Student Safety the Number One Priority at Brownell Middle
School, All Are Working Hard to Insure Just That
Student Safety the Number One Priority at Brownell Middle School, All Are Working Hard to Insure Just That
Dear Editor,
The accurate and well-written article by Emily Alpert in today’s Dispatch portrays two tragic incidents perpetrated by non-students that took place on the Brownell Middle School campus. These two very serious confrontations occurred over a two-month period, one in October and one in December, 2006. In my years of experience as a school administrator, non-students coming on campus and assaulting one of my students had never happened before. And this school year it happened twice.
Each time my staff and I were there to deal with the aftermath firmly and expeditiously.
Student and staff safety will always be my number one concern as I have told parents in multiple venues and meetings this year. If a student feels unsafe, he or she will have a difficult time becoming a successful student and I will not be doing my job well. It was good to hear from Ms. Alpert’s reporting that students do feel safe at Brownell.
Safety is one of our basic human needs. It is the gift of safety that I wish I could give every moment of every day to each one of my Brownell students.
Fences might increase safety somewhat, but real safety is found in the relationships we build with our students each and every day. My faculty and staff do a heroic job in working to increase the “peace” each hour of every day. My campus supervisors are quick to uncover and report unsafe circumstances quickly and we work hand and hand with the Gilroy Police Department to intervene appropriately when law violations occur.
Brownell has had a very good year with student safety issues thus far, of course, with these aforementioned exceptions. It is my intention to do everything possible to keep each and every one of my students and staff safe from harm, physically and emotionally. In March we will be launching an anti-bullying campaign while working with the “Respect For All Project” out of San Francisco. As a part of the plan there will be a community and family meeting to discuss the issues endemic to middle school that we refer to as bullying. I hope during my tenure as the Brownell principal we will be able to reduce bullying by 50 percent or more.
I am proud of the work we are doing at Brownell with our after school programs (more than 150 students are on campus at least until 5:30pm feeling safer here than being home alone), with anti-bullying, building relationships, School Link groups, gang awareness trainings for parents, new student recognition programs and more.
I look forward to any discussions we might have as a community to increase safety on school campuses. I believe our children deserve the adults discussing ways we can increase the “peace” during school, after school and in the community of Gilroy. I for one am ready to participate in the dialog.
Joseph Di Salvo, Principal, Brownell Middle School
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written letter.
Columnist Did a Wonderful Job Framing Issue of Lawsuit Against City
Dear Editor,
Hat’s off to Ben Anderson for his thoughtful column on the lawsuit brought by the Trejo family against the good people of Gilroy.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Laurie Weber, Gilroy
As the Government Tears Away At Individual Freedoms, We’d Better Think
Dear Editor,
Surprise, surprise! One of my recent letters has apparently angered one of the local fascists. (Merriam-Webster defines fascism as “a political philosophy that exalts nation … above the individual and that stands for severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition.”)
This courageous individual, who chose to use the Red Phone to hide his name, requested that my letters be censored for encouraging civil disobedience, specifically, my encouragement for people to resist the draft en masse if there is no declaration of war.
The government already ignores the double jeopardy part of the Fifth Amendment and the entire Tenth Amendment. They continue to tear at the Second Amendment.
Along with forced conscription without declaration of war, these are several abuses that are clearly against the individual freedoms upon which our country was founded. Worldwide, non-violent civil disobedience has helped right several wrongs (the names Mahatma Ghandi and Rosa Parks come to mind), and it can be done again. All that’s needed is solidarity. Or domestic insurgency.
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
