October
10, 2014
Vallejo
Times-Herald
My Turn
When it comes to what's going
on in the Vallejo school district, you can't make this stuff up. Teachers in
fear of being hurt by students. Low morale among some of the lowest paid
teachers in the county. Recalcitrant students calling teachers names.
All school administrators can
do is implement the school board policy concept called "Restorative
Justice" wherein the perpetrators are asked to discuss their behavior and
"apologize" to their victims. Excuse me? This behavior should be
unequivocally forbidden and never condoned. Many years ago a student conducting
such violent behavior in a classroom would be thrown out, expelled, sent to a
continuation school, or prison. But the Vallejo school board and current
superintendent maintain that the violent students just need to talk about their
actions, discuss the reason for their negative, angry behavior, and apologize
to their victims.
Really?
But it gets even worse. People
who were there say that at a recent school board meeting, teacher after teacher
(some in tears) beseeched the school board for increased classroom safety and
increased pay. Observers say the board members listening looked bored. No one
should be treated with the dismissive disdain that those teachers were at the
board meeting. These same school board members have also openly attacked the
three Solano County Grand Jury reports outlining safety issues within the
Vallejo school district. Indeed, at one meeting, it was suggested that the
Solano County Grand Jury reports were motivated by race. That is preposterous!
The lack of respect exhibited by the school board for these laboriously
researched reports is appalling!
At that same school board
meeting, just when we thought we had heard it all, another shoe dropped. A
mother went to the meeting's microphone to relate her tragic story. She explained
that her son had his ear almost severed by another student. He had been
attacked from behind. In that case, thankfully, the student/attacker was sent
to jail for assault and battery. After serving his prison sentence, the former
student/prisoner has been recently returned to school "to complete his
studies." Meanwhile, it seems that the policy of "Restorative
Justice" is a classic case of coddling violent attackers and condoning
violent behavior, while punishing the victims. Where is the structural discipline
of yesteryear? Enough already!
There is furthermore talk of
friends and relatives being hired in the district at high salaries, while at
the same time, teachers cannot keep up with California's inflation, and
students too suffer badly without a safe learning environment. What will it
take before people finally get involved? Will it take more violence on our
school campuses for people to finally respond? Why is there such apathy among
voters?
"I don't have children in
Vallejo schools, so I have not paid attention to any of this," someone
told me recently. Whether you have children in Vallejo schools or not, please
know this: Good families are leaving Vallejo every single day because of our
low-scoring and dangerous schools. Some families even refuse to move here
because of our schools. Businesses will often not relocate to Vallejo because
of our schools, and we are in severe trouble as a city because of these losses
and abject conditions. Vallejo school board members brag about a 65 percent
graduation rate, (up from 50 percent) while the city of Benicia boasts of a 97
percent graduation rate. The district has even sent out long, expensive full
color glossy reports at taxpayers' expense in celebratory propaganda. Are the
current high school dropout rates, and low graduation numbers all that we can
expect?
Please people, pay attention to
the travesties happening within the Vallejo schools, and get out and vote on
Tuesday, Nov. 4. There are some excellent alternative school board candidates
on the voter's ballot. You have until Oct. 20 to register to vote if you have
not yet done so. You may register to vote at the Vallejo Farmers Market on
Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. downtown on Georgia Street. The
registration table is usually set up near Marin Street. Please help save our
Vallejo schools, and by extension, save Vallejo.
The Vallejo City Council can
only do so much. Without a good school district, the members of City Council
and City Manager are limited in their ability to attract new and viable businesses.
Please use the power of your vote. It is our right as Americans to do so. Not
one of us can afford to ignore the upcoming election on Nov. 4. Vallejo
property values are greatly suffering by comparison to surrounding cities. If
we don't act we shall ultimately be left with only the prostitutes, drug
addicts, victims, homeless and parolees on our Vallejo streets.
Each of us has it within our
power to make the change and move Vallejo forward again. Let's make it happen!
Paula
McConnell/Vallejo
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