Your headline of April 7, 2009,
”
Unions resist furlough
”
is very misleading to the public, and puts the impression that
without the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers and the SEIU
approving two furlough days, increased class size and loss of jobs
will be the fault of our unions.
Misleading headline distorts the truth, residents deserve better
Dear Editor,
Your headline of April 7, 2009, “Unions resist furlough” is very misleading to the public, and puts the impression that without the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers and the SEIU approving two furlough days, increased class size and loss of jobs will be the fault of our unions. This fallacy should not be presented in your newspaper as the truth. A news article, by definition, should be impartial and not biased.
The fact is our district administration has NOT looked at all of the options for making up the budget shortfall. The Morgan Hill Unified School District administration has refused to negotiate with the MHFT for almost a year.
The district administration has refused to look at early retirement options that would save our district up to one million dollars. The district administration refuses to cut top administrators at the district level even though the work was done previously without an assistant superintendent in Educational Services.
The district administration thinks nothing of spending countless thousands of dollars defending their practice of breaking our contract with overages in class sizes and lack of participation in curricular decisions. The district administration continues to spend funds on consultants whose programs NEVER reach the classroom.
Our district is also under numerous sanctions, penalties and lawsuits because our district administration has not done the job correctly. And they want to blame the unions for the budget cuts?
Michael Johnson, assistant superintendent of educational services stated that his office is responsible for assuring that all district employees are meeting stringent county, state and federal standards. If his position is to ensure that these standards are being met, why are we under so many sanctions, penalties and lawsuits?
The Morgan Hill Times is responsible to report the unbiased truth to the citizens of Morgan Hill, not a slanted version approved by the district administration. The great citizens of Morgan Hill should demand no less.
Margaret L. Rodrigues, a Morgan Hill teacher for 33 years
Gavilan College does a good job preparing students
Dear Editor,
Here are my two cents for two thoughts.
I was pleased to read Jan Bernstein-Chargin letter in the Times regarding growth at Gavilan College. Community colleges offer an outstanding value and a terrific education.
As a parent I cannot be more pleased with Gavilan. My daughter is now at Cal Berkeley and is doing extremely well. My son is at SJSU and doing equally well. Gavilan did an outstanding job preparing my children for a four-year degree program. They had excellent teachers and outstanding counseling. Parents should not hesitate in utilizing our community colleges and seriously consider Gavilan College.
The Friday Night Music series should remain where it is today. The community center is an excellent choice but it is removed from the restaurants and businesses that benefit from the current location. Music at the core of the downtown adds a festive affair to our dining pleasure where you can not only have a great meal but be entertained at the same time.
Whether you enjoy the music before or after dinner, its proximity to the dining location is vital to both functions. The city recognizes this relationship and has placed a plaza within the soon to be built Third street promenade project. The community center is not the intended destination for this outstanding music tradition.
Personally it is unlikely that I would walk to the center from Rosy’s and vice versa. If others do the same, it could possibly hurt downtown businesses, who during these harsh economic times cannot afford further risks. As for the musicians, playing before a possible empty house cannot be satisfying and lessens their ability to connect with the community for future bookings and other engagements.
As much as there is good will and no intent to harm by the Chamber of anyone else, keeping the music series within the downtown core would just be dandy.
Mark Grzan, Morgan Hill
Thursday’s outage should be a ‘wake-up-call’ to Verizon
Dear Editor,
The failed telephone lines situation (last Thursday) was disgraceful. Verizon should be ashamed for the lack of a redundancy or backup system that could have re-routed telephone lines.
Yesterday should be a “wake-up call” for the telecom industry.
Victoria Battison, Morgan Hill
Keep up the good work providing local stories, columns and opinions
Dear Editor,
The reason I subscribe to The Times and The Dispatch is for local news. I don’t care anything about having space taken up by Dear Abby or comics or a lot of the “canned” syndicated columns.
I like Dear Abby and comics but can get them other places. I would rather see that space used by more local news and local columnists and letters to the editors. Thanks for Red Phone. I love it and it is often giving the answer to something I have been wondering about. I am a big fan of Gale Hammond, Dr. Pete, Marty Cheek, Chuck Flagg, Kat T. and Ron Erskine. I also love the Photographer’s Eye feature. And finally, thanks for bringing back Jenny’s cooking column. Keep up the good work and the more local the better!
Linda Ayers Tarvin, Morgan Hill
