Posted by Parent
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 6, 2020 at 9:57 am
Parent is a registered user.

As a grassroots supporter of Grace Mah in this elections, especially because of personal experience as a former district parent observing both candidates, I think Caswell's statement about money -- when she's the one who made this a big-money race -- is reason enough that she would be [the wrong] person for this job.

Posted by Bought and paid for....
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 18, 2020 at 11:01 am
Bought and paid for.... is a registered user.

Grace Mah's advocacy for charter schools goes back well before she was ever on the County Board. [Portion removed.]

Charter schools are parasites on the public dole, using our public funds with little oversight. This is a very bad outcome for public school education, the backbone of democracy.

Posted by Kathy
a resident of Evergreen Park

on Nov 18, 2020 at 12:53 pm
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Posted by Citizen
a resident of College Terrace
on Nov 18, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Citizen is a registered user.

I'll help post this message:

Charter schools are public schools, so by definition they do not take resources away from public schools. They do, however, take resources away from unions, as most public charter schools are non union, which is why there is so much vitriol directed against these schools. Public charter schools permit low income students to escape failing traditional unionized public schools, as they are doing in East San Jose, and East Palo Alto, for example.

Talk about bought and paid for --- take a look at the teacher's unions, which buy and pay for and 'hire' their bosses through their dues and campaign contributions and peer pressure and bullying and their retired teacher networks and so forth. All to protect adult perquisites, rather than to educate children. Take a look at student academic performance in CA public schools -- Web Link --- only 51% of students are proficient in English and only 39% are proficient in math. Thank God that public charter schools are working to serve students and not teacher's unions.

Posted by Come on!
a resident of another community
on Nov 18, 2020 at 1:39 pm
Come on! is a registered user.

@citizen, besides being full of vitriol and misinformation, your post is simply ideological nonsense. This is not the way that charter schools or unions work.

Charter schools use public money, but make up their own set of rules. They are pseudo-public institutions. They funnel money from traditional schools and and weaken them so that people like you can then say, "see public things are bad!" It is very much a"starve the beast" mentality. The Charter school movement may have had good intentions when it began decades ago, but now it is just another rightwing anti-union movement masquerading as an "equity champion."

Unions allow teachers and students to work and learn in safe, fair, and acadmic freedom environment. Unions make the working and middle class strong. They give workers rights, instead of perpetuating a feudal society (even though you may prefer the latter). The decline of the middle class in America can be directly traced to a decline in union membership, which started under Nixon.

People, please don't listen to anti-worker people like @citizen!

Posted by Citizen
a resident of College Terrace
on Nov 18, 2020 at 2:28 pm
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@Come on - what a bunch of baloney.

States permitted public charter schools to form and not be subject to the same set of regulations as other public schools- because of failing traditional unionized public schools.

Public schools are to educate students, not serve teacher's unions, but you wouldn't know it from the poor academic performance the traditional unionized public schools in CA are producing. Look it up yourself - google caaspp results 2018-19 and you'll find state assessment test results for CA public schools.

You can also check the academic performance of public charter schools versus traditional unionized public schools there as well. Charter schools are public schools. The teacher's union just wants to stamp out their competition.

Posted by Citizen
a resident of College Terrace
on Nov 18, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Citizen is a registered user.

@Come on - what a bunch of baloney.

States permitted public charter schools to form and not be subject to the same set of regulations as other public schools- because of failing traditional unionized public schools.

Public schools are to educate students, not serve teacher's unions, but you wouldn't know it from the poor academic performance the traditional unionized public schools in CA are producing. Look it up yourself - google caaspp results 2018-19 and you'll find state assessment test results for CA public schools.

Teacher's unions just want to eliminate non union competition.

Posted by Alex
a resident of Barron Park
on Nov 19, 2020 at 6:24 am
Alex is a registered user.

Oh please. Charter schools provide outcomes on par with public schools but with no accountability since the public doesn’t have a voice in who runs them. There’s no reason to have them, especially in an area like Santa Clara County.

Posted by Citizen
a resident of College Terrace
on Nov 19, 2020 at 11:11 pm
Citizen is a registered user.

@Alex - more baloney. Low income kids in East San Jose are escaping failing traditional unionized public schools for non union charter schools. And thank God. These students need to get an education, not further a union monopoly.

Posted by Unions Serve Teachers Not Students
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 20, 2020 at 2:12 pm
Unions Serve Teachers Not Students is a registered user.

I had a sign promoting Melissa on my front lawn. I voted for Grace Mah. Glad Mah won!

Why? First, I voted for Mah because Melissa failed our Palo Alto secondary students by voting to send secondary back in January, four months after they were approved by SCC to open, thereby caving to Teachers Union pressure to keep secondary online with Distance (lack of) Learning the entire first semester (when DL was neither necessary nor required by SCC). Now, due to the slow phased opening, which was a huge mistake by the Board, secondary students will never open and remain online this entire school year when the data on every level does not support it. Criminal. Second, I voted for Mah because Melissa received major funds from the Teachers Union, which of course sends us back to my first point.