In the final year of this decade the highs weren’t impressively
high, but the lows were rough: Morgan Hill became known nationally
as a town where students can’t wear red, white and blue to school,
the local economy continued on the same flailing descent and two
school district employees found themselves in hot water after
allegations of verbally abusing students and sexually harassing
teachers, and a spousal stabbing.
In the final year of this decade the highs weren’t impressively high, but the lows were rough: Morgan Hill became known nationally as a town where students can’t wear red, white and blue to school, the local economy continued on the same flailing descent and two school district employees found themselves in hot water after allegations of verbally abusing students and sexually harassing teachers, and a spousal stabbing.
The impasses of 2010 were marked by a few stories that the Times believe have bettered the community.
The city hired a police chief from within the Morgan Hill Police Department, soon-to-be Chief David Swing. Widespread teacher layoffs were avoided by the Morgan Hill Unified School District which offered an early retirement incentive.
Still-new Superintendent Wes Smith’s can-do attitude was tangible last year when he hired several principals with long histories in Morgan Hill and helped to improve morale at the district that was divided under Superintendent Alan Nishino.
The ongoing quandary of downtown redevelopment was re-energized when Barry Swenson Builders was chosen by the city to begin renovating several buildings on the east side of Monterey Road in the next several years. Downtown meetings were opened to the public and participation is improving.
These are the local news stories that mattered. Before we say, “So long, 2010,” let’s pay homage to the end of another decade.
T-shirt incident shocks community: Students sent home for wearing patriotic clothing on Cinco de Mayo
1 Four Live Oak High School students became overnight media personalities when they were sent home by school administrators for wearing red, white and blue on Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday celebrated on May 5.
The boys were asked by now-retired Principal Nick Boden and former Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez to remove their American flag bandannas and turn their red, white and blue T-shirts inside-out claiming that their clothing choices that particular day were “incendiary.”
When the four boys refused, they were asked to leave campus.
After school that day, many students were seen leaving LOHS wearing Mexican flags and red, white and green. According to the school district, the administrators asked them to leave to prevent any onset of violence. Students interviewed that day said both white and Hispanic students were taunting each other. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
The incident sparked such controversy that on May 6, it grabbed national headlines and was the subject of TV and radio commentary for several days. Dozens of local media and national media – even news helicopters – circled LOHS and the Morgan Hill Unified School District office through May 11.
A student-led protest of about 200 mostly Hispanic students was staged May 6 through downtown. The school district hosted a press conference and issued an apology May 7; Superintendent Wes Smith said safety on campus was his No. 1 concern, and MHUSD students can wear red, white and blue any day of the year.
On May 8, a large protest hosted by the local Tea Party chapter formed in downtown Morgan Hill supporting the LOHS boys, who made an appearance, and on May 11, a well-attended public meeting was held by the Morgan Hill School Board of Trustees.
Smith said the positive taken from the Cinco de Mayo incident was that all students were kept safe, especially during the massive walk-out by students May 6 in which they were led by police escorts.
In June, Smith, Boden, Rodriguez and MHUSD were hit with a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of three of the four students’ parents that claimed the school district violated the students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for January.
Development makes strides: City chooses builder to revamp downtown, Third Street Promenade completed
2 Most of the high-profile development initiatives that happened in 2010 were city projects.
Strides were made on downtown redevelopment. The $3.6-million Third Street Promenade project was completed in April, strategically providing a grounds for warm-weather outdoor activities, as well as a walkway for public transportation and courthouse patrons from the east side of the railroad tracks. That project was funded by a combination of Redevelopment Agency dollars and a grant.
San Jose-based developer Barry Swenson Builder was selected to begin a project on two sites in the heart of downtown – the Granada Theater building and the Royal Clothiers site – both on Monterey Road.
The city’s vision for downtown is a sustainable community where people can live, work, shop and be entertained with a variety of transportation options – and which attracts visitors.
The Barry Swenson project will attempt to realize that picture with a mixed-use, multi-story complex where the Granada Theater now stands, with a grocery store and other retail shops on the ground floor, residential units of varying sizes on upper levels and a parking deck on the east side of the property.
The site where Royal Clothiers is will contain a new multi-screen cinema, with office and residential space upstairs.
Both sites are now owned by the RDA, and the developer plans to incorporate elements that will fulfill the city council’s downtown vision, with outdoor plazas and upper-level terraces, cafe seating and a variety of lighting and signage.
Also downtown, the city began efforts that could result in a totally new street design for Monterey Road. The RDA hired Callander and Associates to begin a study to determine what kind of street the residents want to see – a two-lane strip, the current four-lane configuration, a wider median or no median, bike lanes and bigger or smaller sidewalks.
Proponents of a restoration of the original Granada Theater as a combination live entertainment venue and cinema tried assiduously to save the now-vacant facility from redevelopment, and even attempted to post a ballot referendum asking the voters to do so. But for now, they remain unsuccessful.
City, school budgets fall short: Deficits rise during Morgan Hill’s own recession
3 The Great Recession continued to take its toll on Morgan Hill – and, for that matter, the entire country – in 2010.
The city council had to cut services and lay off 10 people in order to cover a $1.8-million deficit this year. The loss of revenue resulting in those cuts was directly attributed to afflictions that ailed the economy as a whole – declining consumer and retail sales, plummeting property values and a halt in community development.
The police department now only has one school resource officer to patrol all Morgan Hill Unified schools. Front-desk service at city hall and the development services center has been reduced. And it might take slightly longer now for staff to process development permits and review plans.
At the Morgan Hill Unified School District, a $2.9 million budget deficit forced class sizes to grow to 24 students to one teacher in kindergarten through third-grade, traditional summer school was diminished with a more focused offering for pre-K students, algebra help and migrant programs, and several arts electives were axed to make room for remedial classes.
There was an upshot. While more than 30 preemptive pink slips were handed out to the less-tenured teachers at MHUSD, no full-time teachers were laid off thanks to an early retirement incentive of $25,000. A lesser incentive was also offered to classified employees, such as custodians and bus drivers – a first for MHUSD.
School leaders under fire: District faces personnel issues at Jackson elementary, Live Oak High School
4 Two administrators – Live Oak High School’s Assistant Principal Kim Lemos, 39, and Jackson Elementary’s former Principal Garry Dudley, 61 – faced public scrutiny when Lemos was charged with felony corporal injury on a spouse and Dudley was found to verbally abuse students and sexually harass teachers over the course of two years.
Kim Lemos, who has never been put on administrative leave by MHUSD following the felony charges, turned herself in Aug. 26 to Gilroy police after she stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife at their home on the 1400 block of Swallow Lane in Gilroy. Kim Lemos pleaded not guilty Dec. 13 to the felony charge. According to the police report, Lemos stabbed Tim Lemos, a Christopher High School football coach, in the chest with a kitchen knife during an argument over “marriage issues” at their home.
Kim Lemos is still subject to the provisions of a peaceful contact order that was issued in September. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20 at the South County Courthouse.
Kim Lemos taught English at Gilroy High School until 2003, when she was hired at LOHS. As assistant principal, her duties include dealing with discipline, attendance, athletics and school safety, among other responsibilities.
Jackson Elementary Principal Dudley became “ex-Principal Dudley” shortly after a public records request by the Times and Sept. 3 news story that published the findings of a two-year investigation by the Morgan Hill Unified School District. Eleven of 19 complaints against Dudley were found to have merit.
Allegations against Dudley ranged from sexually harassing teachers and making off-color jokes to using derisive and foul language when disciplining students.
Dudley resigned 11 days after the Times story broke, on Sept. 14, and received the early retirement incentive offered by the school district.
While Dudley was principal at Jackson, the school moved to year five of Program Improvement, a distinction given to failing schools that cannot meet standards set by No Child Left Behind.
Swing into action: MHPD veteran David Swing named police chief
5 Morgan Hill Police veteran Cmdr. David Swing was selected to be the department’s new police chief starting in 2011.
Swing, 39, who was the city’s employee of the year in 2008, brings a 15-year law enforcement career – all in Morgan Hill – to the department’s top spot. He replaced former chief Bruce Cumming, who retired in the summer of 2010 after about six years as the city’s chief of police.
Swing, who lives in Hollister, will take the helm at a time of reeling budget deficits that resulted in the loss of three officer positions in the last two years, including two school resource officers.
That financial situation, combined with what MHPD officers as well as the sheriff’s office say appears to be a year-end surge in street-gang violence, will make for a busy year in 2011 for Swing.
He hopes to get to work developing a long-term strategic plan for the department, work on efforts to engage residents more often and more effectively, and ramping up gang suppression efforts.
