DEAR EDITOR:
Due to a senseless act at Gilroy High School on Monday, I felt
it necessary to write this letter.
DEAR EDITOR:
Due to a senseless act at Gilroy High School on Monday, I felt it necessary to write this letter.
As a parent, you’d like to think you are sending your child to school to be educated, safe and secure. I question all three and would like to see the school step up to the challenge and prove me wrong! So far, I am not impressed with the actions or the results.
On Monday, my daughter had her cell phone stolen out of her backpack from the girl’s PE locker room. Unfortunately for the students, the lockers are not big enough to put their clothes and their backpacks in to be locked up. As a result, the students must choose what to lock up. It makes perfect sense to lock up the valuables – books, phones, keys.
Until … the clothes are stolen because they are not locked up. So, the student decides to lock up their clothes and, you guessed it, in time the valuables are stolen. Personally, I am not interested in paying Gilroy High School $300 for stolen textbooks, nor am I interested in changing my locks because some foolish kid out there has my house keys and I certainly wasn’t pleased about having to replace a cell phone. Not enough lockers to accommodate all students? Lockers not big enough to hold clothes and a backpack? How about locking the locker room doors? My answer when asked that question? The kids will just break the lock or jam the door open. Give me a break!
As far as the safety concerns go, I believe, for the most part, that my student is as safe as can be. I would ask how often the school participates in a fire, earthquake or Stockton drill. Would my answer be ZERO? Is it because the kids are in bigger bodies now so we no longer need to practice the safest way to handle an emergency? With a school as overcrowded as Gilroy High is, I think extra drills are called for.
As far as the “security” that stand at both entrances, I have walked on the campus, passed the “security” and walked directly to a classroom NEVER having been stopped or acknowledged. Even friendly faces can be a threat to our kids. Give me a break!
Educated? We have had some excellent teachers in our 1 1/2 years at Gilroy High. We have had some teachers who have gone above and beyond to help my daughter. We look forward to the pleasure of having many more teachers of such magnitude.
However, we currently have a teacher who feels it is acceptable to “flip off” a student. What happened to the adults being the example not the exception? Do not expect to be treated with respect, teachers, if you are not going to set the bar. We have had a printout on report card day reflect an “A” grade just to receive a “B” on the report card. When asked the teacher why, we get a simple, “I don’t know.”
The Gilroy Police Department tells me they have received several reports of stolen phones (and property) in the past week. To whoever was stupid enough to steal our cell phone, the service was cancelled within the hour. What exactly was the point?
Gilroy High School … clean up your act!
Sheri Meskimen, Gilroy
Submitted Tuesday, Dec. 3 to
ed****@ga****.com
