Dear Editor,
I attended Monday night’s special board meeting for the purpose
of appointing the board position vacated by the late T.J. Owens.
After a few audio and format glitches, Trustee Pat Midtgaard did a
fine job of emceeing the forum.
Dear Editor,
I attended Monday night’s special board meeting for the purpose of appointing the board position vacated by the late T.J. Owens. After a few audio and format glitches, Trustee Pat Midtgaard did a fine job of emceeing the forum.
All the candidates answered the board members questions to the best of their abilities. Robert Heisey was, far and away, the most prepared and articulate. While Javier Aguirre was very polished and educated, he has a complete lack of understanding of the root problems in the district. His focus was almost entirely on the “education gap” which is code for non-English speaking versus English-speaking students.
Then it was time for questions from the audience. Fortunately for me, mine was one of only a couple questions allowed and here is what it was: (Two Parts) 1. In light of the huge multi-million dollar shortfall in funding Measure I projects, are you willing to hold Asst. Superintendent Steve Brinkman and Superintendent Diaz responsible? 2. Would you be willing to suspend their raises?
The question drew a few laughs. The answers however, were not funny. Only Heisey got the gist of my query. He stated, “This question probably came from someone in the private sector because in the private sector that might happen.”
The sad reality is that nobody is taking responsibility for the shortfall and the fact that there is not enough money for Christopher High School. In the public sector you can always blame someone else – the economy, contactor prices and labor costs.
Aguirre even said that if public officials were held responsible for overruns, there wouldn’t be anyone in office (paraphrased). Those are the words of someone who has completely bought into the big-government mentality. That same mindset bring us the belief that poor test scores are not the district’s or teacher’s fault, it’s because of demographics or language barriers.
Don’t be surprised when the government comes knocking with another tax increase. Aguirre, who works for a politician, already mentioned a statewide mega-bond which they believe is manna from heaven rather than a tax increase. Remember class, bond equals taxes.
Mark A. Zappa, Gilroy
