Please copy, paste, add your name, and use four stamps to send the below to the following folks.
04/24/2008
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
This morning I read a story online in the San Francisco Chronicle about a seven-year-old first grader whose skull was fractured by a bullying fifth grader (“Oakland: When school bullies get out of hand,” Nanette Asimov, April 24, 2008).
I learned through the article that both students attend Piedmont Avenue Elementary, which is in the Oakland Unified School District.
Last year, 344 students were enrolled at Piedmont Ave. Elementary. Ninety-seven of them were suspended for violent acts. That’s more than 28 percent of the student body!
This boy has been bullied before, which resulted in four lost teeth. Principal Angela Haick did nothing to keep it from happening again.
This level of anarchy and hooliganism is disgusting. Worse yet, this violence-plagued school district (Preparatory Literary Academy, of the same district, had 106 violence-related suspensions) does not even have a permanent superintendent. If the district cannot afford to have people supervising the students before and after school, then call out the National Guard.
How many more first graders need to be sent to the ICU before action is taken?
Sincerely yours,
(your name here)
Cc:
Vincent Matthews
Interim State Administrator
Oakland Unified School District
1025 Second Ave.
Oakland, CA 94606
Jack O’Connell
Superintendent
CA Department of Ed.
1430 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Angela Haick
Principal
Piedmont Ave. Elementary
4314 Piedmont Ave.
Oakland, CA 94611-4716
Wow… and we're moving to northern CA later this year — possibly Sacramento. I'll make sure to stay away from that area.
We're still unsure of our final destination, btw. (I haven't blogged about this much, yet). But, I'm highly drawn to San Jose. Still, I've got a bit of an “in” at an IT consultancy in Sacramento… Who knows how it'll all play out for us. All I know so far is that (1) it's going to be more expensive than Pittsburgh, but (2) it's going to be 500x more awesome in terms of climate!
i really feel sorry for you, because you've chosen to air an opinion without investigating both sides of the story. are you a parent with a child at that school? do you know all of the facts about the child who got hurt and the child who allegedly did the hurting? have you ever actually stepped foot in the school, spoken to teachers, students, parents or Dr. Haick, the principal?? unless you know ALL sides of a story, don't go writing a letter to the governor about how appalled you are. you only make yourself look stupid.
Hey, thanks, Pam! Because I really needed some sympathy today, and here's a total stranger offering it to me. That's great. What a lovely woman you are. Thank you sooooooooo much. God Bless!
I know that when a seven year old gets a skull fracture that's obviously the right time to stop everything and hear everyone's side of the story. Ignore the kid with the skull fracture if you have to, there are sides of the story to be listened to!
Oh wait, unlike Pam, I am not a moron with the ethics of the common flea.
Just curious, Pam, would you want there to be a big debate if one of your children had suffered a skull fracture and the entire Oakland school system was sitting around with their thumbs up their ass. Because, I'll tell you, I would want blood.
As for people looking stupid, you've made yourself look demonic. That's so much better I'm sure. Are you the Pam O'Tay that's head of the PTA down there? Because if you are, it's fairly clear why you left your comment. Quick question though, don't you have an f'ing job to do that takes precedence over surfing the internet looking to do spin doctoring on your incompetence.