Mr. Hernandez is free to side with whomever he desires.

It matters not to me except that those folks using nom de plumes made some wild accusations last spring during the teacher’s strike.

What I suggested in my earlier missive on the subject of teacher’s providing classroom supply, at their own expense, remains identified in my mind as a dumb thing to do……

Now trustees, if indeed they have taken up the topic,
reveal the shallow depth of their mind set if they permit the condition to continue.

Again I say, fear not, the current batch of trustees will probably not fight any political battle to gain re-election.

So, once again, organize a group of teachers who are tired of the personal out of pocket expense, SUGGEST THAT THEY GATHER AT HUSD MEETING SITE EARLY, SIGN UP FOR “PUBLIC COMMENTS” AND MAKE ALL LISTENING OR WATCHING THAT THIS UNFAIR PRACTICE HAS TO CEASE…..

25 OR 30 TEACHERS WILL NOT BE FIRED NOR RETALIATED AGAINST FOR HAVING UNDERTAKEWN THE EFFORT……. IF ADMINISTRATION ATTEMPTS IT, RECORD THE FACTS ACCURATELY AND COME BACK AGAIN TO CHIDE THE TRUSTEES FOR HAVING EXTENDED THE CONTRACTS AT SUCH HIGH LEVELS.

There is no excuse for using a ‘nom de plume’ that I would accept! Continued use of pen names is an admission of defeat…. worse, it backfires as it did last spring….. or havn’t you noticed the limited particiapation on this blog bit by ANG ?

Have you noticed the student representative from Hayward HS whose public comments are off the wall…. he 6took eleven minutes to edeliver the last messagre which includewsd refewrence to his birthday ovccurinhg within the week prior to the meeting……. As an adult, tax paying memeber of the district, you get only 3 minutes…….. why does anyone living in the district accept tgat bit of nonsense ?

I recall receving the e-mail stuff involving Mrs. Albert. I agree, Mr. Schimmel deserved a kick in the fanny……. but since his boss is ptresently enjoying, by his own public admission, his ninth job as a Superintendent, experienced in four States…
we apparently hired a job hopper….. wonder what happened at the single ioncident where admits he was fired ?

Incidentally, I will not vote for the bond issue until trustees recognize the hazardous site condition at Treeview School. The do not include that item in the first plan of Bond money disbursal….. the Hayward fault has been re-examined subsequent to last year;s quake (5.4) at Mt. Hamilton and it is now dettermined that the Hayward and Calavearas faults are part of the same hazardous system…. see Review artcles of Dec 14, 2007 and January 21, 2008.

If it is true that the hazard has a 45 t0 75 % chance of occuring within 30 years….. then loss of the bet will ruin HUSD as well as City of Hayward. If it injures just one child, how will HUSD ever live down the deliberate ignorance of tthe situation.

Editor’s note: Just to let you know, we are here…in the background…we do read your comments and are aware of what goes on on the blog. “Nom de plumes” are not against the rules, by the way. It’s a matter of personal opinion, obviously, but bloggers are allowed to post under their chosen handles, as long as they are not duplicitous or obscene. As for the high schooler giving public comments, it is his right to give public comments, regardless of whether they are “off the wall” or not. I receive many phone calls throughout the day that are “off the wall,” but the person is entitled to call me and give his opinion. It’s a little something called the First Amendment. -KS

I must side on this point with Tired Teacher and his/her desire to use a nom de plume,

Lets not forget the incident of Paulette Albert. You might remember her, she was the teacher that wrote a “My Word” article in the newspaper last year. How more honest of an approach is there than to publish your opinions in the local news rag?

Not too long after her article was published, Mr. Schimmel wrote a private e-mail to the superintendent where he evaluated Mrs. Albert “teaching”.

The e-mail was sent to all the district’s teachers by mistake and became a pretty big public relations thorn between the district and HEA at the time when negotiations were going on trying to avoid a strike, poisoning what little good will there might have been left between the two organizations.

Was the timing of this inappropriate communication on the part of Mr. Schimmel a coincidence?

What exactly are Mr. Schimmel’s qualifications to evaluate a teacher’s performance anyway? He is after all a dollars and cents man, not an educator!

The Board or the Superintendent never addressed the issue in public that I can recall.

I remember asking if some kind of action was taken to reprimand Mr. Schimmel.

I was told by the administration that the issue had been handled “internally”, what ever that means.

After all, Mrs. Albert”s humiliation was quite a public affair, in front of literally all her coworkers in the district!

In my opinion, the district is lucky that Mrs. Albert was gracious enough to accept a rather implausible explanation and a half hearted apology, and opted not to sue the district and Mr. Schimmel for slander.

to: another tired teacher.

I am not frustrated…. you are, since it is you and others like you who are out of pocket suppliers of classroom supply.

Not safe? What in blazes has HEA done about that fact ????

Think safety in numbers when a group presents itself at HUSD meeetings, in an orderly manner, at public comments. Not Vigil nor Schimmel would expose them selves to a lawsuit if thet retaliated in response to an honest approach.

If you fail to see the point, then why are you a teacher ?

Mr. Kyle, I appreciate your frustration, but I do not feel safe as an HUSD employee to reveal my name here. I know I have said that before. It’s not safe. You would be shocked at how much teachers spend out of their own pocket sir. I do appreciate your suggestion though that we should spend in Hayward, because Hayward needs the sales tax. Good point.

After all, they have time to go to concerts and other activities in different schools…

But they have no time to hear first hand what the concerns of the members in the committee are in this time of crisis?

Maybe I’m naive, but I fully expected to have a rep. from the Board at these meetings, but maybe they are not all that interested to hear our unadulterated opinions and suggestions.

Ms. Mangon:

Being as it is that HUSD is trying to improve it’s web site and communications, here is a suggestion for a new button somewhere in the site.
The home page would be good, though the page where the Board’s info. is listed would make sense too:

Set up a “tell the board” button, this way anyone who want to e-mail questions or comments to the entire board can do so in a very expedient manner, rather than spend time sending the same message a number of times.

Let HUSD become a paragon of facilitated communications with it’s board!

Interesting,

I also noticed that (if I read the document correctly) administrative salaries are NOT included anywhere in this 5% scenario?

what ever happened to the district’s motto of All Means All? I guess the administrators are above their own philosophy.

I will go through the document more carefully to see if it reflects anywhere that administrators are also looking at their own salaries as an item worthy of the chopping block.

One other interesting bit of info:

Fremont, who has a great reputation as a quality school district and has not had a strike since 1977 when they had a three week strike, has an administrator to teacher ratio of 11%,

Hayward, whose reputation I need not mention and who had our little incident last year, has an administrator to teacher ratio of 14%,

Pleasanton, again 14%, and a much better reputation.

I can only draw the conclusion, from looking at these figures, that we probably have a bigger administration than we need.

Also, I will look into the following:

If Fremont and Plesanton are better districts, I imagine it is because they have better (competitive) compensation packages for their teachers.

Fernando

Sorry about the poor math…. must be the hour chosen to submit the pervious post….. 30 pounds of aluninujm cans at $2.13 per pound brings in a bit more than 10 reams of paper….. do some shopping at Costco too ! Hayward needs the sales tax !

I refuse a detailed reply to ‘another tired teacher’ who continues to hide behind a ‘nom de plume’ except to say…. Only a dummy would continue to play Schimnnel’s game by purchasibg classroom supplies out of personal funds.

Gather such teachers together, arrive early for the next public meeting of HUSD Trustees, sign a’speaker’s card for ‘public comment period’ turn in that card early to either Sharon Ough or Ms. Deverse so that those individuals are first to speak. Then using the German words for God ( Gott) and heaven ( HIMMILL) RECITE some thing LIKE….

GOTT IN HIMMELL SCHIMMEL, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ?

PUBLICLY REFUSE ANY FURTHER EXPENDITURE FROM PERSONAL FUNDS…. AND MEAN IT…… watch what HAPPENS NEXT !

HAVING TAPED THAT MEETING. PROVIDE A COPY TO DAILY REVIEW’S SCHoOLS REPORTER AND HIS EDITOR, WATCH WhAT HAPPENS NEXT ! You will not see a successful lawsuit brought by parents.

It’s called tough love ! Witin a few days you have a reasonable right to expect corrective action by the
ass’t sup’t for business, parents. or any who still think public education is free.

Eo parents, suggest that they collect aluninum cans, take ‘em to Arron’s. the recycle guy on 98th Ave in Oakland and receive,when last I checked, $ 2.15 per pound in 30 pound quantity. Twelve such transactions earn 10 reams of paper at nost Office supply stores but earn larger rewards at Costco on A Street here in Hayward.

Next thing yopu know… Schimmel will be in Aluminum can recycle biz.