The Problem with our Schools

Here is a recent example that shows the problems we have with our schools and the issues of parents not allowing their kids to grow up. After a recent 91-0 trouncing in Texas High School football a parent filed a bullying complaint against the school that won.

While 91 is a bit much, the coach put in his second and third string players and tried to fair-catch punt and run the ball to avoid a worse score. While this is not the norm, it does demonstrate real life. There is usually someone better than the next person and we live and learn from not always coming in first. For the school to have to investigate this complaint is a waste of time and takes away from the educational focus at the school.

Now, there is another story coming out of Cleveland, OH that is just as bad.

It sounds too strange to be true: A high school athlete kicked off his team and handed a suspension from school for completing an academic assignment. Incredibly that's what happened in Ohio, and the justification has everything to do with the content of what the player turned in.

Rittman football player Nick Andre was suspended and kicked off the team for a poem — WJW screenshot

As reported by Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW, Rittman High (Rittman, Ohio) junior Nick Andre was a member of the Rittman varsity football team until Friday, when he performed a controversial poem in his junior composition class. The class had been given an assignment to write a poem about something they were passionate about. Andre delivered a scathing assessment of one of his teammates, and the internal team culture that promoted that teammate into a starring role.
The poem was entitled "Stupid," and Andre later told WJW that it was meant to reflect the frustrations of Rittman's 1-7 season. It may have done that, but it focused squarely on the shortcomings of Rittman wide receiver Blake Dennis.

Andre never explicitly names Dennis in his work, but he described a quarterback and receiver who are "best friends" and refers to "the inability to separate being a father and a coach," which is a direct attack on Dennis' father, Rittman head coach Bill Dennis.
Here's Andre's poem in full:

Stupid
Losing season,
Favoritism,
Non stop passes from best friend to best friend.
Continuously doing what doesn't work,
The inability to separate being a father and a coach.
Dropped passes,
But yet still the "super star",
Yeah right.
Where's my scholarship?
I can drop passes,
Run backwards,
Miss tackles,
And be afraid to take a hit.
That's top line div. 1 material right there.
If that's what they wanted,
They definitely got it.
This whole town will be glad when he is gone.
For anyone who doesn't understand what I am saying?
AKRON'S SCREWED!

That final line -- the only one that could be considered profane -- is the ultimate proof that Andre was referring to the younger Dennis in the poem's early stages; Blake Dennis has committed to play college football at Akron.

While there is little question that Andre's poem included open dissent, there's a legitimate question over whether it warranted the penalty that it incurred. According to WJW, the junior was suspended from school for four days and banned from the football team for what Rittman's principal called "hazing" and "harassment".

Here is what Rittman principal Brett Lanz told WJW in a statement:

"[The student] wrote a mean and disrespectful poem about another student and our athletic director/head coach. [It was] hazing, harrassment."

Does a mean-spirited poem read out once in a public classroom really constitute hazing? Neither Andre or his mother think it does, and one prominent Cleveland civil rights lawyer agrees with them.
"The breadth of expression, even in public schools, is virtually limitless," Cleveland-based lawyer Avery Friedman told WJW. "Unless speech is creating material disruption to the educational process, which certainly isn’t here."

The point I am seeing here is that,  part of learning is being able to express yourself in a constructive manner. The school here is not allowing this young man to do that. It may not have been the best of forums to use, but it clearly was using a creative outlet to share his opinions.

This will be an interesting one to watch. Look forward to hearing your comments on the topic.

Working for a Solution is the Real Way to Solve a Problem

Five hours spent at the Escondido Union School District Board meeting and as the crowd dispersed the comment being made by a local "commenter" on several online newspapers and Facebook pages leaving the building says "It has never been about the charter school, it is about the library."

It is sad to hear this comment being made when the education of children is being put in the middle of the wants and desires of a small group of "concerned citizens" who are really still just trying to hang on to their special place. The focus of attacks made by these citizens was that the school moving into the location doesn't meet the demographics of the area. It was brought up that perhaps the school should be given a set number of months to meet certain benchmarks in ethnic enrollment. An interesting idea considering that Charter schools in the state of California work on a lottery system. Perhaps the SuperLotto, MegaMillions, and PowerBall lotteries should also have a mandated ethnic diversity when it comes to their winners.

But this is hardly new when it comes to politics in the United States, it has become an us against them mentality where we as Americans expect a great life to be given to us with little expectations placed on us to give back. Herein lies a solution to the number one issue raised by groups who were against the granting of the two charters for Heritage K-8 School and Heritage Digital Academy.

Escondido's Future led by Mel Takahara, Esconido Chamber of Citizens, and Escondido 2014 blogger Pat Muse stated the importance of reaching out to these underrepresented students. A solution is available. First, realize that the children are more important than a building. As shown in past posts, libraries are changing, brick and mortar buildings are no needed in the quantity they once were. Instead, I would propose that the the two schools and these peoples would meet. The groups mentioned above should for volunteer teams that work with the schools to help those with language barriers navigate the process of getting into the lottery system and help make the changes desired happen.

What is being proposed here is a win-win solution that will benefit Escondido's children, our real Future.

A $300,000 dollar lesson - Utilities department needs to do the right thing

In case you missed the story this weekend, Escondido is facing a potential lawsuit from a resident who feels she has been done wrong. Here is a link to the story: "Woman Receives $16,000 Water Bill" or View the video here

Looking at the story here it seems fairly straightforward. If the resident is going through 3 swimming pools worth of water per day, someone would have to notice the water pooling up or causing some erosion to the area where the leak is. There seems to be no evidence of this mentioned other than water potentially drainging into a nearby creek.

According to the story, "The city has since replaced the meter, and Kreusser has added new water pipes. Her water rate is back to normal, but the city said she still owes the $16,000." If replacing the meter and adding some new pipes has caused this to return to normal, the answer should be easy for the city. Give this resident a break and waive the bill.

Instead they offered to slash the bill to $8000 and as a result this resident is slapping Escondido with a $300,000 lawsuit. To us, this seems a bit extreme, but we will keep watching to see why $300,000 was the amount the resident is suing for.

In the meantime, with the City of Escondido and Escondido Utilities unable to comment on this story due to pending litigation, the taxpayers here in Escondido are left with only one side of the story. However, looking at the total cost of fighting this lawsuit and the added staff resources that will be allocated to this, it only makes sense for the city to do the right thing and waive the bill for the month in question.

As for Margaret Kreusser, we encourage you to do the right thing as well if Escondido does and drop this lawsuit. George Herbert sums it up best, "A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit."

"A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit."

"A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit."

"A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit."

Herbert, George

- See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quotes/tag/compromise/#sthash.rzHan5O2.dpuf

"A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit."

Herbert, George

- See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quotes/tag/compromise/#sthash.rzHan5O2.dpuf

Education - What does Escondido need?

City has choices to make on education

Escondido is known in San Diego county as a poor performer when it comes to the education system and the overall performance of the cities students in comparison to the rest of the county. For families looking to move to San Diego county, the results are clear, according to the real estate site Zillow.com, Escondido is a poor performer. 19 of the schools rate a 5 or below out of 10. This takes into account API, test results, graduation rates, and more. Hardly a shining endorsement for parents with children or those looking to begin a family.

In a time where all cities are looking to stimulate economic growth it is important to have a qualified pool of potential workers to encourage businesses to come to our community. Recently the newspapers and bloggers have been working hard to paint one of the highest scoring schools in the county as a deviant and exclusionary school that is harming the community.

For those who have been hiding under a rock, the East Valley Community Center and Library has been less than half filled since the closing of several storefronts in the center going all the way back to the City of Escondido Credit Union and the East Valley utility payment and city office. Since that time when there was a surplus of finances coming into all cities throughout San Diego county, several businesses have come and gone as well as non-profit offices in the EVCC. Recently the decision was made by the City of Escondido to close the East Valley Library and open a computer center.

For a more detailed review click here.

For the proponents they say it will be a huge step to increase the quality of educational opportunities available to all students in Escondido. The Heritage Charter School was ranked number one in California by University of Southern California in 2011.

Opponents on the other hand are saying that the school will take away a community resource, however there arguments tend to be less based on facts than on their opinions of the quality of education and need for Escondido to succeed.

Read this post from opponents to the school.

I attended my first Escondido Charter High School board meeting.

Yesterday was Wednesday and there was no City Council meeting, so I took the opportunity to attend an ECHS Board meeting–click here for Agenda.  It was scheduled for 6 pm and I got there a little ahead of time, but the meeting was already in full swing.  (Not a complaint, just an explanation.)  The discussion I walked in on was, as far as I could tell, the people from the Christian Youth Theater–CYT.  (Mission Statement:CYT is dedicated to developing character in children and adults through training in the arts and by producing wholesome family entertainment, all of which reflect Judeo-Christian values. For more info click here.) They all agreed that CYT “shared the values” of ECHS. They wanted to continue using the ECHS theater for their productions.  After much discussion and basically a love fest, the board agreed to allow them to use the theater for another year as along as they were flexible since–”the theater is being used constantly by all our schools.”

The rest of the meeting was fairly brief–maybe an hour from start to finish–with Coach Snyder, yes, everyone calls him Coach all the time, reporting on his many activities over the last month.  They are all listed on the agenda but he made no mention whatsoever of any of the Council meetings he had attended.  The last of order of business was thanking George Weir for his ongoing support of the Charter, both through his efforts and his financial support, since he will be leaving the Board–no other explanation given.  The meeting was controlled by Vikash Sanyal, ECHS Board President, who is founder of Life’s Building Blocks, Inc., a privately held company that sells an extensive line of unique products and programs dedicated to helping parents develop morals and character in children as well as Scratch Golf in Poway that is aimed at students 7 to 17.  Interesting, no?

Not having attended the board meeting, and only being a reporter, I decided to research the facts on this and found in the Escondido Charter board information and applications that the terms are for two-years and the George Weir's term had come to an end. Actually a good idea to keep fresh talent and ideas cycling through a board of directors. As for Sanyal serving on the board of directors, a quick Facebook search shows that he has children attending the school.


I have never been to a meeting before nor have I visited this campus.  Here are my quick observations.  The campus is huge, gorgeous and brand new.  As to the meeting, these folks say “I love you” a lot and they regularly discuss their “culture” and a term I’d never heard before–”being charterian.”  There was no one representing the school who was Latino. The meeting was in the library, which also serves as a meeting space, and I was surprised how few books there were, basically filling one small section of the space.

 The school being gorgeous and brand new is an interesting observation. Looking at their school records the new campus was opened over 10 years ago. When inquiring about the newness of the school I was informed that the students take pride in their school because of the high standards that are encouraged. It is open to all students and anyone can enter the lottery, because attending this school is such a privilege, the students strive to keep it a special place. 

The library having only a limited number of books. This is something that consistently has arisen throughout the EVCC library closure and now here. However as a researcher and journalist, it has become evident that hard copies of books are a thing of the past at many of the top schools in the nation. Learning can be done on computers and personal tablets. A building with rows of books is not needed in today's education system the way it was 10 to 20 years ago. "Public schools begin to transition to bookless libraries."

“Coach” Snyder is definitely revered by the people in this meeting.  They are all on the same page and they all feel everything is absolutely wonderful.  And based upon the facilities I saw, they can complain about the paucity of the funding they receive, but their campus was something all the truly public schools would be thrilled to have. 

Is this the right type of school for Escondido? The school raises funds to make up for the smaller pot of money they receive from the government and put out a product that is seeing success while establishing a demand and good will for the City of Escondido. May the 29th was filled with news of a minority student from this school who was representing San Diego at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This will definitely be a topic to watch in Escondido and one that will continue to be on the agenda as the City of Escondido works to emerge from a reputation as an underachiever in the education arena.

What are your thoughts? We want to know where you stand on the issue, leave your comment below or on Twitter: Escondido Report

Welcome to Escondido -- A real look. This is a blog that is here to help find out the truth and falsehoods that surround the happenings in the City of Escondido. As a long-time resident of Escondido, being here since the 80's, I have taken an interest in this city and believe that there are a select number of voices that attempt to lead the direction of Escondido to their desires.

In this blog we will examine all sides of the issues and have a civil, honest, and open look at what is really going on and how it will affect the citizens of the community. Blogs have popped up in Escondido with the 2014 Mayor's race coming up and most of the current bloggers who pontificate tend to be for a candidate or party, not the city or residents. With the demise of the North County Times, the San Diego Union Tribune has done a less than stellar job covering Escondido.

Stay tuned for our next post and we look forward to hearing from you as to what topics you want covered here.