and even though I thought I read the newspaper carefully, I must have missed this detail,
I will go by my daughter’s school tomorrow and let my daughter’s principal know that she has not, and will not be in school until her regular teacher is in the classroom.
Thank you
Fernando
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Dear Parents,
the district cannot “hold back” your child without your child’s teacher’s consent and a formal meeting in which you must be present. The state tests do not determine whether your child will pass
on to the next grade or not, as the results of these tests do not come out until well after the
students have been passed and the year is over anyway. The district will try to intimidate you, however you have more rights than you know, and no, the tests will not affect their future. The only tests that are still to be administered at this point that will have an affect on students
future are the High School AP exams. They will determine whether seniors will receive college credit. I would hope, (and I am sure) that the teachers of the affected students are talking to the families of these students. The rest of you do not need to worry. The CST and STAR tests actually serve to rate the schools and teachers, not the students. You and your children should not fear repercussions for missing these tests. You have, and have always had the right to “opt out” of having your child take these tests. This issue is the district’s problem not yours to worry about. And definitely your children should not be worrying about those tests.
Also, you always have the right to keep your child out of school for “illness” or “personal” reasons. You do not have to explain your reasons to the district, just be sure to call in to your child’s school office.
Bottom line, you are the parent, you make the choice. No one can tell you what to do either way.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Good evening everyone!
Okay… the leaders from FAMILIES in ACTION had another meeting tonight and here are the upcoming events.
Monday, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm Volunteers needed to make phone calls to everyone we have numbers to contact. Meeting is at my place in south hayward. Call me at 885-1363 for directions. Anyone interesting in making phone calls are welcome.
Monday at 5:00 pm Flyers with the events for Tuesday and Wednesday will be ready to be passed out. Please look at the website for pick up locations. Then take a 1/2 hour and give the flyers you pick up to ANYONE you know. Go to your neighbors, go to the stores. Locations will be posted by 10:00 am tomorrow.
Tuesday at 5:00 pm BBQ potluck at Kennedy Park. Bring your favorite food to share, bring enough utinsils for your family and join other families at the park. We will post more information by 10:00 Monday on our web site.
Wednesday at 5:00 pm Rally at the Hayward Main Library for all parents that would like to speak at the board meeting. We will be going over basic instructions on Tuesday night and then we will join together to put it all in ACTION on Wednesday. Please be prepared to stay late in order to get as many parents & students speaking as possible. Our goal is 500 speakers, 3 mins each… hmmm think we could go 24 hours…. just think what an impact THAT would have.
We also want to make our position loud and clear. We are asking for RESOLUTION. We support our students. Getting them back into the classroom is our goal and we call to action the negotiating team on BOTH SIDES to make it happen!
Go to http://www.haywardfamiliesinaction.org for more information, we will be updating it asap. Thank you.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Kary….you are incredible. Thank you so much for being an advocate for your child(ren) as well as and advocate for justice. You are appreciated.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Kary-It’s wayyyy past my bedtime but I just also wanted to add what a valuable gift you
are giving to the community. Whatever their stance on the strike, their voices need to be
heard and their questions deserved to be answered. I have noticed throughout this difficult
time, bloggers who were extremely angry and frustrated have channeled that energy into
research and understanding. Sometimes it’s hard to read (my husband REALLY hates it when
I do) but it’s good to know what teachers and parents are thinking out there in our community.
In particular, I wanted to say hi to Leslie. I teach 1st grade at Markham. I know who your
your adorable twins are. I just want to let you know that we love and care for these children.
We will continue to love and care for them after this is all over. I’m in Room 6. Hope to
see you there!
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:27 am
Hi Kary:
Thanks for spearheading this effort.
I will be there today to pick up the materials, Tuesday at the BBQ, and Wed. at the library. I think we can muster 500 speakers.
I stay up pretty late every night, so I’m willing to take a turn at 3 or 4 in morning if that is what takes.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:59 am
Kary/ et all:
I’m sure you are aware of this, but I belive at the two Board meetings ago they let the room fill to capacity and then locked the doors. There were people with speaker cards that were prevented from speaking because they would not let them into the room.
We should contact the Board and demand that they change the location of the meeting to a gymnasium or theater with more space.
At the very least we should demand that everyone with a speaker card be allowed in to the room when their turn to address the Board comes up.
On the other hand, the fact that the Board has not changed the location of the meeting to accomodate more parents demonstrates they don’t want to listen to us,
Maybe if 2 or 3 thousand of us show up they will have no choice but to respect our right to be heard.
I wonder how many people can fit inside City Hall and the adjoining plazas and gardens?
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:51 am
Fernando, many people have requested that the school board meeting be changed toa larger venue, but the board doesn’t want to hear from parents or teachers, so they are continuing to have all public meetings in the city council chambers (according to Mr. Peterson’s letter in last week’s newspaper, the board has met in “closed session” every day during the strike, in order to avoid hearing public comments).
The good news is having the meeting in the City Council chambers means that the meeting CAN be televised on the local channel (I see it on Channel 15 — except that occasionally there are mysterious ‘technical difficulties’ that prevent a meeting from being shown; and the board stopped the practice of re-broadcasting meetings some time ago).
As you note, the bad news is that this means that only about 100 people can fit into the room, adn the board doesn’t even allow some available seats to be occupied; if the “overflow room” is available, then another 60-75 people can fit into that room; everyone else is forced to wait outside the building.
FAMILIES IN ACTION, at the BBQ Tuesday and the rally Wednesday, will try to coordinate so that parents who are not allowed in the room can be notified by cell phone when their turn to speak is coming up, so they can then come into the room to speak. (During the public comment period, Mr. Peterson acts quite befuddled and apparently his poor eyesight makes it difficult for him to read names which are fit into the very tiny space allotted on the official speaker cards for the speaker’s name. As a result, he mispronounces nearly every speaker name, and then a security guard radios that name to another security guard outside, so that the name announced is often completely unrelated to the actual name of the person who has asked to speak. As a result of this little game, of the people who are barred from the room but still manage to get a speaker card submitted, fewer than one-third are actually permitted to speak.)
My wife received a phone message this weekend from someone who said that his understanding was that since the strike is not listed on the agenda, parents would not be allowed to speak on that topic — this is NOT TRUE as the board MUST permit parents to speak on ANY TOPIC during the public comment period, which begins at about 6:40pm and runs for one hour, and then resumes after the “regular business” of the board is completed. In addition, for each agenda item, 30 minutes is allowed for public comment on that specific agenda item. It seems likely that hundreds of community members will seek to be heard at the board meeting, which will certainly run very late — I am not sure when the board is permitted to adjourn with speakers still waiting.
The school board normally “listens but does not hear” during public comment periods. That is, they are usually attentive and make eye contact, but later they act as if the public never spoke. Board members are not permitted to respond during the public comment period (in part to insure that the full time is allowed for speakers, although Mr. Peterson’s garbling of speaker names usually wastes a few minutes).
But even outside the public comment period, board members almost never respond to any communications from parents, whether at the board meeting, written letter, phone call, or email; certainly, none have ever followed up on my written letters, emails, or public comments at the board meeting.
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:58 am
How about having another school board meeting simultaneously being filmed outside or at another location while the school board meeting is taking place inside city hall; like a mock school board meeting?
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:01 am
Hi MarK:
That phone call (about not being to speak at the meeting) was me, I wasn’t sure about it so I didn’t post anything about it, as I didn’t want to give people to wrong impression.
Thanks for making sure that other people who might have had this missconception have it clarifed as well.
I’m sure it is too expensive to rent the equipment, but It would be nice to have a projection of the meeting going on outside of city hall, “Cinema Paradisio” style
Fernando
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Negotiations are supposed to start tonight at 5pm. Apparently they are not starting until then because the district’s lawyer is busy in another district. Is it just me, or does this seem like more stall tactics? I really hope something happens in that meeting, because I am really tired of waiting up late nights with false hope. If they do not come to the table ready to bargain, but waste time creating something on the spot like last week, I think it furthers their disrespectful reputation. Please let this be the real deal, because I want back in the classroom and off that line!
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm
To all people with students in this district,
By law it is your responisibility, the parents or guardians, to ensure that the children go to school. If you choose to keep them out, for whatever reason, a strike is not included in the absence days allowed.
So to your comment about Vigil doing this to your kids…You risk expulsion of your kids
and do this to your children by not making them go. Ultimately, by law, that is your own fault if they don’t go. So if you are afraid your children are going to be expelled for truancy, that is a fact to fear.
Put your kids back in school as by law, if you don’t, that is child neglect as only you are impeding their education if you don’t make them go. No child left behind…that is also the parent’s responsibilities.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Angela Hayward mother and alumni,
By law, it is the district’s responsiblity to provide my children with safe schools and proper instruction.
I choose to not send my children to school where their teachers are absent, there is not sufficient staff to supervise them. I choose not to send my children to school where they are given busy work.
work.
When the teachers return to class, when proper instruction is taking place and when I am assured of my children’s safety, they will return to school.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Susan ,
I also agree with that point , but I would not agree just having your children home for the supprot of the teachers , safety should be the issue when keeping your kids home not just lets go to the picket lines
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Words from the district:
You need to call at least once a week to excuse your child because it CAN be called truancy.
That is some of the info i got today….the husd was very helpful to me today!
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Angela — I think it’s silly to try to identify the specific motivations of parents holding their children out of school during this strike. There was never any possibility that 200 substitute teachers could never provide meaningful instruction while replacing 1,275 striking teachers.
Our family had initially planned to send our child to school — and we had planned that one of us would visit the school several times each day, possibly staying at the school all day long, to insure that the children were safe and were receiving instruction. I strongly believed that all parents should accompany their children to school on the first day of the strike, and then demand that the schools be shut down when it became clear that there were not nearly enough substitute teachers to provide adequate supervision (much less instruction).
But in the end, we held our child home because we knew that our child’s classroom would cease to function in any meaningful way, as students from several different classrooms would be brought into a single classroom where they would watch videos, color, or work on “packets” that were completely unrelated to the curriculum.
How could the district apportion the many different factors that go into each parent’s decision to take their child to school or keep them home? Support for teachers? Fear of resentment or retribution after the strike ends? Safety? Reluctance to cross any picket line? Likelihood of any genuine instruction? Instructional quality? Relevance of instruction given? Potential combinations of students who were earlier separated into different classrooms for good reasons? Questionable skill levels and background checks of subs? What about the fact that many high school students were asked to “sign in” and then were encouraged by administrators to leave campus?
In the end, Dr. Vigil admitted to the news media that the district did not have enough substitutes, and could not provide instruction nor even adequate supervision, and the district even submitted a request for an injunction to force the teachers back to work because the schools were simply not functioning. After that, there is no moral basis for the district trying to punish ANY students for their parents’ decision to keep their children at home during the strike.
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
let me know if I am wrong but doesnt the district lose money for each day a child does not attend? If so how much more in debt is this going to place the district? I agree if there is no safety of instruction why are the kids going to go to watch cartoons, but on the other hand the kids need some routine , if not they also become confused especially the younger ones who really do not understand the going ons of adult politics
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Angela: I’m reposting a quote that might answer this question.
another tired teacher Says:
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:24 am
“And the fact is that the district will nopt lose any money this year for student abscences. The average daily attendance has already been calculated. They stopped counting on March 28th and took an average of the whole school year up until that day despite what the channel 5 news said last night. That is why the district has not made a big deal about losing money for every day the students are out. Otherwise they would have. That is another thing the union took into account in order to not hurt the district financially!”
I don’t know if this is the case for sure. Maybe Mark Welch can cofirm this.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I would like to address my remarks to Jeff Cook’s remarks today in the DAILLY REVIEW’S opinion section. Mr. Cook, elected School Board members, chooses to blame HEA for the strike. He further continues to state that HEA does not care about students.
Mr. Cook, along with the other school board members, have failed in their obligations to safeguard the educaation of HUSD students. If the school board genuinely cared about the education of the students, as a body it would have ensured that genuine negotiations had been on-going during the 7 months prior to the strike.
If the school board cared about the financial health of the district, it would not have approved the generous 16.84% raises for the assistant superintendents in the summer after HEA bargaining unit members were told that there was no money for their 2005-06 raise(the year HEA members received only .41% of a .83% overall increase). The school board has still not made it clear to HEA or the Hayward community why the 8.08% cost of living adjustment given to HUSD to the state for all its expenses is not available for HEA bargaining unit members’ salaries.
What would genuine negotiations look like? Most people knowledgeable about collective bargaining understand that both sides need to come together and make proposals and counter-proposals until they can find some common ground. Instead the HUSD team has done everything to stall negotiations, and therefore, force a strike. The HUSD bargaining team, unlike teams in the past, do not include any site administrators who have a deeper commitment to Hayward and the local sites. Instead, the main bargaining member of HUSD is its lawyer who gets paid for every day we don’t have a settlement. She has no vested interest in settling the contract dispute. Furthermore, the offer made by HUSD after the fact finding report was actually worse than its original proposal, and every subsequent proposal after that was worse than the proposals before. This is not the method usually used in bargaining when the side acutally wants a settlement.
Why would the district stall the settlement for a year and then impose its last best offer? For seven months of this year HUSD has been paying HEA bargaining unit members salaries at the 2005-06 rate(which, if you remember) had only incorporated a small increase. HEA bargaining unit members gave up the cost of living adjustment in 2005-06 to help the district reach financial solvency. As long as HUSD does not settle with HEA, and as long as HUSD does not put retroactive pay in the proposal, HUSD both earns interest on our denied salary increase and does not have to pay a cost of living adjustment for the year. Therefore, the offer that HUSD has made is really a two-year offer with no increase for this year. They are packaging it as a generous one-year 7% proposal when in reality they are not offering any increase in salary for 2006-07.
If we give in now to these stalled talks, then every time we have salary negotiations HUSD will expect HEA members to accept one salary increase for every two years. In the meantime, the state is adding money to HUSD’s budget every year.
So Jeff Cook, the School Board and HUSD are being very deceptive about the generosity of their proposal.
We know that in a school context it is the people who work directly with the students everyday who care most about the students. Neither the school board nor the district administration have tried to learn much about our students or their needs. It is insulting to all the educators, who spend hours and hours of their lives working with students, many of these unpaid hours, because of their commitment to the students and to the Hayward community, to suggest that it is the educators and HEA who don’t care about the students. We, the teachers, nurses, counselors, and speech therapists, are HEA, and we do care about our students and the future of Hayward schools.
April 23rd, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Angela Hayward mother & alumni…do you have anything constructive to suggest? So far the only suggestion – no, *order* – you have given is for us to send our kids to school or we will be (a) breaking the law and (b) neglecting our children. Such overgeneralizations are not helpful (and are fairly inaccurate as well). Whether our children attend school during the strike has absolutely no effect on its outcome, so the above order is irrelevant. How do you suggest Hayward parents effect an end to the teachers’ strike, whether they support the teachers or the school district administration? Apart from saying, “the teachers are wrong/greedy/misguided/selfish/uninformed”, I have yet to hear a good plan from the people on the side of the district.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:23 pm
WHY DONT WE MAKE IT HAPPEN TOGETHER AS PARENTS ?
LOOK AT WHAT THE MARCH DID “PH” .
THE RALLY IS FOR WED. IT IS FOR PARENTS I BELIEVE NOT TEACHER OR DISTRICT SUPPORTERS IT IS FOR US AND THE KID! SO AS A TEAM WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER WEREAS THE HEA AND THE HUSD ARE THE ONES PROLONGING THIS!
ANGELA OF HAYWARD HAS MADE SOME GREAT POINTS. EVERYONE HAS! WHEN THERE IS A DISCUSSION LIKE THIS WE THE PEOPLE GET TO HEAR EVERYONES SIDES. EVERYONES POINT OF VIEW! LETS RESPECT THAT!
AFTER ALL WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER WE WILL ALL SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN! SO INSTEAD OF FIGHTING ABOUT WHO IS RIGHT AND WHO IS WRONG LETS TURN THAT AROUND AND FIGHT FOR THE KIDS INSTEAD! WED. I BELIEVE 5 O CLOCK AT THE LIBRARY DOWNTOWN RALLY FOR US PARENTS AND KIDS .
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
I’m sad to report that a tentative agreement was not reached tonight.
The Union made a offer and the District rejected it.
The strike is still on
I’m very dispirited…
I write the following in despair, and not in a defensive attitude, just sad.
PH has a good point, I have looked at the proposals put forth by the district and can’t blame the teachers for passing. I think HEA has proposed two plans they would be OK with, and the district has rejected them. (anyone correct me if I’m wrong!)
Mr. Cook, First of all I would like to thank you for being the only Board Memeber to return my calls. I trully apprecited the fact that you were so generous with your time. I commend for you for being available, I have spoken to other parents you called back as well, so I know I wasn’t the exception.
I would like to call for a meeting, at Centenial Hall’s largets room, where the District can present to HEA.
If the district were to have a proposal by Wednesday, both negotiating teams would have some time to get prepared and we could have a meeting on Friday.
The District and the Union can explain their point of view on the proposal to us, in conjunction with their lawers and accountants, so that questions can asked and aswered.
In this and age of computers, we could have a power point presentation of the budget, and individual items of conteded availability may be debated or even voted upon somehow.
Mr. Cook, in your editorial you asked us, what we would be willing to sacifice?, this program or that program, you had a long and difficult list.
Lets not make this a rethorical question. Lets get together and invite the comunity to participate, and look at the budget together with the experts so that things are clear to the parents.
If the money is not there, we can move on to the next question:
Do we want to offer competitive salaries to our teachers just like we are currently offering our administrators?
Even at the expense of having to save money some where else?
Are the long term benefits of a competitve salary schedule worth it?
If so, I ask you all, are we the comunity are willing to share the burden of cancelling programs?
Lets have that kind of dialogue through out the year, and make this doesn’t happen again.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 pm
I keep seeing different individuals taking credit for the group FIA-Families In Action. The President and Vice President is Aracelli Orozco and Laura Arteaga respectively.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Fridays march was to support our childrens education, by supporting the teacher’s we are supporting our children’s education. The only way to attract the best and the brightest teachers—highly qualified teachers— is to pay them accordingly. That is what I want the best and the brightest teaching our children.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I agree with PH.
Believe me. At this point I just want to go back to work. I do not even care about
numbers anymore, but I cannot abandon my union or fellow teachers. I will not be able to take care of my own family at all soon though. At the same time, I will be one of those looking for a job in a new district if we don’t get a fair contract. It just feels like no one is going to win. I can’t understand why the district won’t budge. I feel like they want to break the teachers union. Vigil is known for that in other cities. He does not know Hayward though. Hayward has shown him that the parents are strong and will not stay silent, and that they will support their teachers, and demand safe
schools.
I think that the negotiating teams should have to be locked in a room and not get let out until they reach an agreement just like the transportation unions! Parents, go to the board meeting on Wednesday at City Hall 5:30 pm and demand this thing get settled now! The city has been disrupted long enough!
April 24th, 2007 at 3:48 am
Fernando:
Your sources are correct. March 28 was the cut off date for the daily student attendance count (this is due to the year-round schools in Hayward).
The district IS NOT LOOSING ATTENDANCE FUNDING for the students absent during the strike. If it were, they’d make a huge deal out of it.
The union WAITED until after March 28 so that we would not negatively affect the district’s budget in that way precisely because we didn’t want to have the district loose that money.
April 24th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Wow, I had not been able to find Mr. Cook’s editorial until just now — and I am shocked at his insulting attitude toward teachers. Specifically, he wrote: “If students really come first, why have I not heard HEA (nor anyone but the school board) ask first, ‘What educational ‘raise’ or increase do the students ‘deserve’ and ‘need’?’ Then let’s see what we can afford to give teachers and other employees.”
As Mr. Cook knows, the district set up the current contract (2005-2008) so that the ONLY issue that could be negotiated at “mid-contract” was salary. If teachers proposed any non-salary issues, it would violate the contract. He knows this, and his comment is EXACTLY the reason why the district limited mid-contract negotiations to salary only, and then provoked a strike.
I notice that Mr. Cook does not address any of the dishonest or disrespectful statements or actions by the district’s leaders — he simply says, “trust us, this is all we can afford, period.” He knows that there is distrust, yet he endorses the district’s offers which include contingent provisions that teachers can’t trust.
I was able to find Mr. Cook’s editorial at:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5731226
but you may need to re-execute a search to find it:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search?sortBy=mngi&similarTo=&similarType=find&runSearch=true&type=any&query=Jeff+Cook
April 24th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Mr. Cook is not truthful. I have attended many, many board meetings and listened to many, many parents, students and MANY teachers speak about class size, combination classes, field trips, music classes, art classes, swim programs, athletic programs, loss of afterschool programs, enrichment programs, counselors, I could go on and on. It is the BOARD who ONLY talks about NUMBERS and DOLLAR amounts. Especially Mr. Cook! One of your specific cost cutting strategies was to “fill classes to their maximum” ; read between the lines= have more combination classes and also you voted to get rid of Freshman class size reduction. How quickly we forget. How dare you accuse teachers of only caring about money when we waited FIVE years to even talk about getting more than a 1% raise!!!! When the money was already given to you by the state! You and all those saying we are greedy and selfish are really trying our patience at this point! And you wonder why we are angry??? We can’t pay our bills!!! We are tired of being disrespected!!
What people do not understand is that we do not get paid for holidays and summers. The district takes out money each month and saves it and doles it out to us over the year. With the money being taken out of our checks we have already lost almost a months’ salary in this strike to demand respect and to stick by principle.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Another point–although Vigil said that the STAR testing would not be given today, HHS was testing.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I am brand new to this website but just wanted to add my two cents (that’s about all I have left now).
We are all so furious, demoralized, sad and disillusioned at the complete disdain of our district
administrators towards its teachers. We willingly defrayed a raise a few years ago, when the district
said it was in fiscal jeopardy, until the district was in the black. Now they are in the black and what
did they do but grant themselves a huge raise and offer us a carrot? Why is this acceptable? We
stand on the picket line every single day, watching the sad, downtrodden faces of those of our
students whose parents are making them attend a boring day with the subs and crying (some of us
aloud and others of us internally) about the injustice of what is happening. Our sweetheart students
are losing (one “o”, not two), we are losing, the parents are losing. The one and only positive thing
that can be said is that an amazing sense of community has been created both between us teachers
and between the teachers and the Hayward community. Please let this strike end SOON!
April 25th, 2007 at 6:37 am
We need out teachers to come back to teaching our Children. That means a rise then and they so much deserve it. I had to send my youngest Daughter to school for the reason I cant have her kick out of her day-care class. I had ask how her day was this is what she said. They have all same grades kids in one class. They give work packages and then watch Stewart little… She got up alone with out the sub knowing that she went to the bathroom…What is this !!!!!!!!!!there no education going on or saftey for the kid….
Best Luck to all the Hayward Teachers I hope you get more then a 16% raise cause you all deserve…
April 25th, 2007 at 6:51 am
Iam a 8th grades at a hayward school. I just wanted to inform all the peolple that think school is safe and they know where we are WRONG !!!! I have friend who show-up for the first 10 mins of class then cut out. They go southgate park or hang out at a friend house. This has been done everyday. There is about 15 of them. The kids that do choose to stay in school. All we do is watch movies or gossip to our friends write notes, use our cell phones. WE NEED OUR TEACHERS BACK
April 25th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Hi 8th Grade:
I’m glad there are some young people reading this dialogue, 8th Grade. Thanks for your contribution.
I was hoping that the sponge bob incident was an isolated event. I’m sad to say that but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
While the schools are not in total chaos as we speak, this is only due to the fact that we all participated, out of necesity or not, and many under economic hardship, by keeping our kids with us.
I don’t mean to be dramatic, but…
Can Everyone imagine what the circumstances would have been if we all had listened to our Principals, Mr. Vigil and the Board we all had brought the kids back to school?
April 25th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I fully support our teachers and quite frankly am becoming more alarmed by the day at the district’s (read: Dr. Vigil) lack of candor regarding the entire situation. He says that the safest place for my children is at school. Why then, has my son’s (intentionally unnamed) elementary school not contacted me regarding his absences? It has been 10 days. 10 DAYS!!! Do they know that I have been keeping him home in support of the strike? No, but that (reason) is ASSUMED, as was told to me by the person answering the school’s phone when I finally called to question the lack of communication regarding the absences. I can’t help but wonder how many parents are sending their children to school ASSUMING they are attending… This is considered safe?
I have kept both my children (one in high school, and one in elementary school) at home since the strike began. That is 10 days that they have spent at home (and at various “educational” outings) instead of in their classrooms learning the required state curriculum. Each day that passes without a settlement is a shocking reminder as to where our educational system is headed as a whole. From where I sit, it seems that our society in general (please note that I am not speaking for every single person) no longer values education. If you disagree, just take a look at teachers’ salaries in general as well as the working and physical conditions in our schools. It is no wonder that our most valued teachers are leaving the district as well as the profession. Realigned wages (across the board) should merely be a starting point for significant reform in Hayward and the entire state.
April 25th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
The Sponge Bob incident was by no means isolated. Just informally interviewing students on their way out, I have found the line-up to contain “The Wiz,” “Crocodile Hunter,” The Incredibles,” and more. Since I am a beginning teacher, those glorified babysitters (some admittedly only having 30-day emergency credentials and no formal training) are making more money than I would if I was in there doing my job!!!!!
April 25th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Parents, this is for you: did you attend the school board meeting tonight? The media attention seems to be kind of spotty so I’m wondering if you will let the teachers who didn’t go to the rally before the meeting how many of you attended, were the speakers at the meeting cut off mid-speech, was the audience polite or raucous and, finally, do you think the school board really HEARD the parents or did they just seem to sit there looking bored and inattentive? Thanks.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
vigil looked right into my eyes but peterson was drifting off into neverland! i did call him out on that one!
April 25th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Tentative agreement reached as of 9:30 Wed. HEA members to vote at 2 PM.
We will not forget that the district made us stay out for 10 days, funding our own increase for this year, when they could have settled it during the vacation. All this was intentional on their part.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
TEACHERS LEFT THE MEETING TO ALLOW MORE PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO ATTEND. There is a limit to the number of people allowed in the chambers. It seemed more important that community members be heard this time than teachers.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:26 am
To the parents or community members who were disappointed that we weren’t Ghandi or MLK enough during the strike. Don’t believe what you heard. There were a lot of unfounded rumors during the strike. The incident reports are public record. Demand to see them and talk to both sides to get a fair picture.
The community needs to continue to exert their influence and power on the school board. For many years they have been a rubber stamp for the administrations who come and go, taking the Hayward communities money with them. We, the teachers, have not seen a positive difference in how we do our job on a day-to-day basis.
The board should debate and challenge, as they do in other cities. They should have the best interests of the students and community in mind and be able to questions the consequences of actions on the long term as well as the short term. They should visit the schools and be much more considerate in their hiring decisions.
If the situation does not change, the community will find it increasingly difficult to attract quality educators, especially in light of the fact that pay here is still behind neighborin districts. You deserve the best; don’t settle for less.
I thank you for your efforts during the strike and encourage you to stay involved.
debra j sarver
treeview elementary
April 26th, 2007 at 7:32 am
Debra, you’re admitting that the district and school board have mishandled the “MONEY” and now we’re suppose to support a parcel tax that will give them more MONEY to mishandle? Nope, not in my life time.
April 26th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Debra,
did you not just get a raise!
Beggars cant, be choosers isn’t it how the saying goes! I spoke up yesterday at the meeting and everything i said came from my heart but now you are seeming ungrateful!
So basically still its not enough CASH for you and still we hayward residents are going to loose teachers over not getting enough! Is that what you ment? If it is then mabe you are greedy! And probably in your eyes our fight yesterday was a lost cause but to my reality it was US THE PARENTS that got you your raise!!! Be happy like all the others and i for one am not willing to pay more taxes just for you and yours!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Monica and Leslie,
NO the parcel tax was taken off the table, relax. Now who is complaining, and no we do not get a raise untill next year in February IF the membership even approves this contract, thank you. AND NO you did NOT get us a raise by going to ONE meeting and speaking!!!! We got it by striking for 10 miserable days in the freezing wind and sun, going without pay and as Vigil said: “effectively shutting the educational system down so that the district would finally pay attention.. Which is the erason you have been in here complaining. Get over yourselves, and get a clue.
Every city in the area supports their schools with parcel taxes and bond measures, even Oakland which is WAY worse off than Hayward. If you want better schools, you need to put your money where your mouths are, and quit YOUR complaining, and finger pointing. Teachers come out of their own pockets WAY more than we should have to. If you would like, we can just leave after HUSD falls behind in salaries again in a few years. Or the community can work with the district and teachers to build strong schools. Or do we want a repeat of this strike?
The point is, this issue is not going away. This is a bandaid, not a fix. It will have to be revisited every few years, so get used to it.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Until I feel I can trust the district and now the union I won’t be voting for a parcel tax or a bond. Get used to that!
Editor’s note: We just received details of the approved agreement, and a parcel tax is not part of the deal. Agreement approved by 89 percent of voting members, BTW. Also, watch for our Q&A’s with Crummey and Vigil in tomorrow’s Daily Review. -Kim
April 26th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
TIRED TEACHER:
ARE YOU SAYING US PARENTS LAST NIGHT DID NOT HELP YOUR CAUSE ARE YOU SAYING THE PARENTS THAT MARCHED FOR YOUR CAUSE DID IT FOR NOTHING!!
YOU GET A GRIP LADY WITH OUT THE COMMUNITY YOU WOULD HAVE NOTHING!
IT IS THE PARENTS SUPPORT THAT HAS HELPED YOU !
AND LET ME TELL YOU THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I SPOKE UP FOR THE TEACHERS AND IF YOU WATCHED LAST NIGHT I TORE INTO VIGILS ***. SO MAYBE YOU SHOULD THANK ME INSTEAD OF BEING SELFISH! TAKE THE TIME OUT OF YOUR BUSY LIFE TO GIVE US YOUR APPRECIATION FOR ALL WE HAVE DONE FOR YOU!
THIS IS NOT THE LAST TIME ANYONE WILL HEAR OF ME I WILL CONTINUE TO BE INVOLVED BECAUSE OF TEACHERS LIKE YOURSELF MAKE ME SEE THAT THERE NEEDS A CHANGE….I WILL BE VERY ACTIVE SO WATCH OUT FOR ME!! I PROMISE YOU THAT!
April 26th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
No I am saying that the parents who kept their students out of school and supported the teachers and marched and spoke and who do these things on a regular basis and the teachers who struck got the raise. Your comment was :”WE got you the raise” and you implied that the teacher should just shut up and be happy and not talk about the future. THAT is not fair for YOU personally, YES YOU to take credit for the raise #!. Especially as someone who started out antagonizing teachers and badmouthing them in this blog (!) and 2. My point is that this issue is NOT going away, so you better not go away. WE NEED YOU. THE SCHOOLS NEED YOU. WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER, AND MOST OF ALL THE STUDENTS NEED PARENTS AND TEACHERS TOGETHER FIGHTING FOR THEM IS MY POINT. They need and deserve all the resources that their community can offer, and not this us and them attitude. I do not understand your attacking Debra and calling her greedy. That is so counter productive and gives this community a bad image. YOU are making Hayward look bad by doing that. Take a good look at what she says:
“The community needs to continue to exert their influence and power on the school board. For many years they have been a rubber stamp for the administrations who come and go, taking the Hayward communities money with them. We, the teachers, have not seen a positive difference in how we do our job on a day-to-day basis.
The board should debate and challenge, as they do in other cities. They should have the best interests of the students and community in mind and be able to questions the consequences of actions on the long term as well as the short term. They should visit the schools and be much more considerate in their hiring decisions.
If the situation does not change, the community will find it increasingly difficult to attract quality educators, especially in light of the fact that pay here is still behind neighborin districts. You deserve the best; don’t settle for less.
I thank you for your efforts during the strike and encourage you to stay involved.”
And your response is to call her greedy and tell her “We got you you raise”!!!! And you wonder why I am mad???? That is an outrageous statement Monica and Leslie. I D NO give you two as individuals ANY credit for ending this strike. You have stated so many negative thinsg about teachers that are generalizations and exagerrations. You have used this blog as your group therapy Leslie. Stop patting yourself on the back.
I give credit to the parents who started Families in Action.
The parents who are kind and helpful and compassionate to teachers not always accusing and complaining.
The parents who kept their kids home during the strike.
The parents who couldn’t keep their kids home, but waved or honked or gave an encouraging word or smile to the picketers when they dropped their kids off.
The parents who placed the green sign in their car window.
The parents who dropped off coffee or food at the line.
The parents who wrote a letter or email or phone call.
The parents who marched silently or loudly to the D.O. or the rallies with us day after day not just that Friday.
Leslie you are attention seeking in here, using your full name, stirring up all kinds of drama at your child’s school site, the DO, the one board meeting you mention going to.
Then someone mentions continuing to pressure the board to do the right thing, which it has a reputaion for NOT doing for many years in this town, and you call her greedy and a beggar?! You admitted that you had a lot to learn, why do you not accept information gracefully?
No I do not thank you. You are a pain in the you know what who has taken everyone in here’s time and energy.
I am happy to be back with my students and my families we will continue to work hard. I hope for your children’s sake you do too, and have learned something from all this. You are part of the system, the board, district, teachers and parents are all part of the system. You cannot sit back and call someone else greedy or lazy and expect things to work the way you want them to. Get involved and stay involved. That was Debra’s only point. Your response was offensive.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
power to the children of hayward
peace OUT
April 26th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Another tired teacher
Leslie is right, you did not strike alone. We, the community were there to support you. Your comment did sound personal and ungratefull.
I was on the picket line every single day and did feel dissed when I read your comment.
Without community support (no kids, the march, school board meetings, calling board members etc.) I’m sure the District might have been able to get their injucntion sooner, or dragged this on longer.
We are all stressed, disapointed and tired, but let’s not take it out on the community.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I’m just opposed to the parcel tax. I don’t trust the district when it comes to money and I don’t think it is wise for the union to align itself with the district when it comes to launching a campaign for a parcel tax. No one should trust the district with money. I’m glad that the parcel tax is off the table. Believe me there are is sooooo much opposition out there to a bond or parcel tax that you don’t even want to go there.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
thank you fernando you said it all for me!
Another tired teacher: It looks to me like your attention seeking !
And yes i did start off bad but i did apologize for my actions which is more than anyone else has done!
To me you are sounding like a pain in my you know what!
Here is what i wrote read it again or do i need to write the words spaced for you:
So basically still its not enough CASH for you and still we hayward residents are going to loose teachers over not getting enough! Is that what you ment? If it is then mabe you are greedy! And probably in your eyes our fight yesterday was a lost cause but to my reality it was US THE PARENTS that got you your raise!!! Be happy like all the others and i for one am not willing to pay more taxes just for you and yours!
I was asking if that is what she ment and if it was then that is wrong!
Are they letting teachers like you back inside the class with all this anger i mean cause they have special classes like angermanagement!
oh and i use my real name because i am not trying to hide behind a fake one like some scared you know what! And you seem to know me and what i have done so you tell me this how many times have i called the district? How many times have i went? how many times have i honked my horn? Did i not keep my kids out of school? At that meeting yesterday i was number 14 i took my kids out in the cold i kept my kids out of school for this whole strike i have been to the district seven different times i have talked to the “higher people” i went gathering info about everything! so please save your bs. you my dear are the one looking for all the attention not me !
It looks like i am the bigger person out of us cause i can proudly admit when i was wrong i do not feel bad for anything and my markham teachers have taken me with open arms and if you had saw last night i stated my name following by a proud markham parent .
so you say i had nothing to do with you raise then fine cause someone like you does not deserve one!!
When i said we i ment all the parents here in hayward i never said I . Check your eyes i think they might be hneed glasses!!
Your insults just go to show what kind of a person you are and i am damn lucky not to have you as my childs teacher cause i can only imagin what you teach your students!!!
you are the one giving teachers a bad name!!
April 26th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
another tired teacher
you are the one who is a disgrace to this community it is teachers like you who feel they can supress the
comments and opinions of others , without parents and students there will be no you . I am sure more than 90% of the students who stayed home only did so due to the lack of proper supervision not just for you cause . As for leslie saying her name at least she has the courage to back up everything she says , unlike you , you are hiding , that means you are a coward , there are some good teachers and some bad right now with your lack of openmindness and your selfishness. yes it was only you . I think you need a session or two , to let out your frustrations before you harm a child . this is b.s that the teachers can go back and “everything as normal” there are hard feelings all around.
get a life , peace out -really professional there
April 26th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Leslie, mellow down,
plenty of people have apologized along the way, myself included,
And even though at the beginning I also felt people should sign their statements, I can understand why teachers (or others for that matter) would want to remain unnamed, PH make me change my mind on that. So to use that as a gage of anything is to go down a mistaken path, not productive.
For you to say that “another…” doesn’t deserve a raise” is also not productive,
after all, you don’t even know her!
She might indeed be a great teacher, and when we make statements like that we start to get out of track,
The point that “another…” , Fred and other folks are trying to make is that even with the present settlement that was just approved, HUSD is still not necessarily a competitive district.
I have yet to really look at all the details of the settlement, but there is no full retroactivity, so 8% is not really not 8%, there might be other details in there that I’m not aware of.
What they are trying to say is that we might not be the worst paid in the area, but being second worst is not a more attractive offer to prospective highly qualified teachers. Don’t quote me on this yet, I have not looked at the other districts yet to make comparisons. And of course, there is also the issue of other benefits that also make other districts more attarctive, like health care, or having COLA automatically applied when available.
So, in the long run, yes, this is not finished…
That is why it is so important that we all remain active and engaged. I know I will
Fernando
April 26th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Angela, ditto my comment to Leslie
a little personal,
no need to call anyone a coward, specially people you don’t know.
Focus people, the real questions are:
1-How de we become truly competitive?
2-What do we the community expect in return?
3-How do messure these results taking in to account the diversity of our population? GPA?, bush’s tests?, Truancy and drop out rates?
Any suggestions?
Fernando
April 26th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
by the way i was only really asking what debra ment!
and if she ment negitive than that is wha i thought!
As for patting myself on the back there is no need to cause plenty of teachers and parents did that for me and yes they knew me from this blog! I am and will be very active in this community for me this is the begining . And as long as there is people like myself and fernando and the others we will be able to accomplish anything together as a team! us parents are stronger than ever and are more determined .
As for putting my money where my mouth is …i have already and i have offered to give more to the class ask your questions before you speak!
April 26th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
fernando
she was the one being insulting , lets not be double faced here ,
demonstrate the raise is deserved, exactly we do not know eachother why does she need to go off on a rampage, solutions , show us parents that the classroom education is better and do not brush us off in the long run
April 26th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Fernando did you not read what she said about me …so how am i not able to respond to her!
she was getting too personal not me then yes i did attack! I have been trying to get more info on everything and about the new deal but i really am not understand it all! Like i have said i had asked debra a question if that is what she ment anbd miss another tired teacher went postal! She does not know me so she cannot say any one negitive thing!
Now about this deal what are the facts?
April 26th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
The tests are an acurate measure of a teacher (with the exception of special ed, and the special programs) all students enter school as an unmolded ball of clay beginning from kinder they are in the teachers hands , poverty does not mean a student will be a failure , race neither, both teachers and parents need to work together , morals are taught by parents and books by teachers , in the end that clay is /should be a productive adult , so in a way students are a blueprint of the product , the product being what emerges at high school graduation
April 26th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
fernando have you looked at the one post from mark about the different ways the strike could end! I liked number 4 but really how can we make the district give respect to the teachers if they really dont have it for us? And what needs to happen is for the district every time they get the cola to set aside that part for the teachers and also set aside a part for supplies and possibly we can help get donations from corporations?
I for one am trying to see what needs to be done for the kids to get a field trip since the have not had one this year? Even if the kids in my girls classwent to the zoo i am more than willing to pay their entrance fee! for the whole class (there is only 11 kids) but my problem today was getting info on transportation! It is very expensive! And another problem is the teacher teaches akinder in the morning and first in the afternoon!
April 26th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
there are so many problems here that it is hard to see what needs to come next. The teachers got a raise for now thank god but what about the class rooms, the conditions inside them, field trips, assemblys my girls only have gotton the ones about behavior every month well the whole school not just my girls , but what about educational ones..in pre school they had four one with reptiles, aztec and folklorico dancers (my girls performed in that one), story telling with an author who also illestrates and one with a clown. the clown was there to talk to the kids about strangers.
the classrooms are horrible ! teachers do not have the supplies they need which is very necessary to help in educating our kids, more crossgaurds i have seen a few kids almost get hit by cars while crossing the crosswalk on 6th street, I would do it myself but i think with my attitude it would not be wise. Busses now my girls are going to go to east ave. and when i looked online about the cost it blew me away . But what about the parents who are over the income so do not qualify for it to be lowered but yet have a morgage and so on and so on….(im still gonna drive my girls) so many things to do but where do we start?
April 26th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Too bad the last comments are all about interpersonal dynamics and not about how to improve the district.
Parcel taxes are common–homeowners and landlords pay them. Most districts have some kind of school parcel tax due to lower property taxes(from Prop. 13). Oakland homeowners pay $195 a year–$75 of which should go towards teacher salaries and benefits. Other surrounding areas also have school parcel taxes. I think there can be exemptions written into parcel taxes for people over 65 on fixed incomes.
As a society we must become more willing to support our public institutions or they will die. If public schools die, so will whatever remnant of democracy there is in this country. People who vote and make decisions for the future must be critical thinkers(something we are losing as a result of an excessive emphasis on testing as part of No Child Left Behind).
One way to fund public institutions would be to reinstate the .5% income tax on the wealthiest Californians (as was applied in the era of Pete Wilson when the economy was not doin well). We have some of the wealthiest people in the USA living in California, and they are not paying their fair share of taxes. Another way to fund public institutions would be to revisit Prop. 13 and change the law for corporations who have gained the most from Prop. 13 since they rarely sell or buy property, but maintain property already owned. Therefore, their property taxes remains well below the rate they would pay if their property was re-assessed now. For individuals, especially retired people on fixed incomes, this makes sense. For corporations who earn huge profits from owning the property they do, Prop. 13 does not make sense.
Californians need to wake up and realize that not all taxes are the same. A tax on the wealthy is different from a tax on the working poor and middle class. A tax on corporations is different from a tax on the individual. The only way we can maintain quality education in California(as it was in the past), is to fund education at way higher levels than we do.
Are we willing to make that commitment?
April 26th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
i we go for this tax then is it only for the teachers or is it for the supplies and other activities that i mentioned earlier? I am interested in doing something that can benifit both things and if means about fifty cents a day then fine i would got for it! but once again is it only for the teachers? I really am clueless on that one i read some stuff but mabe it was wrong!
April 26th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Leslie/Angela:
#4 was my option as well,
I’m not sure if we can, as the community, demand that the Board change some of these key policies, like the way COLA money is spent. I suspect the Union would love to negotiate that into their contract, a formula for how much cola is passed on, if not the whole %.
Somebody mentioned that some Boards actually debate in public forum and defend their votes, I would love to be let in to that conversation!
I know Mr. Cook mentioned having disagrements with ohters members of the Board, so there must be some debate going on, but how much?
For the most part, Board meetings seem to be to approve decisions already made.
How come the only time we get to ask them questions, they can’t answer? I will be glad to ask my questions in ten seconds and cede the reminder for an answer, if there is one.
Can we somehow change the rules of engagenment, so that the community is at the very least informed, at the very best INVOLVED in these converstasions? Can these debates be on TV ?
The only way I see this happening is with some new Board members, but lets not forget, so long as we keep involved and focued, we can change things,
Angela, thanks for your opinion on the tests. You are you a teacher, right? Just trying to keep track of who is who…
I have heard a lot of teachers complain about them, but I’m never sure wheather it is because they take time away from other things, or if they are truly helpfull regardless of the woman/man hours required to prepare for and administer them.
April 26th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Power to another hayward high teacher !
You hit the nail on the head! The taxes (regarding Prop. 13) that another hayward high teacher is talking about fund ALL public services in California, including highways, healthcare, education, etc. There is a documentary entitled “First to Worst” that chronicles the fall of public education in California and its correlation to the passage of Prop. 13.
April 26th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Leslie:
If I’m correct, it has to do with how it is worded. The revenue can be split up, say 30% for facilities, 30% program enhancement, and 30% teacher salaries or what ever. Those proportions would have to be figured out, I suspect the City, the Board and the Union? Mark might know.
I’m a home owner and as Monica said earlier, I would be weary as well of giving this Board/Distric any more money, without iron clad assurances that the money will go where it is supposed to go to,
So in Oakland it is a couple of hundred bucks?,
How far does that go??
Are we really talking about 60 cents per day???
I’m for it, if I can trust the administration!
April 26th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
you see really i am having problems understanding why we do no have the power to change things are we not the ones that hired them? Do they not have to do what we want? Like every payday you seperate all your bills and food money and gas money and what you have left is for fun! What is the districts problem? Any one who has a bank account knows how to budget if my tweleve year old can budget her allowence than why cant they budget the money at the district? Still if they give the teachers the respect and their money from cola every year or however that works then we would not be in this mess! How can we fix it i am lost!
April 26th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
We do have the power to change things,
It’s called the Vote!
Some mentioned before, 10% of Hayward citizens vote.
The undertaking would be enormous, but not unsurmountable, other cities have done it!
April 26th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Even those of us who don’t own a house have the power to do something.
Landlords, the people who rent properties in Hayward, will object on the grounds that their tenants will complain of higher rents, since they will just pass the tax on to the tenants,
But what if a significant number of tenants contacted their landlords and told them to vote yes?
What if they all called to say they are willing to go along with an extra $20/week, for the sake of our children’s education.? I can only imagine that landlords would see that with a good school district, their property values would go up.
We would need to build safeguards to protect renters, so that landlords charge just the proper amount, and we would need to make sure they don’t just take the money and then vote the tax down, it’s all in the wording.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
that sounds great but looked at what happened with vigil i didnt vote for him but he won! I have voted every election because if you do not vote then you have no right to complain later! If it means that my kids get a better education then i would pay the extra too! But it seems that the board cant handle money so mabe just a thought …what if a representer for the familias in action was able to be on the board like how the students are but this person would represent us the parents and how we feel and think things should happen or be spent? Since the district has no clue.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
i need to do some research on prop 13 i remember somethings but not all.
if the district dont shape up then people will take their kids elsewhere and then where will the teachers be?/ And for the kids that stay here where the education is bad would then drop out join gangs teen pregnancy ect.ect. … i just wish that the board members looked at our kids as if they were their own ! You took the job to serve our children so serve them . kind of like the silent godfather!
I want them to understand that! I am not sure they do!
April 26th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
As I read through the blogs I am amazed at the number of people who lack undrestanding of the history of contracts with the various Superintendents who, because they have been dismissed prior to the expiration of their contraact, thwy were paid separation money,which shall we say was a tad higher than what a blue collar worker would receive when fired.
Folks, be careful in your cries to fire any cany executive who fails performance of his contract as you might imagine that contract to exist. It can and has been very expensive since the early 1990′s.
three have been dismissed aand each has received a heavy payout at the expense of the cash
flow for which The state makes no re-imbursement.
The problem as I see it is that the power of the vote is not appreciated by those eligible to registerer and and use the absentee ballot tool. In addition, attention must be paid to the idea that you accurately inform yourself of the real issue; which is to say we have consistently elected folks to trustee-ship who really lack understanding of their role. Unfortunately, we witness HEA endorsing candidates without really giving it much thought other than that they seem like nice people. Frankly, since a majority of HEA members do not live in HUSD boundaries, they might think about getting out out
the practice of making endorsements. Which of our trustees, recent past and present, were elected on the basis of their success in law, or professional accounting or success as a business owner?
April 26th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I honestly do not know….I am new to al this ! my oldest goes to aprivate school and there i am told where my money goes! now withthe tin iput them in public so the can experience all nationaliie not just the latino and philipino community! an at markham it is rainbow of kids and i like that. I want to keep tem in publick for that reason so i am ready to do whati have to in order to make a change!
But what yoursaying is that if we inpeach them it will endup putting us in the hole and !
So if that is a bad option then what else can we do?
April 26th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
sorry for typos baby again…
April 26th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
….. sorry, I was cut off on immediste previous nblog by myself…I continue with the effort.
My personal bone of contention is HUSD’s website which is totally ineffective and probably a cause for reprimand of administration executives who fail to assure maintenance of the HUSD website now presently is hopelessly ineffective condition
That website is or should be a major tool useful in assuring an informed community. The basic fault lays with the trustees for failing to ponce on that website’s condition, using it in thier review of executive performance..
I would suggest that voters concerned with HUSD tske the time to visit the website established by the city of Hayward. Go to: http://www.hayward-ca.gov and observe the oppoprtunity to examine the agenda as well as the complete staff reports for each item listed on the agenda explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the agenda item.
Observe also the opportunity to go to the archives and wage meetings as they actually occurred in council chambers so that you might see how much more professionally those meetings are
conducted Have any noticed that Channel 15 no longer displays a rebroadcast of HUSD meetings on Monday mights as they did until a year or two ago.
Is there a purpose to such neglect of public relations?
Then ask yourself why HUSD is not fully concious of it’s seriopus deficiency in public relations with the voter. The condition of HUSD’s website is such as to cause thought about lack of respect by both trustees and administration in their attitude toward the public.
If i believed there were truth to that I would probably lend myself to a recall not as the leader, (due to age and physical health concerns) but as a worker in that action. I am not sure that trustees in particular are overtly involved in deliberate creating existing conditions of the website at HUSD.
BUT THE MATTER HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THEIR ATTEHNTION AT PUBLIC COMMENTS AND BY WRITTEN LETTERS, MOST RECENTLY IN A REGISTERED LETTER SO THAT THEY COULD NOT DENY HAVING RECEIVED EXPRESSION OF CONCERN.
I do fault them for failing to take corrective action in maintaing a healthy public relations tool.
Pounce on that idea folks !!!!
April 26th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
…….AN ADDED THOUGHT….
wHAT WE MIGHT NEED IS A GOOD OLD FASHION INVESTIGATIVE NEWS STORY BY THE DAILY
REVIEW!!
A story on the subject of the website, in a deep factual and detailed effort, might just see
attentionon given to HUSd’s website and in that act, assist ANG Daily Review to increase it’s circulation and profitability.
The press has been basic to the succes of the USA yet circulation of newspapers continues to
fall.. blogs are not a real solution because they lack professionalism in exptression of thought.
This does not mean you need accept everything appearing in the press; but be reminded there are some real good investigative reporters who sometimes need encouragement from their readers.
Life ain’t just about watching ball games and quiz shows, Rosie or Mr. Imus folks… preservation
of the country is dependent upon and informed citizenry.
I have a tough tough time believing the average Hayward area resident accepts that fact!!
30 !
April 27th, 2007 at 7:49 am
JW Kile:
Thanks for your posts, and I agree with them on many fronts.
I too would be troubled with paying Vigil or Schimmel to go away, with their fat check for work not performaed! Correct me if I’m wrong, but making Kowal go away cost us $230,000.
I’m still trying to understand WHY the Board gave these gratuitious 16.84 to the administrators? I have heard that they (the adminsitrators) had been offered jobs elsewhere and the Board wanted to make sure they didn’t leave. Maybe this is just a rummor, but…
Am I to understand if this is the truth, that the contracts this Board has entered into have a clause that punishes the District for getting rid of administrators even when there is cause (like that $300,000 deli bill Kowal spent, that is a lot of sandwiches!), but doesn’t have a clause to punish an administrator if they leave before their contract is up?
If this is the truth, Did the Board know they were agreeing to this? Who adviced them to sign this contract? Did anyone advice them on this?
And if this was not the truth, why did they feel the need to give this raise, which was not negotiated or due? I just don’t understand, am I alone on this?
I again question how involved the Board members have been in hiring these people.
I was one of the people clamoring for these men to be fired, but had changed my mind even before JW Kyle brought it up. We should make sure Mr. Vigil and Mr. Schimmel stay and work out the rest of their contracts. They might not feel “comfortable and loved” in this community (if they ever were?) but they earned that along with their six figure salaries.
We the community can be much more involved in making sure they are accountable.
I agree the issue of the inadequacy of their site could be much better. But taking into account the site, and the way our $4,000,000 phone system has been used to spread missinformation leads me to believe that this is probably intentional. I hate to feel this way, but have lost trust in this administration to the point I would actually believe this.
In the newspaper today, Mr. Vigil states that the reason we the had to pay $300/day for the subs, was to have enough of them to educate our children.
How dare he say they were there to educate our children.?
It has been pretty well established at this point that no education took place. What state standard does sponge bob cover?
I can’t believe he is still saying that there was education going on, while at the same time the district was in a complete educational brake down, like he said in his request for an injuction. So which one was it? He can’t have it both ways.
I found this answear insulting. How in world did the reporter not bring this up is beyond me.
He also stated he did not have a history of adversarial relationships at the previous districts where he worked, and yet I understand he was “let go” of one of his previous jobs. Am I mistaken on this?
I found the Q&A article with Mr.Vigil and MRS. Crummey bland and really unhelpfull. What about some challengeing follow up questions to their answers?
What about some debate?
This article was just like the big mouth (phone system) calls we got from the district.
I also would like a real investigative story, with follow up questions. Both the HUSD and HEA used this Q@A to feed us lines we have heard before.
Editor’s note: These were the questions you guys wanted asked. The questions are under our control. The answers are not. If you are dissatisfied with the answers, now is the time to contact Dr. Vigil or Kathy Crummey and seek further information. Our Q&A is a springboard for readers. In some cases, there were follow-up questions asked, but the answers remained the same. In the interest of space, we couldn’t afford to keep a lot of redundancy in there. But mostly, I would say that the thing the Q&A really shows/tells you is that these are the kinds of answers we get to the “hard” questions. Sometimes, if you read deeper, there is no answer at all. That in itself tells you something. -Kim
April 27th, 2007 at 8:00 am
I just reread my previous post and when I got to the $4,000,000 phone system I thought, Am I right on this figure?
Was it not $400,000?
I’m pretty sure I have heard 4 million before,
Can anyone confirm the actual figure.
I hope I’m mistaken
April 27th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Mr. Fernandez’
Visiot Hayward City Website at http://www.hayward-ca.gov. Make the tour through that opportunity.
We had a good City Manager and staff who keep it current and readable without a lot of errors.
Staff changes in coming months and last year make it immperative that we watch over that asset ….
thus to avoid the ‘zoo’ like atmosphere ocurring at HUSd meetings which do nothing but contribute to
the decline in qualitative thought and mutual respect.
Had HUSD’s website been kept in condition with publicitry put forward suggesting that parents visit for
purposes of being well informed rather than just emotional, would all have been spared the damaging public image which contributes to reputed decline in enrollment?
Makew no mistake about it, use of the name Hayward by school district and city creates a common image which is so intertwined that it damages city just as much as school and parents shoot themselves in the foot.
What annoys me is the surprised reaction that some are learning New Haven School district extends into City limits at south border while HUSD extends into Alameda County Area along Mission into Cherryland, Ashland and Fairview areas.
Maybe when “Unification” occurred the name “MT. Eden Unified School District” should have been used; that iTHAT dea would have saved ‘The Heart of the Bay’ A BIT OF EMBARASSMENT, ESPECIALLY SINCE
THEY ARE TWO SEPARATE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.
April 27th, 2007 at 11:07 am
J.W Kyle:
I really wish you had not used the word “zoo” to describe the athmosphere at the meeting. I was there. People were frustrated and angry, and our emotions were raw indeed.
The night before the strike started, I waited almost four hours to ask, after a board meeting, roughly how many subs were lined up for the strike that stated in six hours time. I spoke with the superintedent of Human Resources and never did get a figure. How can I make an educated desision to take my child to school or not?
At the meeting we were ten days into this crisis and our leaders had not addressed us. Progress was not within sight. We had no place to turn for answers, certainly not their site, and our board was unavailable.
I agree with you in that we need to present a better public image of ourselves while at the meetings. You do have a good point there.
Going back to your use of the word “zoo” I must admit, thinking twice about it…The word fits very well,
I suppose just like the animals in a zoo are devoid of their freedom and have a frustrated life, some people in Hayward feel the frustration of not being heard.
What is the point of coming to one of this meetings prepared with carefully crafted request for information, if you are muzzled by the fact that they can’t asnwer to our questions?!
What is the point of coming to a meeting to object to a decision, that has ALREADY been taken!
Without debate, our raw emotions are all we have left.
You seem to know a lot about the history of HUSD,
Was there ever public debate of the issues at HUSD?
April 27th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
You are wrong ! Our raw emotions are not all that we have left ! Sir, your questions are not carefully
crafted because you wander !
Concentrate on improvement of the HUSD website, then follow it! Read the coming agenda items; visit the Amador Admin office and learn if it’ has an extra copy of the staff reports supplied to Trustees before they vote; that supposedly is why trustees seldom address the subject of the agenda item before they vote.
Did you vist the Hayward Websiote prior to your recent reply as I suggested earlier this day? Had you done so, you would better understand use of the word zoo….. it’s as if the food for thiought is in very limited supply at HUSD.. just thrwon att tjhe feet of those gathered for the stimulus of thought!
SEE: City’s website as displayed above in color in early part of my previous.
April 27th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
In defense of fernando , J.W. …
I too participated in the meeting and all us parentgot right to the point!
Why did the board members not reply to us when we asked questions?
I put my kids nfront so they can see the children upfront that were being hurt by all this!
Mr. vigil looked right at them and i knew i hit him where it hurts with everything i said. it was my raw emotions that took over me ! So if i acted like a tiger (you mentioned the meeting was a zoo) then i am very proud of it!
Teachers:
I feel so bad for you all your work and to have settled for less ! Thank you all for choosing not to go back on strike that it self shows your love for the kids! You are not greedy (a few are) people you just want what is owed ! Nobody should blame you for that! Once again thank you.
I have a question ..i talked with my girls teacher today and she told me about how this deal they got is not a good one it is really kind of bad. My question is why send the kids to school yesterday before filling the teachers in on the deal and then after they had voted then go back to school? Now the teachers have settled for less due to not wanting to hurt the kids! Is the hea to blame for that?
April 27th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Are all board meetings open to the public ?
April 27th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Ms Cienega’ I understand what you are trying to say but honestly, if you want to assist your own understandanding of the HUSD Administrative mess, you must educate yourself. There are no answers on these blog scribbles which are going to really assist you. For that reason alone a I get into some expalanxtions to get you started.
With the following exceptions, all meetings are opened to the public:
Personnel matters involving employees whose right to prvacy when discussing job performance or answeing compl;aints, possible dismissal etc is protected by California law. Thus you may not attend.
Same with student discipline, expulsion etc.
If they do not respond to your questions at public comments it is because the subject you chose is not
on the agenda; they are limited to items on the agenda. To violate that idea involves breakiong that law known as “the Brown Act”
I suggest to you that you also visit the Hayward City Website. http://www.hayward-ca.gov Spend some
time reading the City Council Agenda reports…. do not hurry. Then you might also visit the opportunity
to see what went on at past meetings for many years. Meetings are replayed at your command !
Teach another parent on this subject !
The contrast between how the city website is maintained and how it’s meetings are conducted will, startle you thus enabling my use of the word ‘zoo’ when describing some of those highly emotional
meetings where Trustees can hardly wait to get home.
One major change needed now is to have President Peterson let another Trustee take his place and to
move Supt Vigil to another seat on the dais. It makes you wonder why the change in the seating arrangement and why peterson’s term with the gavel has been extended.
Watch City meetings on Tuesday nights at Channel 15. May 1st is cancelled as staff attempts to tie up the loose ends with downtown loop and budget discussions before City Manager Armas leaves the job. His last day
is on June 30th after about 15 good years of service.
As you review citry meetings on website archive, notice how Mr. Armas gave answers to questions which Council members are forbidden to do under terms of Brown Act. Notice how the Mayor frequently does not answer a commentators question but adroitly refers the speaker to either visit the manager or phone the staff member City manager names as a good person to answer the question.
The HUSD meetings atre poorly managed and will continue in that fashion until we either elect new
TRUSTEES OR LEARN TO MANUEVER WITHIN THE HUSD WEBSITE. tHIS IS WHERE THEY ARE IN SERIOUS DIFFICULTY WITH THE PUBLIC.
Until they learn the skills of public relations, try presenting youtr self at the HUSD office on Amador. Sign in at front desk and ask to speak to Ms. Sharma the Secretary. She keeps the ‘public records’ such as minutes, staff reports, electronical;ly taped record of the meetings etc. P{oor lady gets no help from the over-priced managers who do not seem to value their public image.
One last comment or biyt of advice. Meedtings are dragged on endlessly and needlessly with cheering and booing thus, in a very discouirteous amnner, use up the first hour of public comments, forcing others to wait ubtil near end of the meeting! Shucks, i go home early when that happens and beleive there are occasions when a group del;iberately monopolio=zews the public comment period. That last idea NEVER HAPPENS AT COUNCIL MEETINGS !
April 27th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
tonight attorneys from Public Advocates, and Communities Organizing for Renewal, and yours truly, will be at St. Joquom catholic church —across from Home Depot on Hesperian– doing a workshop about Williams and parent’s will actually be filling out the complaints to be turned in on Monday.
If you do not know who Public Advocates is go to publicadvocates.org, also visit decentschools.org.
If you or anyone you know, has any complaints about; dirty bathrooms, not having soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and broken doors in bathrooms;
students not having enough text books; or students not being allowed to take books home to do homework;
or if you feel a teacher is not properly credentialed to teach a subject they are teaching; or if you are a teacher and feels you have been missassigned come tonight find out what you can do to remedy these situations.
This workshop is not about:
school closures; school boundaries; incompetent HUSD board; strike; student tests.
This workkshop IS about:
How to fill out a simple formal complaint, about school facilities; text books; and teacher missassignments; and actually get results from the schools/district!
Spread the word, there will be two workshops tonight 5:30 and 7:00 St. Joquom.
There is still time to make it to the 7pm workshop!
April 27th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Ooops the part about “yours truly” is a mistake. This was copied and pasted from a forwarded email.
April 27th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
thank you for my over the weekend homework assignments
i will do my homework on those meetings and another thing i was not awear of the brown act but now i am . thank you J.W.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
I am very glad to see that people are still engaged in the issue of education in Hayward despite the conclusion of the strike.
Leslie,
Regarding your comment that “I feel so bad for you all your work and to have settled for less “:
We have settled for MORE. Until earlier this month, the district was still offering only 3%. The day before the strike, they offered 7% (don’t pay attention to all the contingent or one-time aspects of that offer). Now, Hayward teachers have affected an 11% raise over they next two years! What a victory.
The biggest travesty is that the district always knew how much money they had. They could have paid us more and settled without the grievous suffering brought on the community by the strike. Dr. Vigil himself said that the district was happy with this agreement, so it is patently clear that their claims of bankruptcy were utter nonsense. They saved money by striking, at the expense of the students (right before testing no less) and then made the teachers hold out to the point of losing money on the year, just so they could dictate the terms of the contract and do their best to hold money back form teachers. This should never have come this far, and I hold the district responsible.
Teachers will recoup their losses and start making more money in the 5th week of next year. Since I am leaving, that does not include me. I lose money, but I am happy. All the teachers that stay in Hayward and take care of Hayward are rewarded, and that is what I was always fighting for.
Parents:
Stay involved, spread the word, and don’t let it get to this point again (If you can help it. Hey, they didn’t listen to us either!). It is clear to me from working (and striking) in this community that there are strong, concerned, involved parents that will get behind causes that are righteous. Stay organized, informed, and active. You are awesome!! Si se puede!
April 28th, 2007 at 10:26 am
so if this deal was good then why were most teachers sad and why were some crying?
April 29th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Most teacher, 89%, voted yes for this settlement. It was an emotional undertaking, and many hoped for better, but we still vastly improved on what the district originally put on the table.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Only 68% of the 1300 members of HEA voted yes–just under 900 teachers. I think that 11% voting no (in light of the 98% strike participation) should be an indicator to HEA that many HEA members have deep concerns about the length of the strike in relation to the non-fully-retro raise we got.
How many of the 89% of those who voted voted not for the raise but to end the strike? I know several teachers at my school whose vote of “yes” meant “stop the strike” not “I feel the COLA raise is fair”.
In Jan. of 2008, we’ll recoup what we lost.
Hopefully our sacrifice will bring in some new teacher blood, seeing has our first year teacher salary is now only behind Pleasanton and New Haven. But how long will they stay? By the time we realize this raise fully, in the 08-09 school year, other districts will have caught up and surpassed us on the pay scale.
I think the bigger issue is that a high level of pay will only hold a teacher in a dysfunctional district for a short period of time before they move on to a district where they’re more appreciated.
HUSD has a lot of work to do.
So does HEA.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
us parents have alot of work also..we cant have this happen again its not right to the students and the teachers!
April 29th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
The next step is to work against the awful effects of No Child Left Behind with its excessive testing demands and punitive approach. We need the community to work with the union on this one–it impacts us all and deeply impacts the education of the children. Call or email Pete Stark and George Miller to ask them NOT to reauthorize the current NCLB with just more funding. It needs to be revamped.
April 30th, 2007 at 4:18 am
Amen to that, another h.h.s. teacher!
April 30th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I can for sure do that! Today as a matter of fact!
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Amen! The truth needs to get out! Kids are getting stressed out over grownup’s garbage.