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Speak Out
Kids deserve their chance to show that they are good citizens
I have a bit of information that may help the NIMBY folk in the John Muir neighborhood to sleep nightmare-free. For the past 15 years my wife and I have lived a short two blocks from Broadway High School. Not once in that time have we been bothered, harassed, insulted or attacked by a Broadway student.
I take my daily walks on Lincoln Avenue. Many times, as I pass the bus stops at Lincoln and Willow and at Lincoln and Broadway, I have seen Broadway students waiting for their buses. Not once have I seen any rude or disruptive behavior on the part of these kids.
Continuation high school were viable alternative schools years before "alternative schools" became part of the educational lexicon. They have been very effective in serving students who, for a variety of reasons, some disciplinary and some not, do not fare well in regular comprehensive high schools.
As a retired educator with 39 years experience as a secondary school administrator in three states and one foreign country, I think I know a little about adolescents, including those whose needs are best served by schools like Broadway. I urge the good folk in the John Muir area to put aside their biases and give the Broadway kids a chance to show that they can be responsible school citizens. I don't think they are going to jump that fence between Broadway and Muir!
Henry C. Jensen
Patricia Way
Broadway's relocation to Muir means loss of essential playing fields
For several years, soccer has been the fastest-growing sport in the country, and we are constantly in need of more, not fewer fields. The number of players registered in the Central Santa Clara Valley Youth Soccer League is expanding continually and we now have approximately 1,700 kids registered for this fall.
John Muir School is the primary practice and game site for our league and we are very concerned about the effect that the installation of Broadway School at the site will have on the number of soccer fields available. Obviously any reduction in the number of fields at our main site is going to hurt our program and may force us to limit registration.
The loss of playing fields is a major problem for the children of the Willow Glen area. Already this year our league has lost fields at Ida Price Middle School as the school builds another gymnasium on the site, and now we hear of the loss of more space at John Muir. It seems this pattern is becoming widespread across Santa Clara County.
Building on playing fields seems to have become the easy option for schools and cities and totally disregards the long-term effects that such decisions have on the children that they are supposed to be helping. Most of us who volunteer to help in youth sports do so to promote good healthy activities for our children and adolescents, and to give them an alternative to "hanging out" on the streets. By cutting the number of playing fields available for sports, we are forced to restrict registration and to turn away the very children we are anxious to help.
For hundreds of teenagers in the county, sports are the only "positive" alternative they have to "hanging" with gangs. Every sports organization can cite examples of troubled teens who have discovered discipline, responsibility and a sense of belonging as members of sports teams.
Unless the authorities in city government begin to reverse this trend of gobbling up our playing fields, I fear we may have to build many more "Broadways" to house the youth we are turning away.
Des Knuckey
President, Central Santa Clara Valley Y.S.L.
School district vote on Broadway abandons community's children
Recently, the SJUSD board voted 4-1 in favor of co-locating Broadway Continuation High School adjacent to the John Muir Middle School. This decision was taken despite the pleas of hundreds of concerned parents and members of the community that were expressed both in writing prior to and in person during the special hearing preceding the vote. The parents and neighbors of Muir have valid concerns about the co-location of these two schools. The result is a decision based on money and politics; unfortunately, the real losers are the children of our community.
Regrettably, the quality of the educational experience of both Muir and Broadway will suffer greatly. Muir has recently completed a remarkable turnaround. Historically not considered a top school in the district, Muir won the California Distinguished School Award this year and is aiming for a Blue Ribbon Award next year. As the district's science magnet school, it has the potential of being the catalyst in developing the minds of those will lead the next phase of the Internet Age and keep Silicon Valley at the forefront of technology development.
And what about the quality of education for the Broadway students? They currently have a good campus in a location with easy access for the students, over 70 percent of whom live in close proximity. Although Broadway is a "continuation" high school for students who need a second chance, they have their own successes to be proud of. Their robotics teams took the top two awards at a state competition against ALL high schools, and this year's SJUSD teacher of the year is from Broadway. They also have a young mother's program and an occupational training program that provides important services to these young adults.
Why has this happened? The answers lie in wasted time, thrift and deception. SJUSD spent 18 months trying to acquire a new site for Broadway. Unfortunately, they were unable to obtain the needed land at the right price, and they explored no other alternatives in parallel.
Consequently, in late April the board and superintendent chartered a committee to find a new site for Broadway. Muir was not in the top 13 sites, but became one after many of the others were deemed "not recommended"--many for the same reasons that apply to the Muir co-location proposal. Interestingly, two of the original sites are in close proximity to the homes of board members who participated in the selection process and notified their local PTSA and community groups. Muir was never given that equal notification until the decision was all but final.
This is not, as some on the board have been quoted recently, an issue of a community living in fear of "bad kids" from Broadway. This is an issue of providing a quality educational experience for all the children in the district, not only those who sue for new facilities or live near the board members' homes.
No high school should be co-located with a middle school. Muir deserves its own campus and identity, where students can continue to excel and become the high-tech leaders of tomorrow. Broadway students need their own site, with easy access to the majority of the students, proper facilities, and equal budget to the other schools in the district.
It is sad that the City Council and school district could not find a way to make a site available for the Broadway kids. It's even more sad that the district turned its head from their primary duty of ensuring "an education of the highest quality" as stated in its bylaws. Both need to be held accountable to us, the people who elected them. The 650 petitions and over 200 people who attended last Thursday's board meeting agree: If our elected representatives cannot or will not take care of our children, we will.
Fortunately for our kids, the community is now aware and will continue to fight for them.
Jim Chase
Broadway Relocation Opposition Committee
'The Glen is not now, and does not want to become, a nightclub'
As co-owner of The Glen, I wanted to respond to the unfair and inaccurate reporting of The Glen that appeared in the June 29 issue of The Resident.
Contrary to the myths your publication is trying to create, The Glen is not now, and does not want to become, a nightclub. San Jose defines "nightclub" as a place where the primary activities are drinking, music and dancing. San Jose also defines a "restaurant" as a place for eating, with incidental drinking, live music and dancing. The Glen does not have, and does not want to have, dancing (except for private parties and three or four special occasions such as New Year's Eve). And any music The Glen wants to have in the future is the kind of music which is appropriate for a dining experience, such as guitarists and jazz combos.
Over 3,000 people have agreed to allow their names and addresses to be used in support of The Glen's proposed late-night operation. These supporters were not offered coupons in exchange for their support. These "coupons" are used for advertising purposes. We have mailed out over 150,000 of these same coupons and there is a stack of them at the hostess' desk at The Glen for anyone who wants one. You don't even need a "coupon" to take advantage of the dinner special. This "coupon" was distributed in order to advertise The Glen and bring in customers, not to garner support for a 2 a.m. closing.
The Glen has been operating until 2 a.m. for nine months on a trial basis. During this entire period of time, we have not heard of one complaint relating to our late-night hours. We wanted to find out what impacts, if any, our late-night operation was having on our most immediate neighbors on Blewett and Meredith. I went door to door on those streets and spoke with the residents. I did not "skip over" the houses of any people we knew were opposed to the late-night operation, though there were a number of residents who were not home at the time I knocked on their doors.
Because we were intruding on those neighbors' privacy and taking up their time, each neighbor was given a $25 gift certificate, even those who told us they opposed The Glen's late-night hours. These certificates are used all the time by The Glen for special promotions, charities, etc. Again, these were not used to "purchase" votes, but purely as a thank-you for taking the time to talk to us.
We are Willow Glen residents ourselves, and have tried extremely hard to develop an establishment that the residents of Willow Glen can enjoy. We have learned over the past several months that many Willow Glen residents would like a casual but upscale place to go late at night for a bite to eat without having to leave the neighborhood. We have been and remain open to talk to anyone who has experienced an actual negative impact from The Glen's late-night operation, and are willing to do whatever we can to eliminate that impact.
Stella Karamanos
co-owner, The Glen Lincoln Avenue
San Jose Unified's administrators earn their keep
Regarding Michael Johnson's letter of June 29 ["More money for kids, less to top-heavy administration"] there are several inaccuracies that need to be corrected. A school district's budget for salaries and benefits comprises approximately 80 to 85 percent for all of our employees. It is ludicrous to think that administrators are allocated 85 percent of a school district's budget. The largest employee group would be teachers, followed by classified (secretaries, custodians, instructional aides, etc.), then administrators, which make up the smallest number of a district's employees. Administrators are paid the highest salaries because they work a longer school year and have to have additional credentialing. Administrators earn their salaries!
It is unfortunate that Mr. Johnson does not attend district board meetings, does not ask for information regarding his concerns or in general become more knowledgeable about San Jose Unified. We are a large, complex district that invites parent and community involvement and we will continue to work with all of our stakeholders.
Carol Myers
President, San Jose Unified Board of Education
Letter spreads misinformation about the SJUSD
Michael A. Johnson's letter demonstrates once again that his lack of understanding of public education does not prevent him from spreading misinformation liberally and often, probably with an eye to yet another attempt to win a Board of Education seat. Mr. Johnson writes that he just read the district's "slick" Annual Report of last year and "noticed ... that the district receives over $200 million a year but spends 83 percent, or $166 million of that amount, on salaries and benefits." He decries this expenditure on "top heavy administration ... eating up 83 percent of every dollar ... while our children are doing without."
Education is a people-intensive mission. To serve our 32,600 students, San Jose Unified School District employs over 1,800 full-time teachers and more than 1,000 other employees--bus drivers, mechanics, food service personnel, crossing guards, carpenters, janitors, translators, secretaries, nurses, psychologists, counselors, coaches, plumbers ... and 154 administrators--more than half of whom serve as school principals or assistant principals for our 43 school sites. The remainder of our administrators are needed to operate one of California's largest school districts and the 21st largest employer in the Silicon Valley. Mr. Johnson writes that our "top heavy administration" would "be out of business" if we were a regular business. In San Jose Unified, it is not uncommon for one administrator to supervise 100 or more employees. In industry, it is common to have a ratio of 10 to 1
Salaries are certainly the major part of every school district's budget. Almost 60 percent of the district's budget is spent on classroom salaries: teachers, librarians and instructional associates. A further 5 percent is spend on textbooks and supplies. The remaining funds support our students in the classroom. Running a public school system is very much like running a small city. Last year, our food services program served 2,375,666 lunches and 813,001 breakfasts and our 142 school buses drove 1,883,185 miles. Our technology services maintain almost 7,500 computers in classrooms and hundreds more in school and district offices. Our School Construction services are operating an almost $200 million school construction project to improve our schools' environments. Our schools are among the safest in America.
SJUSD has gained recognition as one of the best-managed school districts in California. And, Mr. Johnson, the cafeteria in the district office "mansion" serves as a training room for our teachers.
Maureen Davidson
SJUSD Public Information Officer
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
