I read columnist Doug Meier’s three part interview with GHS
principal Bob Bravo: part I with amusement, part II with interest,
and part III with annoyance.
I read columnist Doug Meier’s three part interview with GHS principal Bob Bravo: part I with amusement, part II with interest, and part III with annoyance.
Part I, published July 16, was amusing because, when I read Mr. Meier’s first question, I stopped, wrote out the questions, and answered them myself before reading Mr. Bravo’s answers and Mr. Meier’s editorial comments. The questions were:
What is the primary role of a school?
Do you believe there is a need for honors classes?
What are your criteria for assigning teachers to honors classes?
My answers were:
Academics.
Yes.
Clarity and expertise are essential for all teachers, but a passion for one’s subject material is important for an honors teacher, who is responsible for inspiring high-achieving students to go above and beyond.
The questions in part II, published July 23, were more specific, and thus less answerable by the general reader.
For example, the only thing I personally learned from the RLAG experience was that GUSD employee Juanita Contin is grossly overpaid. But three of the comments Mr. Bravo made in response to questions were interesting.
Asked about high-achieving students, Mr. Bravo commented, “Sadly enough, two-thirds of the kids at Gilroy High are below grade level.” I would not call that sad. I call it horrifying. Especially horrifying is how Mr. Bravo uses low achievement as an excuse, rather than fixing the problem.
On the fact that recently-immigrated Mexican families favor more rigid prerequisites for admission into honors classes, Mr. Bravo said, with a laugh, “Mexican families tend to be very conservative. It’s we Chicanos who tend to be more liberal.” Does that mean that liberals, Chicanos, and Bob Bravo oppose academic rigor?
On whether GHS students who earn a D in trig can qualify to take calculus, Mr. Bravo said, “We don’t have the luxury of having two calculus classes, one for B students and one for D students.”
Math builds. In my opinion, a student who gets a D in an advanced math class is not adequately prepared to go on to the next class.
He should be allowed to repeat the class and master the material, not be hustled into the next level, to flounder and fail.
In part III, published July 30, Mr. Meier wrote:
(Bravo takes this opportunity to complain about Dispatch columnist Cynthia Walker…) “The things she said were unfounded.… the idea that 1,200 kids on campus would carry out a protest and I would try to suppress it.… is ridiculous.” (Bravo also mocks as ridiculous Walker’s claim that he impounded vests that were to be worn by students protesting Lemos’ dismissal.) ‘I wouldn’t allow that person to do reportage”
On the contrary, the things I said were well-founded on interviews with Kim Lemos, a student, and the student’s mother. They were backed up by Dispatch reporter Lori Stuenkel’s on-campus interviews with several more students.
To be sure, the 1,200 kids did not per se “carry out a protest.” They signed a petition. It was Assistant Principal Mani Corzo who confiscated the vests.
So Mr. Bravo is indulging in a little spin here, erecting a little straw man argument.
I grant that the confiscation of the petition and of the vests, the tearing down of protest posters, and especially the denial of the existence of the petition, vests, and posters were all ridiculous acts.
Mr. Meier closes his three part series with a valid critique of the good and bad of Mr. Bravo’s performance and character as principal. Mr. Meier misses the central issue.
When Mr. Bob Bravo makes a mistake or does something wrong, he says it never happened. Instead of admitting he blew it, apologizing, and resolving to do better next time, he lies.
A principal needs to be trustworthy. In the nature of the job, he sometimes needs to talk to a student alone in his office. When they come out, if the student says an incident occurred, and the principal says it did not, we have to be able to believe the principal.
Given Mr. Bravo’s track record, if he said the sky was blue, I would check to make sure. I would not allow that person to be a principal.
