Letters to the Editor

Driving the square peg into the round hole
After the decision of the board of the Hollister School District
to cut all elementary and I am assuming junior high band programs
along with computer lab and library services I couldn’t remain
silent any longer.
After World War II, public education flourished in the United
States and particularly in California. The government at all levels
invested in education, and parents supported, without question, the
schools and teachers were encouraged to bring out the best in their
students, whatever the best might be. Individual students and minds
were engaged an cultivated and some of the greatest inventions and
growths in technology in the history of the world occurred.
Driving the square peg into the round hole

After the decision of the board of the Hollister School District to cut all elementary and I am assuming junior high band programs along with computer lab and library services I couldn’t remain silent any longer.

After World War II, public education flourished in the United States and particularly in California. The government at all levels invested in education, and parents supported, without question, the schools and teachers were encouraged to bring out the best in their students, whatever the best might be. Individual students and minds were engaged an cultivated and some of the greatest inventions and growths in technology in the history of the world occurred.

As a student in public schools here in California during the 60s and 70s, I took classes for credit that included fly tying/aerodynamics, (we learned to tie flies and fly fish, and build model rockets and other flying craft), hunters safety, macrame and perspective drawing, state requirements (this included the classroom drivers ed, and family education and as a 13-year-old freshman got a CPR card).

I got my drivers license through the school, took four years of physical education and had the opportunity to take great vocational ed classes, and participated in band, drama and athletics. I also managed to get into college and earned a degree with honors. I didn’t have to take Geometry A as a ninth grader to do it.

My point is that teachers played to their strengths and in turn allowed us to find ours. Passion for the subject matter was a big part of the equation. I knew for a fact that Dennis Helms is the reason that I became a P.E. teacher and John Gallen the reason I became a football coach. I also learned from the bad teachers and coaches and advisers how not to do it. I was also forced to memorize alot of facts. As a public school teacher today I am appalled at how little actual knowledge our kids possess. Yet we continue to ram a force-fed curriculum down their throats. We keep trying to drive a square peg into the round hole.

Let me give you some examples: first, in athletics: When I participated in athletics in high school and even college the purpose was clear; it was to build character, have fun, meet people, learn some skills and grow as a person. It was athlete-oriented and not system-oriented. Coaches found a way to utilize the strengths of their athletes while trying to work on their weaknesses. They didn’t try to manufacture cookie cutter players and put them as interchangeable parts into their system.

In class, the strengths of the students were brought out. Teachers found what kids liked and were good at and used it to get them to achieve. If it was a little bit outside the curriculum it was OK, because at some point that student would find him or herself.

Of course, basic reading, writing and mathematics were critical, but how they were taught and learned was left up to the individual teachers. I can’t possibly imagine the state telling Coach Helms how to run his ninth grade P.E. class, or here in Hollister somebody telling Gordon Tibbs or other legendary teachers what or who they were going to teach their classes.

Yet they got the desired result. Kids learned, flourished and found a strength to build on. Now there is no room for individual differences in kids.

We say that we recognize the worth in all individuals, and we preach tolerance for race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc., but we have no tolerance for the kid who does not want to go to college.

We say that it is in their best interest to force them into algebra, geometry, and other college prep classes, but we waste millions of dollars on them as they fail the courses repeatedly.

Yet the same student might be the greatest welder, photographer, dancer or mechanic that the world has seen, but will no get the chance because of being forced to take the college prep tack and repeat those courses that are failed in order to graduate. I’m sorry, but I have done pretty well in life without ever having to perform integral calculus.

In my time in Hollister I have seen some education giants including Charlie Parsons at Ladd Lane School, John Kieswetter at R.O. Hardin and Ladd Lane School, Mr. O at Rancho and Chris Cameron at the high school, and I think they have one thing in common: they recognized and played to the strengths of the individual students that they taught, and found a way for the square peg to flourish in the round hole world.

The Hollister School District has now eliminated junior high sports, and the band program, computer lab and library services. These are four critical areas where square pegs could flourish and find their strengths. This process did not occur overnight, but over a couple of decades. It comes from having to take money from state and federal sources with lots of strings attached.

Well-meaning teachers, administrators and board members have done what they thought was right to keep things going, but have slowly given away control of the curriculum and in turn their schools to state and federal governments who may be well-meaning, but don’t recognize square pegs either.

Pretty soon, school will be taught by a group of automatons reciting from the same page of the same book at the same time on the same day. Students will be forced to take classes they do not want, have no interest in and do not have the skills to succeed in.

This is certainly not my idea of public education in America, and frankly it sounds a lot like some of the things that we are fighting against in many parts of the world.

Randy Logue,

San Benito High School teacher

‘Tough and unpopular’ decisions await Hollister School District Board

One of the worst days of my life was when I took a seat as a school board trustee of the Hollister School District.  My first meeting was on Dec. 14, 2010. 

The meeting was packed with school district staff, parents and children to support the continuation of music, and stop the elimination of library and computer lab staff at the school sites. Everyone spoke correctly about the need to continue these programs and save these positions.

As a new trustee I listened and agreed.  At the same time the new school board inherited a massive deficit that could build up to $5.5 million by the 2012-2013 school year.  We were under an imminent threat of beginning the process of being taken over by the state, a painful process that would cause us to lose local control of our school district and could take up to 25 years to return control again. 

Our district leadership could potentially be replaced by a state appointed administrator, who we would have to pay; a financial consultant, paid by us; and, regular audits (also paid by us.)

To make matters worse, the school board, with three new members, had one evening to submit a budget proposal to the County Office of Education by the second deadline the next day (Dec.15).  At our meeting was a county-appointed financial advisor, with authority to override our decisions if we had not approved the budget. 

It was like being forced to make a decision at gunpoint.

I learned something new about state funding of school districts.  It is called “deficiting” our funding, which means that the state sends local school districts less money than it is supposed to.  The state “deficits” the amount of money to school districts, so they can use some of the money for other areas of the state budget.  We are underfunded and are punished by the state for not having enough money to pay our bills.

I believe that we need all our programs and that libraries are fundamentally necessary for our children, especially those without access to books at home. 

We need to teach computer technology to prepare our children for the technologically evolving world.  We also need music and art because they challenge our students to access both hemispheres of the brain.

I would like to see our school district save these programs and positions.  I have proposed that we look at other areas to cut the budget, because I believe that services to children should be least affected.  I also believe that the school board and parents should write to the legislature and governor to demand that they guarantee sufficient funding to school districts and not divert funding from schools.  I think we need to ask for community and business support to assist our programs, by raising money to keep our programs going.

When I became a school board trustee I didn’t expect to inherit a $5.5 million deficit.  I want to get us through this difficult position we are in. 

Tough and unpopular decisions will have to be made.  My hope is that our administration will be transparent, provide necessary and useful information about the budget and be willing to make sacrifices at the administrative level. 

I also hope that the unions will be willing to continue making sacrifices (because I know that teachers and staff have suffered cuts already) in order to help us get through this. 

For my part I will make an effort to return programs and staff to their previous standing once we get through this crisis.

Joe Navarro,

Hollister School District trustee