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Coach Jones was uninformed about girls basketball, he was slow in the game and he did not relate well to any players. What a joke Flores. I agree the program should have been cancelled this season. It is comical how a teacher gets hired and given the job this fast. Good Luck Coach Jones dealing with the Fosters as long as you start Foster the whole season will be good...whatever this is a joke of a school.
I am the original, the ONLY!
I just read most of these posts and they're...so childish.
You all deserve a spanking! But, I'm only in the mood to spank the ladies, so line up girls!
See, smiles and humor. The sky isn't falling, adults are just acting like spoiled brats. Nothing new here. On ALL sides. SO STOP IT!
Burlington Cougars High School Basketball
Coach:Tim Jones
Colors:Red, Black
League:2A/1A Union Pacific
StateColorado
They made it to the State championship under him, so he's no slouch. And my neighbor (now out of college) played under him at GHS when he was the varsity coach. He was supposedly a good teacher too - I don't know because my kids aren't in high school yet. The point is - I keep seeing on these blogs how people make stupid claims and lies, then when they are proved wrong, they never do a mea culpa. If you don't know the facts, don't present them as facts. When you are just stating opinion - be honest enough to say that it's your opinion. I don't know what happened between the Fosters and Shapiro, but I will say that it is probably better to have a full time teacher coaching IN MY OPINION.
Flores has instituted a "No tolerance" policy for any teacher or coach to upset a parent or child. She demands that the teachers and coaches view parents and children as customers and to give them whatever they want.
It would be fair to say that all employees of GUSD can now be fired at will if any parent doesn't like a decision of the teacher or coach. Good luck teachers and coaches in attempting to have discipline on your teams or in your classrooms. People like Jim, the district and the school board will fire you if you upset the children or parents with your god-awful discipline.
The children have now taken over the schools.
You do not support Jones as much as you dislike Shapiro. Now at my home I have other members of our team parents and this is a joke. Jim(Ernestina) please just stop. We know you are playing both sides of the fence. As for Coach Jones all we know is what past players have said and that he talks bad behind his player's back. Guess what we all have our complaints written and a lawyer willing to take the case against him the first time Foster starts and our kids do not. You know why because it will not be fair. Now we have that right due to the door Flores opened. So take that jimmy and suck on it.
Sorry Tim Jones this is not the battle you should have entered.
Coach Jones your character is on the line. You could have a great team but get rid of the problems from the start. There was comment earlier on here that stated move the grade point average to at least a 3.0 and you will lose all the headaches.
The comments you have made are exactly why Coach Shapiro is no longer at GHS. "Raise the grade point average" so you can ostracize a player or players that you don't want on the team. It has nothing at all to do with your concern over your players grades, its all about your excuse to do what you want. Evil.
You missed the point. Whether grades, or attending a religious event, or even a trip to the moon, it still was an excuse for the coach to do her own will. She got caught, and faced the consequences. Its not mine or anyone elses fault, she chose to do it. Stop blaming the Fosters, Steeles, Flores, and now Coach Jones or anyone else. Too many people are so quick to excuse people when they do wrong. The truth is people who excuse others in their wrong doings, are guilty people as well!
This is the utopia that idiots like Jim and the district would like to see and are enforcing. They fire teachers and coaches that hold the line.
Sounds like a good foot cream. Is it as good as fast actin tenactin? Or better yet Preparation H. How about Compound W? That would be a good name too!
As a coach and a father Ed Foster you are a terrible example of what a parent should do. In my opinion.
This is how the game is played:
1. Kid is caught cheating, talking, texting, etc.
2. Teacher writes kid up and calls home
3. Parent defends kid and claims that the kid and the teacher just have a bad relationship.
4. Parent goes off on teacher and then puts the teacher on notice that any action towards the child will be seen as retribution
5. Teacher is then handcuffed and knows that the administration, district office and school board will view the teacher as the cause of the conflict.
This goes on all the time. The parent plays the drama queen and admin puts pressure on the teacher just to shut up the parent.
What the is wrong with these jilted team members and their families. They just don't get it - there was never a guarantee that Ms Shapiro or anyone in particular was going to be the coach next year. Coaches who are not teachers are hired as at-will employees, they have a one season at a time position in the school. There is no job guarantee..nada...zip...nothing.
And enough with the "let's make a rule about who can play based on GPA". There already is a rule. You need to have above a 2.0 average. Sorry parents, your faux geniuses are going to have to learn to play on teams alongside average students.
Just because some of the players and their parents liked the pool parties and bible thumping that Ms Shapiro and her husband seemed to integrate into the GHS high school basketball program doesn't make that part and parcel of playing a high school sport. My son plays a sport in middle school, and I can assure you, his teacher/coach doesn't have the team over for swim parties and sleepovers. They get one end of the season party at a pizza place.
I've read some of the information from several teammates, and I would have fired this coach for crossing into territory that goes beyond the scope of her job. It amazes me that these parents would be comfortable with these girls hanging around the homes of their teachers? Are teachers allowed to fratenize with students in Gilroy (if so that is not a good policy). Would parents want their 16 year old daughter spending the night at their Math teachers home? What if the coach or teacher was a male? We can't have one set of behavioral standards for teachers (since so many people here are equating the role of the coach to that of a teacher...) and than break the standard for one coach who "really loves" her girls.
Do you want to know why I think this coach is not coming back? I have seen the myspace/facebook pages of several basketball players along with the comments Coach Shapiro wrote to them; Coach Shapiro sent this message to one of the players on April 12, 2009 "wanna come live here this week so I can get outty my house..." Maybe Debbie Flores saw that too and decided that Shapiro crossed a line.
Please - I am begging one of the Gilroy High teachers to respond to this (or Jack Daley or Fred Tovar or anyone else who thinks that its a good policy to have coaches and teachers invite students to come and live with them....)
If someone said that my daughter went to parties, that would be a true statement. She doesn't do drugs and alcohol and she and her friends take pictures with their phones and cameras at all the parties we have.
Billy Bathstone is the one who suggested that GHS parents approve and provide alcohol for high school students. He gave one example. I think that was a poor choice to use, because my daughter and her friends all have parties and do not drink or use drugs.
My point is that no one should start accusing Miss Foster of drug/alcohol abuse. I would imagine that the Foster parents would be angry at the unsubstantiated rumors and the coach would be angry at potential team members who are trying to sabotage one of the other team members. None of these people seem very clear-headed to me. They are all very immature.
Now we all know you Ernestina may not believe in God and thats ok. As you know every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.....no worries you are not the exception. As for the coach opening her house ...the Fosters were there more than anyone. You do not like that because even the Fosters don't like you because of stuff like this.
As for the parties no its not a newsflash but college recruiters well lets just say they do not like high school girls partying and lets just say of the photos that I have seen are not very respectful. So whatever happens there it does. I for one am off to a great school. The coach and her guidance always kept me on track. That is how it is whether she coaches or not. You (Ernestina) are just jealous because Coach has always be been better than you in everything.
Whats weird is that you look at all our facebooks and myspaces looking for creepy things , who is the weirdo?....and if by chance this is Lisa or Tina well you already know what I think there...
As for the relationship this coach had with these players whether she is coaching or not all of will still have this coach a part of our daughters lives. Her guidance is amazing to them. You will never know this because you enjoy the gossip side of life which we all despise..
Let me make this crystal clear. Neither I nor Susan has any hatred towards Lindsey. And although I am upset at what is going on, I can forgive and so can Susan. If Jesus can forgive us of our sins, who are we to not offer forgiveness. Lindsey and all of the other girls came to all of our kids birthday parties, barbecues, dinners, played in the jump houses and chased everyone around with silly string and eggs, including me. Everyone was happy and that was only last year, what happened?
Nos Alana is claiming the team only was at the coaches house in 2006. Gary claims the whole team went to all the kids parties, barbecues and dinners in 2008. Who is telling the truth here? Which good Christian is not being honest?
Get your stories straight folks...I based my belief that this coach stepped over the line on her husbands proclamation that the team was partying it up at the Cate/Shapiro house on a fairly regular basis.
And again, I didn't bring Alana's name up -she did. I kept it anonymous, just to point out that coaches and or teachers shouldn't be inviting students to live with them.
P.S I am more than willing to debate you on any issue, in this forum or face to face, but can you confine your comments to one article or the other, responding twice seem a little redundant.
You don't have to keep telling us how good of people you are. One needs to look no further than those followers of yours who continue to bash two families who fealt they were wronged. Is there any truth to anything they have said? Or are they all lies? I just cannot believe that this whole mess was about playing time only. I can tell you that its NOT about playing time. Lindsey Foster fealt and feels betrayed by not only her teamates now but her coach as well. You as a christian cannot possibly endorse this rhetoric about these two families. You need to publicly denounce this trashing of these two families now! Do it! I will respect you for it.
So let me see if I get this right. The Fosters, Steeles, Maxwell, and Flores are all lying, and you Gary Cates are telling the truth, is that correct? Are you saying this whole ordeal is a conspiracy against the Coach?
Several of the team players and supporters have been erroneously suggesting a meeting with mayor, etc... I am merely pointing out that the right place for them to go would be the School District or School Board.
Why are you always saying you are not rude when in fact you are. Now the whether the Fosters still sue or Shapiro sues them who knows. Odds are everyone gets sued. Stop making such a huge deal out of simple facts. For the record this was about playing time. That may be hard to swallow but I was there I watched the atmosphere the night their kid did not start.
What I have said is that the Fosters and Steels have lied throughout this entire situation. I do believe that Superintendent Flores is a Statist, who believes in pushing equality, rather than offering equal opportunity, which was evident by the parameters she set down regarding mandatory selection of both Lindsey Foster and Laura Steele, mandatory play time, regardless of performance. Had Susan remained the coach, those were going to be the requirements. Flores placed no importance whatsoever on the wants or desires of the other eleven players, their parents or others in the community that supported Susan. Flores was only concerned about quieting this issue and lacked the leadership to stand on principle or values, opting to allow her liberal attitude to dictate rather than common sense. With regards to James Maxwell, he was leaving to another school long before this happened and was not going to get his hands dirty or get too involved in any controversy. I will say that he was upset that Superintendent Flores ignored his recommendations to quash this issue because the complaints were baseless and he was able to see this as a lie. I will note that I believe this was the fifth or sixth complaint the Fosters have made about coaches and teachers, not just Susan, but since you only know what you have read, you wouldn’t be aware of that. The school paid a lot of money and interviewed over fifty people to come to the conclusion that the Coach Shapiro had done anything wrong, which will again be evident when the coach sues both the Fosters and Steeles for defamation of character and slander, and yes she is suing, but that is another matter.
I am a paralegal and I can see that your wife clearly has no grounds for suing the school district. The district simply chose not to rehire your wife, and they are under no obligation to do so. I have no doubt you will be able to find a lawyer to take your case and waste your money, but you will not prevail in a suit against the Fosters or Steeles. Your own writings suggest that your wife was going to cut these two players, which was one of the allegations made that your wife has denied. You are claiming that Dr. Flores required mandatory selection of Foster and Steele. It would be expected that these players (especially the second highest scorer from last season) would make the team for their senior year. If Foster didn't make the team, it would have completely given the Fosters grounds to sue your wife or the district. Several team members have made outrageous comments about the Fosters, some people have anonymously made comments about your wife, you, Miss Foster, Miss Steele, Ed Foster, Lisa Foster, The Steeles, Alana, and several other bit players in this drama. None of it rises to the very difficult to prove level of defamation of character. Almost all of the statements made in the comments I have read are "opinions" and free speech allows opinions, even malicious opinions, to be heard. Very few statements of fact have been made here. It was the opinion of the Fosters that your wife discriminated against their daughter on religious grounds (We believe the coach is harassing our daughter, we believe that the coach is discriminating against her because she is Catholic and attends confirmation class..." The Fosters made allegations - not statements of facts. Defamation of character demands at minimum a statement of fact.
I have followed this whole story with sadness and at times amusement; knowing that it was blown out of proportion from the start. I never considered that there might be some truth to the religious discrimination angle until yesterday when you wrote the following:
We live our lives as an open book, what you see is what you get, no secrets, no pretention, we are just your normal, God fearing, bible thumping, gun toting, conservative republicans who believe that right is right and wrong is wrong, a matter of virtues, handed down by God and not subjective to your individual wants or desires.
That statement, while fine as a moral statement of your lifestyle, is just epically stupid when it comes to this matter. To publically announce that actually severely hurts your wife's credibility as a coach. I don't know if the Fosters and Steeles are "bible thumpers" or not, but you made it clear the kind of people you like. You are very black and white; we get it already. The problem is your wife was working for a PUBLIC high school. What chance would an Eastern Orthodox, B'hai, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, or atheist player have of making the team with your wife as coach. I won't even venture to ask about a lesbian basketball player (there have been several high profile lesbian basketball players - Sheryl Swoopes comes to mind.)
I have no doubt having read your responses in the past couple of months that you will now either fly off the handle with me or try to convert me. I have felt nothing but sympathy for all involved in this matter as I don't know any of the people involved. I look at this as a very unfortunate incident. I believe everyone needs to take a breath and let this issue rest. As for the new coach, I wish him all the luck in the world. I have no doubt that many of the team members were very close to your wife and family. I am sure several are devastated. I am hoping that these players get some help so that they can move forward now that your wife will not be their coach.
Some of you are taking bits and pieces of separate articles and mixing them up. Regardless, my opinion or comments are my own, I do not speak for Susan and she does not speak for me. Had Susan listened to me she would have cut both these kids last year, they were a distraction and a disappointment, they were un motivated, un disciplined and detrimental to the morale of the team. That was my opinion last year and it is still my opinion. Regardless of my suggestion Susan kept both of them, had she dumped them we wouldn’t be going through this. I am not bound by anyone to keep my opinions to myself, nor will I, regardless of who it may offend. I have not lied or disrespected anyone on this blog or in the paper. Am I not allowed to speak, air my frustrations? I have a reason to be angry, what’s yours? You, only know what you read, in the paper or in the blog, which are both rife with error. It would be nice to talk to someone who has their facts straight. Someone that could speak intelligently about what actually happened, instead of people like you that speak without thinking, creating a stir to entertain or fill some empty void in their life. That’s how I feel and with the coach already moving on to bigger and better things, this has just become a waste of my time, and without speaking to someone who has the nerve to use their real name, I may as well be speaking to a dog. I have made my point and I am done. If you have and more questions or comments I suggest that you stop me on the street and ask me face to face, and I promise I will do the same. Goodbye.
After the comments you have made on this blog, If I was your wife, I would slap you. You would be thumping your bible in the garage. Why would you suggest to the coach, that she should cut Lindsey and Laura? These blogers have been teeing off on the wrong person! Gary is to blame!
Words falsely spoken that tend to damage the reputation of another. See 260 S.W. 523, 525.
Slander may take the form of either slander per se or slander per quod. If the defamatory meaning is apparent on the face of the statement, then the statement is slanderous per se. If the defamatory meaning arises only from extrinsic facts, not apparent upon the face of the statement, then the statement is slanderous per quod. See id. At 748.
Read up on it and report back......
The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as granted in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In its 9-0 decision, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), the U.S. Supreme Court established the doctrine and held that "insulting or 'fighting words,' those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" are among the "well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech [which] the prevention and punishment of...have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem."
I have spoken to the two lawyers I work with about this case in the last week. Both concur that there is very little chance that the coach would prevail in court. Since Ms. Shapiro serves at the pleasure of the district, I highly doubt that Superintendent Flores verbally and via-email renewed her contract. If Jack Daley or someone else did that, they were likely not in a position to offer her a renewal of her contract. Even if Flores had renewed the contract, at-will employees may be let go at any time for any reason.
School districts have mechanisms in place for parents to file formal complaints; this is what the Fosters and the Steeles did. They did not insult the Coach in public, they filed a complaint alleging what they perceived to be harrassing and belittling behavior by the coach. Breach of the peace assumes there existed a peace; clearly this was not the case as three separate complaints were filed by two families.
Coach Shapiro meanwhile, publically insulted the Fosters in a Dispatch interview in June:
"I treat the kids fair across the board. The Fosters just couldn't deal with the fact their daughter wasn't the star of the team," she said. This statement could certainly be construed as slandering the Fosters.
My point, which obviously you didn't get, was that Gary Cates is making things much worse for his wife. I sympathize with her. Had all of these people sat down and talked reasonably several months ago, there differences might have been worked out and we would not have had this very demeaning public display. There were no winners in this situation.
You are overboard with your comment about the Coach pubicly insulted anyone. The statement that the Fosters must be upset over the fact that Lindsey was not a star. That is not a false statement. They even called the sports writer and asked him to write more about their daughter. They were very vocal to every parent about how they were upset that Lindsey was not the center of attention. My own wife was cornered by this woman and expressed how she hated the coach now for not starting her daughter. The coach was just making the assumption that everyone else involved already knew. What other reason would the coach have to believe since they just had lunch together the day before her first non-starting or captain vote or whatever? For God sakes what is wrong with you people? They were friends. The coach always spoke highly of Ed Foster always stuck up for the way he treated his daughter. This is because many of us thought he put way too much pressure on her. This coach never bad mouthed them at all. She even went against her own husband and the rest of the coaching staff who never wanted to see Lindsey in the game again. This coach always did what was best for the team. I agree with the lawyer there is so much more to this case than what you people on here know. Coach Shapiro did her job.
As far as peace there was peace as can be introduced into evidence via 32 e mails between the coach and the Fosters and Steeles up until the night of the captain vote. Furthermore, Ms. Shapiro continued her duties as Head Coach from the end of the season till her letter from the district. As exampled by 12 duties she was assigned to complete and she did complete. The Athletic Director is within his capacity to negotiate coaches that work for his school. It is well within his scope of duties as exampled by the same email to 4 other coaches presently at GHS that have come forward. All lawyers see things differently as exampled by the Fosters Lawyer for pushing this case to where it is today. In conclusion you or your lawyer firm do not have all the facts or evidence. Mrs. Foster acknowledged via email to Ms. Shapiro the request for a practice schedule change. This request was granted and appreciated by Mrs. Foster proof is in the email correspondence back and forth and the Athletic Director copied on everything. Mrs. Foster knew before she made the discrimination complaint based on religion that it was a false accusation. That is where one of the problems is. You cannot make accusations against someone who you know are false and damage their reputation.
Just another way to view the same situation
Someone should ask the question: "What happens when administration attempts to discipline a child of an outspoken school board member? How does that school board member react? How did the child respond? Threaten?" These are the questions to ask. Is discipline allowed at all at GHS? The answer is no. The employees at GHS are blamed for the actions of children. Parents are rarely appreciative and normally are rude and obnoxious. That behavior is rewarded by the school board and the superintendent as now everybody can clearly see.
Threaten a teacher or coach. Falsely accuse them? You WIN!!! The teacher or coach will be fired, credential pulled and publicly humiliated in the Dispatch.
The school board and the district office don't have the backbone to even defend their own policies. They leave teachers and coaches twisting in the wind. This is a known entity now and all pretenses are now gone. The downward spiral of GHS is now in overdrive.
The truth is (although no one at GHS will have the cajones to admit it) that if you are the child of a school board member, you get targeted more than the average kid. I've seen it firsthand and heard comments about parents I couldn't repeat here.
You'd think that the Supreme Courts recent ruling on illegal searches of school children would be a wakeup call. GHS continues to conduct illegal searches for drugs of students for absolutely no good reason (using profanity as a reason to search for drugs, are you kidding me, they'd be searching the teachers than as well).
GHS has overstepped it's bounds with several students over the last few years. I expect it is frustrating to teachers and administrators when a student who knows their civil rights are being violated actually fights back. I applaud students like these for standing up for their rights.
With the ACLU, Supreme Court and GUSD school board all attacking administration for trying to weed out week, then I guess they should just let the kids toke it up and do what they want.
I know about the incident brought up by some loser GHS official. The ACLU is involved because two kids were brought in to the office for using profanity while singing and playing guitar. I saw the yotube video of it. They got dragged to the office and grilled about drugs (for singing curse words - WTF???) Then the students and their possesions were searched for drugs. One of the kids specifically said he would not consent to the illegal search and he was searched anyway. He told me that he begged them not to do an illegal search. They restrained him and did the search, he warned the administrator that they would be sorry (he knew his civil rights were being violated and planned to take action). Of course no drugs were found because the kid doesn't do drugs. He called the ACLU and they are working with him.
So the parents of those kids were angry - who wouldn't be? I don't have kids yet, but I was pissed just hearing the story from one of the kids it happened to.
If GHS really wants to weed out drugs, they should go after kids who exhibit some signs of using drugs. No one at GHS has the right to search a student and their property without some kind of reasonable suspicion. GHS totally screwed up here - and of course being GHS administrators, they think its ok to go on and blog about it even though they were dead wrong. Idiots on a power trip....
She is a crappy parent and has been abusive to teachers and taught her children to be the way that they are to administrators and teachers.
Just in case the families of these two girls read this; as a college coach I spoke to Coach Shapiro who was very brief, and I respect her more now because she was very politically correct. I know she is now working as a recruiter for colleges and I cannot believe how you as parents did not foresee how this action you took damaged any chance your children had.
Coach Shapiro is running a Progressive Basketball Class that will enable ball players to get into college I suggest you make your amends and get your kids in this program. Lastly there GPA needs to be a 3.5 overall to receive any attention. They should be in summer school bringing up the one thing that will take both of them further than basketball ever will.
Carlisle
You are and absolute idiot! First of all, one would have to value your opinion before anyone could respect it. Your comments are weak and un supported. Do you honestly think that the issues in this case could be detected on a game film? The issues in this case have nothing at all to do with talent, or playing time. Those allegations are nothing more than a smoke screen to hide the real facts. Second, do you think that anyone could give an acurate assesement of a coach from a game film? That is totally obsurd. Did she walk up and down the court? Did she scratch her head two times? Did she cross her legs before halftime? I mean come on! What could a coach possibly do on a game film to impress you? Bobby Knight is a great basketball coach, but would he be a good high school coach? Hell No! These are kids! You obviously have little experience and your desires are only to support the coach. If you support the coach than just say so. Don't insult our intelligence with your "picked out of the air" facts.
How do you know that Bobby knight was a good basketball coach, did you know him personally, no, you didn’t, you only believe that he was a good coach because you watched him on TV and read of his successes. Yes film of both players and coaches are immensely valuable in understanding a coach’s methodology and assessing a player’s strengths and weaknesses. I can tell you that the coaching community in California is smaller than you may think, and the coaching community at the college level, especially in division 1-2-3 is even smaller. This is not the first coach to go through this type of issues; actually, most coaches face this at some point in their career. The goal is to learn from it and grow, learn to spot these types of players and parents before they are part of the team and then keep them far away. I don’t know what type of basketball experience you have, but you obviously have no understanding of the game and for someone who professes to be “Bobby Knight”, yes I saw that that was one of your many names, you should be embarrassed. If Bobby Knight read your comments he would break his foot off in you butt!
So you are going to go ahead and tell me that a program is going to put a lot of emphasis on a particular players parents? If you are affiliated with a college, I am sure you are aware of all the colleges who have violated NCAA rules to lure athletes. I am and advocate of academics for sure, but how many exceptions are made for athletes who are challenged adademically? Oh, and how about Dennis Rodman? Did he have good parents? Again I'm not saying academics are not important, but it truly is about the numbers, and who is going to help make the program a success. A bad coach could be a greater hinderance than an unrully parent, in a program. The administrators don't look in the stands when the program lags. I am sure over time that Dr. Flores descision will resinate in the community, and by and large, the general consensus will be that she did the right thing.
As for Coach Jones I was the kid you broke down in the locker room. I was the kid who you thrashed upon. I have a degree and a great paying job and from what I looked up you have worked at walmart, pizza places, and you are a teacher. You are some drifter who can not maintain a stable residence; so really what example can you really set? These girls will run you or at least the Fosters will. What a shame for the program.
I really hope that these girls, and the shapiros, can over come their bitterness. I have never before seen so much hate. Please girls, reach out to your two teamates. Be friends! Before you know it high school will be over. These two girls, Lindsey and Laura have been, and are your teamates, and for heaven sakes don't trash coach Jones. You girls have not even played for him and your already trashing him. Show some good spirited respect. Give him a chance
The girls are just as guilty. The parents are losers, but are supported by Apuzzo who has a track record of trashing teachers and harassing over grades. That is how Apuzzo got elected... trashing teachers.
You sound like one very angry teacher - the klnd that gives the majority of good teachers a bad name.
Numerous parents that cry out for higher standards have attacked and rampaged teachers at the high school. Ask the math teachers how they feel about 'certain parents." You should ask administration how they feel after this last year.
I have had two students graduate from GHS and in their combined seven years of taking Math at GHS they had one good Math teacher (Silver?) and one decent Math teacher (Santos?). Every other Math teacher they had were just terrible teachers who didn't know Math.
I am an engineer, so I was able to help my kids, but I have to tell you, I resent paying taxes which are supposed to be used to hire someone to teach my kids Math and then having these people get paid and not be able to teach Math. I have no doubt that these incompetent teachers complained about me, because I sure complained about them.
The truth is known.
My kids didn't hate or disrespect their teachers, they just had some bad ones at the high school. There were teachers who showed Disney videos in class, teachers who didn't know how to teach proofs. Having had some very good teachers at Luigi and Brownell, my wife and I could spot a weak teacher once our kids got to GHS.
This response is so typical of the teachers union - defend the membership all at any cost. Blame the poor teaching results on the parents, the students, the school board. Preach personal responsibility for everyone but yourselves.
By the way, I am not friends with anyone on the school board or in the school district - I just know what I read in the papers and see when I catch the meetings on cable. I voted for Good, Bress, Apuzzo, Aguirre and Bundros and they are all doing a good job.
While watching the board meetings last year, I saw that the school district instituted a wellness policy. Don't you think a morbidly obese teacher should get on board with that? What kind of a role model is that for students? My daughter used to feel physically ill around him - he would be eating in class while the kids were working.
And please tell - what teacher did I lie about? The one now in jail? The Math teacher who got fired from MH and then booted from the Early College? My neighbors kid went to that Gavilan program and had to suffer that fool. The only mistake made after kicking him out of the Early College after a year was they apparently let him go back to GHS (ahh tenure). The teacher who brought her personal family drama into the classroom every day? I actually feel sorry for her - my kids thought she was a nice person, she just didn't know how to teach Geometry. My son learned more about her family then he did about Geometry. I taught him that year, and he succeeded by me tutoring him. His friends were not so fortunate, as their parents weren't engineers or Math majors. Several went to private tutoring, some had to go to summer school.
I have had the opportunity to meet several wonderful Math teachers over the last three years (my son's roommate is the son of one of them). Most GHS teachers couldn't get an interview to clean the bathrooms in Saratoga or Los Altos.
Get over yourselves already
It is very obvious to me that some teachers (likely the same ones I wrote about) spend their time on this blog defending the indefensible. I remember the old principal (Bravo) avoiding me when my wife and I went to talk with him about two different Math teachers that were just abysmal. I have no doubt he complained about us, GHS has a long tradition of complaining about parents who have certain expectations of the teachers.
We had those expectations because we had good teachers, including good Math teachers, through middle school. The wheels came off the bus at GHS. Instead of fixing the problem, or getting rid of ineffective and incompetent teachers, GHS just shuffles them around, ignores the problem, and blames the kids and/or the parents who complain. At the end of the day, the facts speak for themselves - the reason so many GHS kids who performed well in their previous schools and perform well in every other subject in high school are not doing well in Math is because GHS has very weak Math teachers.
My understanding of this basketball situation is that the superintendent chose not to rehire this coach - I don't think the school board even votes on matters like this or the hiring of the new baseball coach. Coach Shapiro has moved on with her life, but these bitter teachers are still looking for a forum to rant about the school district, school board, parents, students, etc... They try to hold everyone else accountable except themselves.
And to make my point, one of the Math teachers (jonekin) writes here that he would have transferred his own daughter out of his class. Did you tell the parents of those kids who were losing instruction (because of the kids who didn't want to learn) to transfer their kids to another class? Did you tell the kids themselves to find a class that would meet their needs? No, instead you let them lose out on learning. You deprived them of what they needed and now you admit you didn't do right by them. I thank God my kids are done with all that.
People like you set up an antagonistic relationship. You and your children create the cancerous atmosphere that undermines education. The loudmouths are all guilty of the same hate mongering. None of them have helped out a day in their lives to actually help the math department or to actually find out the facts about what is going on. And you wonder why so many pack their bags voluntarily and get out?
I did my job as a parent - my wife and I prepared my kids. The teachers they had in grade school and middle school prepared my kids. They were well rounded, worked hard and played by the rules. I never complained about a teacher until they got to the high school, and then it was a yearly disappointment with the Math teachers. My son is at UC now, having graduated with honors from GHS and he was far behind his peers in Math
(not everything else - just Math.)
I am singling out Math teachers at GHS because his other teachers (AP and honors teachers in English and History, all his teachers in Science, his Photography, Music and Spanish teachers) were so much better than the Math teachers.
My complaint is the Math teachers at GHS, many of whom are not doing what they are being paid to do. No communicating was going to make a lazy Math teacher stop losing my kids work. No communicating was going to make a woman who cries in class about personal problems suddenly learn how to teach Geometry. No communicating was going to help the boorish loudmouth who enjoyed dissecting the opinions of the columnist from local paper get my son through AP Statistics.
Don't pay any attention to Rorschash. "Rorschash" is really Jonekin, who couldn't keep any kind of order in the classroom, and has a personal vendetta against the whole system. Jonekin doesn't take any responsibility, and everything that went wrong, was everyone elses fault.
Yes I am speaking on her behalf but I feel it is about time someone did.
Most of the parents in the city are awesome, but the few that complain are leading the district down. Gang influence is on the increase and teachers are being fired if they defend themselves against gang members. Children of board members are empowered to shout at administration and teachers. The race card is played over and over again in order to influence grade inflation. Teachers are written up for not passing students that don't even attend school.
Keep in mind that the school board and superintendent FIRED a coach that was being harassed by parents and children even though the coach did EVERYTHING right... except to give in to harassment. GUSD defends children HARASSING teachers and coaches and will FIRE THE COACH OR TEACHER if they don't obey the children.
Get your children away from this district if you care anything at all about their character and education. Take out a loan to put them in private school or sell your home and rent if you must in a town north of Gilroy. GHS is being handed over to the thugs.
The four of you have so much hatred but why don’t you spew that in private and not on here. If you are trying to hurt the Coach it is not working. She is stronger in mind and heart than the four of you put together. She has moved onto better things why can’t you?
Hmmm...someone on the blog making up stories - who'd have guessed it!
It's not GHS, it's the coach. If you discipline the coach, who is doing the recruiting, the town of Gilroy will be in an uproar! Look at what happened to Coach Shapiro. No one wants the coach to be upheld to any kind of standard. If you do hold the coach accountable, the remaining parents of kids on the team go nuts. They see it as an opportunity to win favor, and sell out the player, or parents, who cried foul. I guess the answer is to put our heads in the sand and pretend that its not happening ,and then move on to let the following class deal with the same crap later.
I think it would serve you best to stay in the classroom and stick to history. As far as making any suggestions to you, regarding any of the extra curicular activities, I would not have any confidence in your abilities, based on your comments. Thank you sir