Mr. Kyle, I just wanted to clarify:
The conditions I refer to regarding cafeterias do not reflect on the kitchens, but the actual tables our children sit at and eat lunch. It is the only way they can move so many children through a small cafeteria in a set amount of time. They are broken down into groups and moved through very quickly to allow all of them to eat near mid-day. This leaves quite a nasty mess!

I can’t imagine that discipline problems come as a surprise to anyone at this point. Overcrowding always leads to chaos. That is what we are seeing in HUSD. A teacher spends so much time trying to “manage” the students that I would be exhausted after mere minutes in this setting. Our teachers deal with this on a daily basis. The responsibility for bad classroom behavior belongs with those exhibiting the behavior and those who follow.

I would be more than happy to participate in a townhall type meeting. There are a great number of parents with concerns regarding our District at this point. But until we can come up with some solutions this would quickly turn into a gripe session.

I assure you my interest in HUSD is not shrinking into the background. Now with the news of Dr. Gonzales resigning, I am curious what happens now!

I am fairly regular and astute in listening to the items brought to ‘public comments’ but yours are hnew to me. Some of what you say I find incomprehensible.

Health Conditions? Have you called the county board of health which haaas a section dedicated to examination of kitcchen cleanliness at restaurants etc?

Discipline problems?

Is there a lack of proper comportment when class is in session? Just a singular unruly individual in a classroom setting? Is it sufficient to warrant intervention by Principal or expulsion by Board. If a group is involved is it a result of poor teacher quality? Maybe just overuse of substitutes whi change every 30 days as was reported to me … belatedly by a parent at Longwood? Edid you witness the problem?

Library problems? Free education does not preclude requiring a refundable deposit. At conclusion of the school year an accounting must be made over refunds and amounts due; failing that then by all means restrict issuance; but to refuse a child the use of the book is not to be taken lightly. How widespread and economically damaging was this problem? Was this at Fairview? Isn’t that particular principal a bit strident in control matters?

Your question—- how long are students permitted to stay before paying another teacher? I pondered that and conclude you mean that those not promoted are in such numbers as to require another classroom and teacher? Please clarify; perhaps advise why tutoring by a volunteer might not aid a child… or, are the numbers so high that volunteer use is out of the question.

I had a situation reported to me of an instance where the ‘dummies’ (of poor parentage?) were gathered in a class taught solely by substitutes who, under the law had to be changed every 30 days. If that is what is really occurring…. Then let us together raise a bit of hell!

How about a district wide type meeting on the order of the “town hall” type….. Outside the purvey of the board of trustees? Using break out group techniques so that all attendees can be given time to speak without the difficulty of hearing all, individually, three minutes at a time. City used it effectively in late 1991, on the only occasion I saw it used locally. It would work if we had enthusiastic leaders.

Which is it to be: blog until death or a public outburst, by well behaved, in a publicly seen outburst of enthusiasm for schools …. Or retirement into the background of shrinking interest?

Transiency … well when we have these kinds of conditions it is a breeding ground for discipline problems and that is a huge factor in bouncing these kids around like balls! When I was volunteering in the library at one of my kids schools, we had children who could not check out a library book because we just weren’t sure they would be there from one week to the next! There is also some restrictions that maybe someone else can clear up on how long some students are allowed to stay before we have to pay another teacher???

On moving to another district … can we really blame people for fleeing with our Board meetings being compared to reality tv??

From my experience, not many are more upset by these issues than teachers themselves! I agree these are problems worth looking into and I don’t believe re-design will address any of these concerns!

The other major cause is the transience rate….. Kids moved away without proper notice, to another school district, almost on the same rotational game often seen played in Baseball. Courteous notice to the school districts is lacking. They come and go hither and thither without recognition of the economic damage to the school system nor the affect upon their future lives. Often they return to the same district where they started.

One major contribution to the probability of their lack of ability ,to enter college, is the drop out rate. That usually originates with early participation in hooky games.

It would probably be seen as anti-democratic but somehow parents have to be made accountable when kids are in almost constant transition or when frequently absent.

Teachers can not be held accountable for the API score disaster when students do not remain with their classmates, in the same school for more than two or three years. Somehow, some sort of identity card ought to be swiped twice per day ( on arrival and again at end of last class.) and the central accounting system alerted to behaviors such as school transience rates and questionable absenteeism. Students should not be ‘flopped’ from one classroom to another, in a separate school, without some sort of intervention.

What say you with computer skills who just sit and ponder, then proclaim nothing in the way of solutions to damaging results of absenteeism and transience?

I hope our Board can contain their personal feelings and listen to the information objectively. There was a great deal of information shared on 2/10 about some huge decisions facing our District. I hope people in the community are listening and not just tuning in for the antics!

1.) Pres. of HEA was correct…. not enough work prior to bringing the new small school concept forward;

2.) Becnel ignores the need to address the ‘transienct rate’ and the ‘absentee’ rate these are coupled rfactors which mustt be addressed if and when ‘small’ schools (20 are to be restricted to wnrollment boundaries now associated with these two schools. Becnel was alerted to that in writing last November; my only oral contact with that lady tells me I would be hardly able to be on the same team. She can be abrupt!

3.) I admire Reynoso who was raised in a Mexican orphange and adopted to gian entry into a land where he did not speak engklish. He tells me he left his Fremont tewaching job, is living on his savings while pursuing a doctorate at USF. I admire the man and have encouraged the man to make emquiry any time he did not understand the issue upon which he was to vote. He has one fault which I encouraged him to correct and he took it in good greace….do not interrupt before the partu is finished answering your previous question…. something that Gonzales and Frumkin fail to recognizew when addressing their imagined incorrect analysis of audacity by Reynoso is seen in the outrageuous tussle started by Ms. Sarah.

If your are the individual I suspect you to be …. you might press that thought upon Frumkin and Gonzales.

During the tussle with board at first meeting of January, I caught wind of an intended re-call which I will oppose just as I did in 1994. A recall can cost up to $100,000 and is charged to HUSD by Alameda County reguistrar of cvoters? Guess who suffers most from that thought?

Get it?