Opinion

Morgan Hill: Where Only Some Students Succeed Parents need more local public school choices like Rocketship Education for one simple reason: Our schools are not serving all students well. At first glance, Morgan Hill Unified schools appear to be educating all students, but in fact, they are leaving many at-risk students behind. Locally, Latino students, English Language Learners and students from low-income households scored 100 points lower on state academic tests than their Asian and white classmates. Students with special needs are also not succeeding in Morgan Hill schools. This is unacceptable. All of our students must have access to a high-quality education at a neighborhood public school. The foundation that an excellent elementary school provides to children is critical. Otherwise, students who fall behind at this young age often never catch up. Knowing this, and without improvement from the Morgan Hill Unified School District, local parents have been forced to search for alternatives for their children, including looking outside the district. Morgan Hill is a great place to live, but the quality of the education system has become a drawback for many families. We need more choices locally.   Rocketship Education has an inclusion program for students with special needs. All types of students are welcome at its nonprofit public charter schools. Through its personalized learning model, all students have the ability to be challenged, supported and successful. Seventy percent of the 5,000 students at Rocketship are English Language Learners and even more are from at-risk households. Christopher is a third grader who spent four years waiting for a spot to open up at a charter school in Morgan Hill, since he was falling behind and needed extra support in English and writing. Despite having engaged parents who worked with his teachers, Christopher continued to struggle until this year, when his parents made the choice to drive 70 minutes each day to San Jose for Adam to attend Rocketship Spark Academy. He’s gone from being teased by his friends for not doing well in school to becoming a responsible leader in his class who enjoys learning. Clearly there is a need in Morgan Hill for this kind of approach to education. Rather than making it more difficult for Rocketship to open, we as a community need to do what is best for local children and give families more choices. Ethan is a fourth grader with autism attending a public school in Morgan Hill. His parents want him to be able to attend a four-year college someday, but he needs high expectations, goals and individual support to be able to get there.  While he has some great teachers, he’s not learning the 21st century skills that he’ll need to be able to succeed in life. The problems local families are facing and the possible solution shouldn’t come as a surprise to local leaders. As parents, we have been vocal about what we want: We want quality school choices. We want to keep our children in neighborhood public schools. We want Rocketship to open and operate such a school.   It was us, Morgan Hill parents, who reached out to Rocketship and requested that they consider opening a school in our community. It took numerous phone calls, gathering over 400 signatures and many meetings over the course of a year before Rocketship proposed opening a school here. Our dedication to providing what’s best for our children convinced them. This is an opportunity to guarantee that academic success is not given to only a subset of kids. All Morgan Hill children can and should succeed in school. Parents deserve the ability to find the right academic program for their child at a public school within this community. Rocketship is offering a proven option to serve at-risk students who are currently being left behind. Allowing Rocketship to open would give families a choice that we’ve wanted for years. Our kids can’t wait any longer. We hope you will join us in supporting Rocketship Nov. 5 when the Morgan Hill board of trustees will vote on the charter petition. Together, we can ensure that all families have quality school choices for their children and that all our students have the chance to succeed. Guest columnist Tony Saenz has been a Morgan Hill parent and resident for 44 years.   

Can you hear me now?Listen up. There’s an event happening in America that’s sweeping children and teenagers’ lives that’s causing deafness. It’s been happening for the past 25 years. It’s not a virus; it’s a socially accepted technologically driven addition conveniently made available. Communication devices for school learning and online testing, and music enjoyment are being strapped to the ears of youths from kindergarten through college and beyond that is deafening Americans.Your children are at risk. Oh, it’s less than the CDC recommendations of 85 db, you might convince yourself. And I’ve purchased a limiting feature, so I’m covered. Ah, strapping those headphones on your little children’s’ ears sends a message to them that it’s OK to listen in this manner. When they become stubborn, independent teens with the newest earbud and listening device marketed to us, “Mom’s nowhere in sight, hearing this piece of music loud is fantastic!” Oh, yes it is. This is how the deafening of our children occurs. It’s gradual.My first son started using headphones as early as 6 years old in 1992 and continued through high school with each advancing music device marketed—new headphones, new earbuds, loud music listening occurred at school, on the school bus and in his bedroom. The devastating announcement made to me from the audiologist with my 15-year-old son sitting in the doctor’s office went like this: “I’m sorry to tell you, but your son has considerable hearing loss, and it’s permanent and he should never use headphones again, because it just furthers his hearing decline.”Then the ENT doctor went on to tell me that sound should never be delivered next to the human ear, because it wears the ear out and causes deafness.One thing had changed since I grew up—the loud music coming from our bedroom stereos is now turned inward, pumped right into the ear canals of my sons, and I didn’t hear a thing.Sneaky little devils, aren’t they? The way a new device is marketed to us under the fantastic name of “technological advancement?’’One thing has not changed though—our human ears. Our ears are not built to receive sound close to the ear for repeated periods and at loud volumes. Irreparable hearing damage occurs and only worsens with aging. Hearing loss is cumulative, and most people, including my teenagers, had to be dragged to the auditory specialists for a hearing test.  When was the last time you had a hearing test? Mine was two years ago and I have hearing losses due to living with the abundant increase in listening devices due to the onslaught of technology, loud concert music events (oh, I loved those!), and loud movie theaters.I recently took my 5-year-old to the local theatre and he complained, “This is too loud Mom, I do not want to go back!”The tears of mothers dwell in rivers. My first son, soon to turn 29, has deafness caused by technology’s great advancement of headphones and earbuds. Your child came into this world new and wonderful. Isn’t it our responsibility to keep them safe and as healthy as possible?Please take some time to read the facts that no one is talking about. If we ignore JAMA’s (Journal of American Medical Association) current data studies and doctors’ recommendations, then in the future, are we going to ignore the educated recommendations of the very children we are currently educating? If a glass of water is poison, is teaching our children to take small frequent sips of it still okay?I hope you gain some insight from my experience and these medical facts, so you can make an informed decision about whether you want to begin your child’s hearing loss or not.  Sincerely,Carol SternMorgan Hill

I am on a real Amgen Tour of California tear here. Even though I already thought it was a big deal, my eyes keep growing wider as the significance of this event continues to unveil itself.I have been speaking with some people that have hosted events in the past, and they just can’t say enough about how the world really does come to town the day of the race.This is a big deal, a really big deal!Last week, we announced to the world that we too are a part of this world class event. We had local dignitary interviews, Amgen sent Ambassador Freddie Rodriguez and we had a Seriously Fun Trike race. Our own Mayor, Steve Tate, came in second place overall but first in the “amateur” race class.The buzz is starting right now. I’m committed to providing you with information and inspiration for the upcoming bike race. To that end, I plan on a regular series of columns dedicated to the event. Here is the first one, authored by an avid local bicyclist and dentist who has attended many previous Tour of California races:The TOC is America’s premier cycling stage event and will be broadcast on NBC Sports, featuring many of the same cyclists participating in the Tour de France later this summer.This is the first time Amgen has selected Morgan Hill as a race site, and the course will cover approximately 24 miles of our beautiful countryside.  Because the event is a time trial—which begins and ends in downtown Morgan Hill—spectators will have the opportunity to see each rider as they start the course AND cross the finish line, making it an all-day event rather than a peloton (close group of racers) flying by you for five seconds going 35 mph.A time trial event is often referred to as the “race of truth” because each cyclist must ride the course on their own, without the benefit of drafting other racers, while competing against the clock for the best time.  For those adventurous onlookers wanting more scenery, I recommend bringing a lawn chair and finding a shady spot out on the course. Be sure to bring an ice chest with cool drinks and your camera to get a chance to see the riders in action speeding down winding curves or pushing their hardest up a tough climb.In our downtown Morgan Hill, you will see many of the cycling teams and be able to participate in the ongoing health fair and merchandise/wellness booths that follow along all the Amgen Tour stages. This is a family friendly event with something for everyone.  Spectators from all over California follow the tour and will provide a steady stream of customers for our Morgan Hill hotels, restaurants and local businesses.During the event, you will notice TV crews on motorcycles, cars and helicopters following the riders and showcasing our City of Morgan Hill on national and international TV.I hope to see you at the event!   -Robert Shorey, DDSLet’s get excited.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

With media credential in tow, I spent a couple of hours walking the golf course at CordeValle on Thursday for the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open. So what’s the spectator experience for a tournament like this? Pretty enjoyable—and that’s an understatement.