3-27-04 by Ron Bird
The last two school board meetings have seen our Vasquez students show up in large numbers to make their voices heard. On March 11, they let it be known that although they are disappointed in our community's inability to provide them with a state-of-the-art Vasquez High, they take pride in their temporary campus.
With a positive attitude they formed an organization called S.A.V.E. to clean up and fix up Vasquez. They have already dedicated one Saturday towards this purpose and their hard work shows. The campus has been cleaned up and purple paint (the school color) applied with great care. Their efforts and concerns should be applauded.
What caused these students to stand up and be heard at the school board? Two of the more vocal members of S.A.V.E. happen to be children of school board members. I'm sure that a bug may have been put in their ear that they too are invited to the school board to let their concerns be known about their school.
Does this mean that they are being used? It certainly does not! These young adults have formed their own independent opinions and are willing to fight for what they believe in.
On March 25, another large group of Vasquez students filed into the school board meeting. This time the issue was defending their coach/principal.
Although the board cannot discuss this matter because it is a “personnel” issue, it is suspected that Principal Pinkston has been given a letter instructing him to either “straighten-out” his school or be reassigned to other duties. Whether this is because of discipline problems, continued low API scores or both, no one but the principal (no pun intended) parties know for sure.
What is known is that a large number of students showed up in support of Pinkston. What is not known is who put the “bug” in the ears of these students regarding this private personnel matter. Again, they attended the school board on their own volition and expressed their American right in making their opinions heard. Hats off to them.
What is of concern is how this private personnel matter became part of the public domain. It certainly is not very professional airing internal professional employee dirty laundry in public. Whatever the administrative action is regarding Pinkston, the proper venue to resolve the matter is via the hearing process as described in the Education Code. Hopefully this matter can be resolved in the near future. In the meantime hats off again to the students of Vasquez High.
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