Parents need to get involved in school board process
As the Hollister School District (HSD) and Hollister Elementary
School Teachers Association (HESTA) negotiate over salaries,
benefits and conditions teachers may have to accept pay cuts,
benefit cuts and staff cuts. Think about overcrowded classrooms
with reduced resources and staff to assist them.
Schools are under increasing pressures to help students achieve
higher test scores, teachers are forced to use scripted lesson
plans and meet rigid timelines so students will be prepared for
testing. Many schools are using business models for creating
efficient environments, as if students were factory products and
not human beings. Is this what we want for Hollister students? The
ability of teachers to meet students’ individual needs will be
further reduced if students are stuffed into overcrowded
classrooms. The question we should be asking is: can cuts be made
in areas that do not directly affect teaching and learning?
Any parents who want their children to receive a quality
education (where children learn to become critical thinkers and
problem solvers) and want all ethnic groups to be given equal
treatment, must become involved in the policy-making process of
education. This means attending school board meetings to express
their opinions. Teachers and school staff can only successfully
help children learn with sufficient support.
Joe Navarro
First Grade Teacher
Parents need to get involved in school board process
As the Hollister School District (HSD) and Hollister Elementary School Teachers Association (HESTA) negotiate over salaries, benefits and conditions teachers may have to accept pay cuts, benefit cuts and staff cuts. Think about overcrowded classrooms with reduced resources and staff to assist them.
Schools are under increasing pressures to help students achieve higher test scores, teachers are forced to use scripted lesson plans and meet rigid timelines so students will be prepared for testing. Many schools are using business models for creating efficient environments, as if students were factory products and not human beings. Is this what we want for Hollister students? The ability of teachers to meet students’ individual needs will be further reduced if students are stuffed into overcrowded classrooms. The question we should be asking is: can cuts be made in areas that do not directly affect teaching and learning?
Any parents who want their children to receive a quality education (where children learn to become critical thinkers and problem solvers) and want all ethnic groups to be given equal treatment, must become involved in the policy-making process of education. This means attending school board meetings to express their opinions. Teachers and school staff can only successfully help children learn with sufficient support.
Joe Navarro
First Grade Teacher
San Benito needs its own veterans officer
One full-time veterans officer, Mr. Bowling, did a very good job as veterans officer. He had a veteran’s screening all day at the Veterans Building. We had two local veterans who wanted the job, Mr. Scott, who is on the planning commission, and Ruben Lopez of San Juan. Seems the Board of Supervisors at that time said they don’t have to pay for one. Here again we go to Monterey to solve our own problems in San Benito County.
Robert Gila Jr.
Hollister
