Wow ! 600 children at one site ? Try Longwood which is now reduced from 796 to just 729 on the second day of the school year !

Where have I been? Well, for one thing ‘out the door with a positive attitude’ knowing full well that my voice is being heard and that I do not bear the weight of knowing that I am no longer sn insider.

If you send $1.16 (see phone book) in postage as well as identity I might just help lift you out of depression or whatever it is that brings your focus to negativism. Keep in mind that HUSD is in a perfect position to go no where if not up !!!

FYI, my understanding is that some of the accusations being made were:
– that applications for the specific bilingual education program were “strongly discouraged” by multiple staff members;
– that paperwork wasn’t available for parents who requested it;
– that applications which were actually submitted were “lost” by staff; and
– that students whose parents sought this bilingual education were treated unfairly by staff;

(Note that if enough parents are discouraged or prevented from applying, then even if there are parents who do properly request the program, there may not be enough students seeking the program to fill a classroom at the school, which again would limit parents’ choices (forcing them to choose a different program at the specific school, or the desired program at another Hayward school; the latter option “ties in” with accusations that school staff actively sought to encourage non-English-speaking families to enroll their children at other Hayward schools, in order to exclude students whose test scores were likely to be low.)

I don’t know if any of these claims are true (remember, I’m a skeptic), but combined with the claims about hostile office staff, it sounds like a pretty serious accusation of interference with parental choice — and the nature of these claims show that it was unreasonable for Dr. Vigil to insist that the problem be addressed only at the “site level.” Now that Dr. Vigil has categorically stated that everything is great at the school and that there is “no racism” at this school, the issue is fully resolved: no complaints will be heard.

“Blingual Teacher” in her blog of September 6th, is upset by Stonebrae School location. It
seems she thought it should have been located in flatland Hayward, presumably near Eldrifge school.

Indicative of my need to teach, this contributorwould at least like to state that of all people, a teacher ought to know about open enrollment at schools where seats are available.

I also think that after a land use battle which lasted in excess of 20 years over Walpert
Ridge, Stonebrae developers certainly earned the right to locate the school where it is; after all, they did donate the land and grading costs for the school as well as the complete costs of the adjacent HARD Park. Then, Developer took it a step farther by pushing the school construction through the money source at Sacramento in less than half the time it would
have taken HUSD.

A last minute lawsuit threatened funding on the source of construction funds, where a
‘sunset’ threatened, once again, to destroy some propetrty rights. Something in excess of $1,000,000 was extotred as persuasion to drop the lawsuit !

Bi-lingual teacher also ignores the new Burbank School which is now welll along in construction in an area where Spanish finds common usage. Bi-lingual teacher ought also recognize that the new Burbbank School was brought about by our former city Managrer, a Latino, whose leadership was singularly responsible for this soon to be opened facility and upon whose walls we will probably see a repetition of the names of the trustees upon the plaque at Stonebrae opening, even after over 100 hours of meetinhgs at which ad hoc endured much belittlement by preservations of Hayward Area Planning Association who have yet to say thanks to Stonebrae for the donation of 1200 acres of open space to East Bay regional Parks.

Ad hoc members attendingthe dedication were not even provided name tags by HUSD on dedication day !

It was only last year that Stionebrae was opened and it was not until last last spring ( 2007)
that Stonebrae development saw it’s first occupancy of a new home. ( introduced as the
first by developer during the Hayward City Couincilo meeting…. those first occupants certainly looked to me as though they enjoyed a “Latino; heritage !) Yet, the school was pretty much full with students reflecting diversity of Hayward !

Highland School atudents transferred as did many from Fairview. Note also that as a member
of the Walpert Ridge “ad oc” committeee, we who were appointed by City Council under a memorandum of undrestanding where developer paid all the bills but was allowed to appoint about three of the 17 members, discussed at great length the probability that at the proposed development, presumed to involve purchases by wealthy folks, the birth rate would be less than that on flat lands; so the prospect of using ‘open enrollment’ opportunity wouid be available to those seeking to leave ‘flat land’ schools theough HUSD’s open enrollment policy.

Since my retirement in February 1991, I have witnessed the ‘firing’ and attendent payout on the emploment contracts of three of the last four HUSD Superintendents. Between each firing and hire we enjoyed the presence of “rent a supe” at some expense to District of course.
At that time I was a member of the HUSd Strategic Change Task force and during those meetings i asked the first of the string of ‘rent a supe’ what she thought was the basic
problem underlaying the turmoil…….. her answer ?

” Folks in this district spend and waste a lot of time pointing fingers at each other !”

So dear reader… is it not time for the uninformed to make some adjustments in attitude
as well as ability to ‘learn the ropes’ Failure to ‘learn the ropes” will see HUSD’s ship up on the rocks, all at the expense of children !

Mr. Vigil is not doing his job. I hope that the parents do not give up. It is their school. They have more power than they think.

Sara Gonzales is a trustee that I expect to be responsive on this issue. She has responded in meetings to some of the outrageous comments by Eldridge staff at meetings. I will be surprised and disappointed if she ignores these parents.

As a former journalist and as an attorney, I certainly understand the issues here — HUSD has demonstrated unique irrational behavior in the past that gives credibility to its threats. Your solution (requiring registration with a validated email address, which isn’t published) is the one that most online forums eventually select, to block certain abuses.

On the issue of posts from multiple IDs that are using the same IP address, I know that my wife and I both post here (we are two separate people and often enough, as on this issue, we disagree about some issues). Likewise, I assume that multiple teachers and/or administrators may share computer IP addresses;; of course, library users might also share IP addresses, and it wouldn’t surprise me if people who use the same computer often agree with one another. Hopefully, the editors will be courageous enough to identify and/or delete posts which do appear to be “coordinated” improperly, or which are known to be misleading or deceptive.

Perhaps most important:

I would like to stress that my letter (which Kim published to launch this discussion thread) was intended NOT to endorse the claims being made at any specific school in Hayward, but to condemn the actions and statements by HUSD’s administrators intended to prevent such claims from ever being fairly heard, now or in the future.

It is possible that a legitimate inquiry would result in vindication of the principal and teachers — including any teachers named in complaints as well as all of the other teachers whose reputations have been tarnished by this episode. Uunfortunately, I believe that Dr. Vigil has made it impossible for these claims to ever be fairly considered, and therefore many of their reputations will remain tarnished (not by the accusations, but by the “whitewash” which they probably didn’t want).

I am confident that the only possible outcome of the district’s recent “whitewash” attempts is a loss of trust; it seems quite likely that Dr. Vigil’s statements will be interpreted by a small minority of people as an endorsement or “free pass” for discriminatory conduct and refusals to listen to future complaints.

The inevitable outcome of this disgusting episode will be further damage to the reputation of Hayward’s schools; the district continues to provide strong incentives for families to find other educational options for their children (as our family has done).

Finally: If the district actually intends to hold a meeting with parents who have complaints about racism in one or more Hayward schools, notice of the meeting should be provided to all parents at the school — though it seems unlikely that the parents whom Dr. Vigil clearly sought to intimidate with his hostile statements at the past two board meetings will ever feel comfortable attending or speaking at such a meeting, unless their children are no longer at risk for retaliation.