Tassajara Prep Charter Petition Submitted to DUSD
Scheduled to open in Dublin, CA, Fall 2012, Tassajara Prep will provide a comprehensive college-prep environment that represents the highest academic and civic standards for all students, establishing a solid foundation for success in premier universities and beyond through rigorous curricula, innovative teaching practices, an expanded choice of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and extracurricular enrichment programs, and integration of the latest technology in the classroom.
Tassajara Prep’s Charter Committee submitted the petition to the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) on Monday, January 11, 2010. Superintendent Stephen Hanke personally signed for the charter petition at exactly 11:25AM. The main body of the charter petition explains the founders’ vision for Tassajara Prep, what we promise our students, and objective measures for our success. The appendices of the charter petition include, among other important items, a draft course catalog of Tassajara Prep and a detailed fiscal plan with a five-year budget projection and a three-year cash flow projection. The complete petition is available for download in three separate documents:
DUSD will hold a public hearing to review Tassajara Prep’s petition and provide feedback to the Charter Committee within the next month. The Charter Committee requested to have the public hearing during the DUSD’s February 9, 2010 Board meeting. That meeting will be held in the DUSD Boardroom at 7471 Larkdale Avenue. All residents are encouraged to attend. DUSD Board meetings are televised on Comcast channel 28. Please check TV30′s website for the exact date and time.
Tassajara Prep will strive to produce healthy, successful, highly motivated citizens. Our vision of an excellent high school is one that maintains a culture of achievement through a program that stresses high standards and a commitment to assist all Tassajara Prep students toward success. Educators at Tassajara Prep will hold high expectations of their students. All students will follow a common set of rigorous academic standards and meet a strict code of conduct in a supportive atmosphere conducive to learning.
5:47 PM on January 11th, 2010
Congratulations on a job well done!!! Your passion and efforts are highly appreciated.
6:15 PM on January 11th, 2010
Congratulations, TVLC! I look forward to hearing more from all sides.
10:04 PM on January 11th, 2010
The proposed high school should be able to attract more buyers to our community and increase the tax base.
1:59 AM on January 14th, 2010
looks like dhs is going to be in the list of top high schools.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_14182213
6:09 AM on January 14th, 2010
Congratulations to Dublin High School. It’s great to see the recent string of accomplishments. Strong high schools make for a strong city.
Thx, John Z.
6:46 AM on January 14th, 2010
This is excellent news, I just hope it doesn’t lead to a flood of comments from people saying, “See, we don’t need Tassajara Prep.” Nonsense; if DHS is ranked highly, then Dublin can have TWO great high schools, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Dublin still needs Tassajara Prep.
Also, that news article you linked to was not a very good piece. It’s very irresponsible for someone to write an article on DHS without so much as even mentioning Tassajara Prep. Worse, one of his sources for a quote was from the incredibly biased OneDublin.org, a site with an obvious agenda. Even though AroundDublin is involved with Tassajara Prep, John never lets it get in the way of his reporting. Can’t say the same for OneDublin.
Congrats to DHS. I can’t wait to see the two high schools engage in friendly academic competition, because the real winners will be all Dublin residents.
11:43 AM on January 14th, 2010
Well said…
3:16 PM on January 14th, 2010
“It’s very irresponsible for someone to write an article on DHS without so much as even mentioning Tassajara Prep.”
Really? This school doesn’t even exist. I’m struggling to figure out what would have been said in that article about DHS making Newsweek’s list that would have any sort of relevance.
If you want to talk about bias, let’s talk about this blog. I find it interesting that this blog didn’t have a special article referencing DHS and this accomplishment – it had to be introduced into the conversation as a comment to another story.
Furthermore, the quote really came from David Haubert, president of the school board, and it just happened to appear on the onedublin.org blog. Who else should comment on this story but a member of the school board? How is there bias there?
5:51 PM on January 14th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – I need to disagree respectfully with your assertion that this blog is biased towards Tassajara Prep. The Around Dublin Blog has published numerous articles celebrating the wins at Dublin High School. Here are just a few articles that refer to DHS’s recent successes:
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2009/11/dublin-ca-happy-thanksgiving/
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2009/09/2009-dublin-unified-school-district-api-scores/
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2009/09/dublin-celebrates-many-recent-wins/
The Around Dublin Blog also published an article supporting a recent fundraiser at DHS:
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2009/09/dublin-high-eco-chic-bag-fundraiser/
It’s thrilling to be a part of this time in Dublin’s history. Dublin High School is improving each year. Tassajara Prep is only 2.5 years from opening. Dublin will have two strong public high schools and will continue its ascent as a city of vision and progress.
Thx, John Z.
6:04 PM on January 14th, 2010
I know that you’ve covered other topics related to DHS, I just found it interesting that one of the major topics that has come up I think twice on this blog is that DHS was not on the US News and World Report list, but then when DHS shows up on Newsweek’s list, nothing was said.
That’s all I’m saying.
7:05 PM on January 14th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – I can appreciate what you are saying. The Around Dublin Blog will be sharing this good news in a future article once the Newsweek list of top high schools is published. This is the approach that we have taken with the US News & World Report “Top High Schools” articles because it allows us to provide context and also provide readers with links to review the data on the source website.
Thx, John Z.
4:03 PM on February 5th, 2010
There are rumors that the charter school is motivated by a personal vendetta you have. Can you respond to these allegations?
4:17 PM on February 5th, 2010
Actually, I heave heard allegations that people against the charter school have been threatening those who are in favor of it. A lot of parents supporting the charter school are keeping low profile to avoid unnecessary trouble. After all, the criteria for CA to approve the charter school is not how many parents supporting or opposing. It is those sixteen elements laid out by the law. We all know incumbents tend to disapprove any new stuff that is against their perceived “deserved” interests.
12:27 PM on February 27th, 2010
So the fact that no parents came out in support for a new school is because they are intimidated?
Give me a break – this whole new school idea was cooked up by greedy developers who want to boost home prices in Dublin Ranch – it has nothing to do with how good the schools are.
With education being slashed – it is critical to keep the focus on what we have. Adding another school right now will be disastrous.
11:46 AM on January 14th, 2010
Cheers for the significant progress DHS has made over the last several years!!!
9:21 PM on January 14th, 2010
The Around Dublin blog and the charter school initiative are run by the same two people (John Zukoski and Jimmy Huang) so it isn’t surprising that the Around Dublin blog is being used to promote the argument for a charter high school.
This is an important topic that deserves a vigorous debate. http://www.OneDublin.org is ensuring that parents interested in the outcome of this debate hear both sides of the argument.
In John Zukoski’s posting he states: “The Around Dublin Blog will be sharing this good news in a future article once the Newsweek list of top high schools is published.”. The Newsweek list is published in June, likely after the charter petition appeal process is over. I expect the Around Dublin blog to be a tool for the charter school initiative until the final outcome is known, and to downplay or ignore any success at Dublin High along the way which would undermine the charter school initiative.
Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and see Around Dublin’s headline on Friday touting the success at Dublin High.
9:44 PM on January 14th, 2010
Hi James – I admire your passion for providing a platform to promote DHS. The Around Dublin Blog also strives to let folks know about the accomplishments in our schools. We will be sharing the good news from the Newsweek article once it is published so that we can provide context and links to the source information.
Keep up the good work,
John Z.
11:23 PM on January 14th, 2010
Hi All,
Really, I would like to bury this who’s more biased thing and get to the core of the issues. Obviously, we all bring our own bias to whatever we do… enough said; therefore, I have read the application and would prefer to discuss the content vs. the meaningless exchanges since the article is more about the application.
Clearly, the application is well thought out, has current research included, and a lot of care was taken in developing the TPHS concept. Educationally speaking, there are some great concepts in the application. However, educating students really comes down to the curriculum used, teaching methodologies employed, skills of the teachers in the classroom, and the connection that students have to the school.
I really don’t see anything in the application that can’t be achieved within the present system except for the smaller total school population. Having a small school population will be challenging financially, and this is one of the most challenging financial times for all schools in the State of California. Leveraging resources will be essential to making it through this budget crisis. Granted it looks like TPHS will be trying to leverage resources with their parent organization given the governance structure.
In my opinion, as a parent, I am honestly concerned that the charter organization hasn’t been able to realize a higher academic achievement on their Livermore campus. Looking at the demographics from the API tests, it seems that there would be very few, naturally occurring, cognitive barriers or socioeconomic factors that would create hurdles to LVCS students achieving even greater academic success.
Comparing the LVCS performance (API of 866) to Fallon’s (API of 900), since they are similar in grade level demographics, one can see a rather large discrepancy of API points. Can this discrepancy be explained? I would be curious to read a detailed explanation of the LVCS API scores including the challenges they face in increasing the academic achievement of their student population. Does anyone have a link to an article or presentation that would highlight this issue?
9:20 AM on January 16th, 2010
Hi, Rick,
You have raised a good point. But I am not sure whether it is comparing apple with apple when you compare Fallon and LVCS. We all know Livermore’s public schools are generally speaking worse than Dublin’s. I think a better comparison would be comparing LVCS with other public schools (including middle schools) in Livermore. If you could share some data on that, it would be great. Thanks.
12:13 AM on January 17th, 2010
Hi George,
The demographics are very similar between LVCS and Fallon. Both are K-8 schools. It is hard to compare LVCS with the middle schools in Livermore since LVCS has the K-8 grade level configuration. Typically middle schools are ranked lower in API vs. elementary schools. Looking at the “average parent education level” it is the same for both schools. This is typically the biggest factor outside of the school’s control that predicts student academic performance. Additionally Fallon seems to be more diverse and they have more socio-economically challenged students than LVCS. Sometimes the CDE data is not as “clean” as we would like the demographics to be so that is why I am asking for a more detailed explanation of LVCS’s API score. There may be other factors onsite that contribute to an artificially low API.
However, even if you look at the similar, surrounding, non-charter, public schools in Livermore, they are achieving equal or better results when compared to LVCS. (When comparing API it is important to look at the demographics pages to see if the ethnic make up, special education enrollment/ type of program, and parent education levels are similar so one can make an apples to apples comparison.)
Livermore School’s API Scores
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrthAPIDst.aspx?allcds=01-61200-6097661&c=R
The three surrounding schools that have similar demographics to LVCS exceed the API scores at LVCS.
Mendenhall
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrthSchDem.aspx?allcds=01-61200-6001341
Smith Elementary
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=01-612006001259
Sunset Elementary
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=01-612006097661
The only reason that I did not include Michell Elementary’s data is the demographics are very different from LVCS. They have more students who may face some learning hurdles that students at LVCS may not face.
Michell Elementary:
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrthSchDem.aspx?allcds=01-61200-6001291
Therefore, at this point in time, this charter school is a rather large risk to take for results that really don’t look too different than the surrounding, non-charter, public schools. Especially given the present focus of the governor’s budget cuts where he wants to shrink administrator job positions. http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/2459686.html
The redundancy of two high school administrations on two separate campuses would only reproduce what DUSD had to cut at the elementary level when Nielson closed. The small school concept is very expensive. The students enrolled at a school have to support the salaries of the office administration and clerical support. This scenario of two high schools serving Dublin, which presently only has an enrollment around 1,500 (500 students below the surrounding district’s high school enrollments for one high school), is further challenged by the fact that charter schools do not get the same amount of money per student. Therefore, from the economist’s perspective, it would not be beneficial to have 400 or so students in the city “bringing in” less money than those that attend DHS while still having to support two high school administrations and clerical support positions within the city.
Just looking at the facts, there may be a better time in the future for this concept to come forward, or it may behoove us to see how it can be done together so we get the biggest “bang” for our “student bucks” coming to the city of Dublin. Just some food for thought, I hope it all works out well for the students.
This is why I continue to point out the Pathways program as a fine example of what happens when everyone works together. I applaud parent involvement and the charter applicants’ desire to create an awesome school for Dublin students. However, given the present economic environment in the state, we must evaluate if the result is worth the risk.
Oh and it might interest everyone (who likes full disclosure), that I did work for the Livermore schools as a teacher and my oldest daughter was slated to enroll in LVCS; however, I accepted an administrative position in the Sacramento area which took us away from the Tri-Valley. So I guess that really messes up the bias argument, sorry to ruin the fun guys
Last, I think I need to leave a disclaimer that my opinions expressed here are as a parent of students who attend Dublin schools and nothing more.
4:31 PM on January 19th, 2010
Hi, Rick,
Thanks a lot for your comprehensive analysis. I appreciate your time for this kind of fact and substance based debate.
I double checked the API scores for LVCS and other schools you mentioned in your comment. Let me summarize them below:
LVCS: Grade K-8, API 866
Mendenhall: Grade 6-8, API 858
Smith: Grade K-5, API 901
Sunset: Grade K-5, API 904
Note that LVCS has middle schools combined with elementary schools. So it is hard to say it is worse than Smith or Sunset because these two schools have only elementary classes. It is fair to say LVCS is about the same quality as the surrounding schools (best public schools in Livermore).
I certainly agree with you there are unknown risks involved to make TP a great high school. But without even trying and just giving up, that is not the American spirit I’ve known.
2:30 PM on January 19th, 2010
What are the chances of opening this school in 2012? I heard that the old Dubliners are opposing it with tooths and nail.
6:14 PM on January 19th, 2010
rameshwar – you might find this useful on how the charter school petitioning process works – it’s a short video presentation up on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GiZp12M6qU.
9:54 PM on January 19th, 2010
Regarding Dublin parents who have concerns about the charter high school initiative let me introduce you to one of them – me. I’ve lived in Dublin Ranch since our family moved to California in 2000. Since I’m a Dublin Ranch resident I guess I’m a “new Dubliner” but since I’ve been here 10 years I guess I’m also an “old Dubliner”. Perhaps it’s easier to just say I’m just a Dublin resident like you.
I represent hundreds of parents and residents from across Dublin via http://www.OneDublin.org – many of them in Dublin Ranch – who are very concerned about the charter school proposal. Many of those concerned initially thought the charter high school was a good idea until they attended the charter school town hall meetings and/or researched the charter high school proposal. This ultimately isn’t about “old or new” Dublin, or “east or west” Dublin. The concerns are specifically about the charter high school proposal and the impact on Dublin public education.
I am very interested in your point of view regarding the charter high school concept and hope we can talk in real-time. You can reach me most easily via email at onedublin@comcast.net or by calling me at 925-456-4316.
5:36 AM on January 20th, 2010
For someone who is so anti-AroundDublin, you’re sure on here a lot, always plugging your own blog. I’d sure love to see all these hundreds of Dublin parents who are against the charter school. There are far more parents (and non-parents) who are in favor of it.
4:45 PM on January 20th, 2010
I’d love to see all these Dublin parents who are in FAVOR of the charter school. It seems like there are only a few in favor – and most of them are NOT folks with kids in the DUSD system. If there are so many Dublin parents in favor of a charter school, why is it that none of them signed the petition? Until we see actual names of parents who are willing to put their high schoolers in this experimental charter school (whose location remains “to be determined”), any argument pro or con remains purely theoretical.
10:41 PM on January 24th, 2010
I find it VERY deceptive and disappointing that the onedubin folks have purchased the domain name of arounddublinblog.net and directed it to onedublin.org. Is this what it is coming to? Deception? How embarassing… and to come from a high-tech executive nonetheless. That really bring it down a notch.
8:21 AM on January 25th, 2010
Jimmy – http://www.arounddublinblog.net isn’t owned by anyone right now (it’s available on GoDaddy as of this posting).
8:34 AM on January 25th, 2010
Hi James,
We can assure you none of the critical comments about your website is coming from anyone on the Around Dublin Team.
5:30 PM on January 25th, 2010
It looks like James owns arounddublinblog.org.
Domain ID:D157797082-LROR
Domain Name:AROUNDDUBLINBLOG.ORG
Created On:12-Dec-2009 03:10:49 UTC
Last Updated On:12-Dec-2009 03:10:54 UTC
Expiration Date:12-Dec-2010 03:10:49 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR35028545
Registrant Name:James Morehead
Registrant Street1:
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Dublin
Registrant State/Province:California
Registrant Postal Code:94568
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:
7:23 PM on January 25th, 2010
http://www.arounddublinblog.org/ goes to the Around Dublin blog – try it.
5:37 PM on January 25th, 2010
James owns arounddublinblog.org.
8:51 PM on January 25th, 2010
Let me summarize the Anonymous postings above: AroundDublinBlog.net is owned by nobody and points to nothing. AroundDublinBlog.org takes you to AroundDublinBlog.com and according to WhoIS.net is privately registered.
For those interested in a detailed analysis of the Tassajara Prep charter petition you’ll find it at OneDublin.org (which I own): http://wp.me/pHUAa-5h.
8:16 AM on January 26th, 2010
This is pretty comical at this point. James is not admitting nor denying that he owns arounddublinblog.org, but he was quick to state he didn’t own arounddublinblog.net. I’m guessing he does own it.
How does this relate to this topic of the charter school? It just goes to show that people will stop at nothing to support their passion and to stand up for what they believe in, even if it’s deceptive.
But of course TVLC “borrowed” the Livermore charter petition. Which business/school doesn’t use someone else’s work as a starting point? There’s nothing wrong with that.
11:25 AM on January 26th, 2010
tried the link and seems a pointless deception since the link points to around dublin
11:49 AM on January 26th, 2010
Does that mean James bought the domain name and now he pointed this domain name to arounddublinblog.com under the pressure from Anonymous?
1:26 PM on January 26th, 2010
The arounddublinblog.org domain was registered by James at InterNIC on 12/12/09. You don’t need to look at WhoIs.net — there are registrars that will provide all of the information on the domain registration, and this one comes up as owned by James.
The original Anonymous poster probably typed the Around Dublin URL as a “.org” instead of a “.com” and was likely redirected to OneDublin.org. After the post made it’s way to the blog, James or his proxy probably changed the redirection to the real Around Dublin Blog. This change only takes a few minutes to perform online.
James has stated many times that he believes this blog is a proxy for Tassajara Prep and he takes every opportunity to redirect readers to his site. It is difficult to see him purchasing a domain to support Around Dublin Blog and direct more traffic here.
4:55 PM on January 26th, 2010
What you said makes sense to me. I heard that James’ wife is working in Dublin High. Is that right?
7:25 PM on January 26th, 2010
Wrong again Anonymous – my wife does not work at Dublin High. She does substitute teach for our local elementary and middle schools (as many parents in the neighborhood already know). I assume you are taking the character attack route because the points made at http://www.OneDublin.org have really hit a nerve in this debate. So thank you for the compliment. (btw, I don’t own any of the domains mentioned in this long thread)
10:45 AM on January 27th, 2010
So your family has a vested interest in DUSD because your wife is working for them, right?
11:07 AM on January 27th, 2010
Every parent in Dublin with elementary and/or middle school children has a vested interest in DUSD regardless of their position on the high school charter petition, unless they plan to bypass DUSD public elementary and middle schools through a private school.
For those interested in understanding why I’m investing significant amounts of personal time in this debate you can see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=508OqOCDNI4.
12:01 PM on January 27th, 2010
The interest you are talking about is different from what I said. Your interest is more special because your wife’s job is depending on DUSD. Or should I say conflict of interest?
12:48 PM on January 27th, 2010
Since I’m not involved in the final decision pretty tough for there to be a “conflict of interest” (the decision is up to the Dublin School Board, if appealed then the County Board and if appealed again ultimately the State Board). I’m not on any of those boards.
Regardless whatever happens in this charter high school debate won’t impact whether or not substitute teaching jobs are available at the elementary and middle school level (obviously).
My motivation is clearly described in the first person right here for all to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=508OqOCDNI4. If you get a chance, since you are passionate about the issue, how about doing the same? It would be a valuable input to the debate.
And thank you for all the traffic / links / curiosity in OneDublin.org this extended thread is generating – happy to keep this bantering back and forth going as long as you are.
9:15 PM on January 28th, 2010
Why does this comment from John Zukoski keep showing up on the bottom of the list of comments, even though it is out of date order?? Doesn’t make sense to me. Diverting attention away from the latest comments perhaps??
10:13 PM on February 4th, 2010
I find it pretty hilarious that all you people support the charter school and say that you would send your kids there, but at a public meeting tonight to sway the board to support or deny the petition, the only person willing to speak on behalf of the charter school was the founder of this blog (a founding board member of the charter school initiative). Where was all your support tonight?
10:22 PM on February 4th, 2010
We at Tassajara Prep believe that we are embarking on an endeavor that will benefit all of Dublin, not just those students we intend to serve. Our last town hall meeting drifted a bit beyond a meaningful discussion of the merits of our charter petition. In order to facilitate a civilized discussion, we limited our presenting group and did not campaign for our supporters to be attendance tonight.
7:17 AM on February 5th, 2010
I can’t believe people are comparing the process for setting up a charter, to a tea party. There is no campaigning, the DUSD meeting was posted in the paper as is any other meeting information. The feedback was so one sided (no comments given in favor) how can you move forward with this as the goal to serve the entire community if the existing parents in the district and with children attending the high school are so against this? This was a forum set up through the process to sway the school board in your favor. So the strategy is to go away because you didn’t like it? What does that teach kids?
8:27 AM on February 5th, 2010
Last night’s meeting was very civilized. The people who made remarks were quite polite. Passionate, but polite. There were no personal attacks, no yelling, no booing or otherwise uncivilized behavior when Mr. Zukoski spoke. The only thing not civil about the evening was when the entire Tassajara Prep. contingent got up and walked out partway through the proceedings. What kind of message does that send to the community? What kind of message does that send to the high school kids that were in attendance last night? How incredibly rude that was to those kids who had come to speak to the board.
11:05 AM on February 5th, 2010
Although I somewhat agree the TPHS folks leaving early but, technically, the purpose of the hearing was supposed to be expressing comments to the DUSD Board, as you mentioned, not TPHS folks. TPHS held three town hall meetings to get comments directly to them. Mr. Zukoski was only given 3-minute speaking time just like everybody else. So why can’t they leave early like everybody else? They might have family members to attend to just like everybody else. The comments weren’t supposed to be directed to them anyway.
1:07 PM on February 5th, 2010
Yes, of course the comments were addressed to the board, not the TVLC. However, the comments were about their petition – this was their issue. I can’t imagine personally having an issue before the board and walking out before the last word was spoken. Shows a serious lack of tact, as well as a lack of commitment to their own project.
Of course Mr. Zukoski only had three minutes to speak. But so did everyone else. Every TVLC board member could have had their 3 minutes. Every parent supporting the petition could have had their 3 minutes. Where were all those people?
This meeting was as much about public perception as it was about swaying the board. I think we can all agree that the board’s decision was already a foregone conclusion. But there were some people in the audience who came to hear a two-sided debate, and the TVLC folks clearly blew it.
12:14 AM on February 7th, 2010
See, that’s where you’re wrong. It was NOT a debate. It was NOT a Q&A session. It was a public HEARING. Again, the TVLC folks had 3 town hall sessions for those months before. You can’t ask questions because it’s a HEARING. It’s against the law to have a debate in a PUBLIC HEARING.
11:10 PM on February 4th, 2010
With the kind of angry aggressive posts on this blog opposing the charter school, its not to tempting to show up to these events. I wouldn’t go to the Tea Party convention to defend Obama’s policies!
But should a petition be gently passed around or a referendum be held, I’ll be happy to vote. Civilized polling will show which is the marginalized group.
10:54 AM on February 5th, 2010
Nobody expects the DUSD to support the charter school petition, proved by a lot of examples of charter petition in other school districts. Everybody knows that DUSD will organize a lot of teachers and students to voice strong opinions against the charter school. So why waste the energy here to fight the crowd?
7:27 AM on February 5th, 2010
If you were really trying to benefit all of Dublin, you would have dropped this a long time ago.
As to the comment that you didn’t campaign for your supporters to be there…It’s amazing how tenacious parents can be when fighting for their children’s education. When it’s something I believe strongly will benefit or harm my child, I’m going to form my own opinion about whether or not I should attend a meeting, not let an organizer \campaign for my attendance.\ It’s very telling that those opposing the charter were there in droves, with salient points of how this school will harm the educational opportunities of ALL students in Dublin, yet not a single PARENT spoke in favor of the charter school.
And to the poster who reckons those parents were busy with their kids – you should be ashamed. What’s more important that showing your children you will fight for what you believe is in their best interests? And you should have seen the fine scholars from Dublin High who spoke passionately about their school last night. No matter which side of the issue one finds oneself on, these are fine young Dublin citizens we can all be proud of!
4:01 PM on February 5th, 2010
I don’t understand why only the founder spoke in favor of the charter school at last night’s meeting. It seemed like there was more than one person favoring the charter school in attendance but only Mr. Zukowski spoke in generic terms. I would have thought he or someone else would have responded to all of the questions and concerns raised at the meeting. What did that person mean when he said that this charter school was a cover for a personal vendetta? If this is truly about a personal vendetta against the District or some board members, that would explain why no one is coming forward in support of the charter school.
5:52 PM on February 6th, 2010
Hi Anonymous:
I was also interested in what the supporters of the Charter School was going to say too. Also I felt that the meeting was very organized and everyone was very respectful of one another, even when Mr. Zukowski spoke, nothing like a tea partier, whoever said that should be ashamed of themselves. He also stated that he and his team would stay after to answer any questions or concerns that the parents had about the opening of this school, but what I found to be a very cowardily move, they left the meeting while the parents of this community was still speaking. I also didn’t appreciate that Mr. Zukowski stated that they are targeting mainly high performing students. The overall message that the Charter School sent at that meeting was not a positive one for me.
11:27 AM on February 8th, 2010
TPS under the umbrella corporation that runs the Livermore Valley Charter School.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_14344033
11:39 PM on March 10th, 2010
John Z.
I don’t know if you guys care, but I just tried http://www.arounddublinblog.org, and it does not lead me back to your site as James claimed. I guess it’s another lie told by the District through their mouthpiece. It seems to me that all the untruths and distortions are coming from the District through James, while your group has been very consistent in your messaging. Just an observation. The kitchen sink approach will get you some attention, but look how well it worked for Hillary in the end? All she ended up looking was desperate.
I do have some constructive feedback for you, if you don’t mind. Perhaps you should compare Dublin High against the neighboring schools instead of Mission San Jose. I know the point you are trying to make, but I think there is too much information and you should just pick one or two things to focus on. That way you can get the point across better to lazy readers like me.
What is happening today reminds me a lot of what happened when the City tried to build that senior housing by Target many years ago. Back then, many people, especially the seniors, fought against the project tooth and nail. It was as if the City was trying to take away people’s social security or something. Kind of funny when you think about it. Now, that project is beloved by all, including the seniors. Just goes to show you how stupid some people can be.
Anyway, I digress. Thank you for everything you do for our community. Please keep up the good work and continue the good fight.