Home Antioch Letter: Antioch High School Teacher Says Don’t Vote for Navarro

Letter: Antioch High School Teacher Says Don’t Vote for Navarro

by ECT

Dear Editor,

Last night’s school board meeting was more painful to watch than a presidential debate, in large part because the newest member of the board has no experience with Robert’s Rules of Order.

Mr. Navarro tried numerous times and at the most inappropriate times to add an item to the current agenda (despite the fact that the Brown Act requires 72 hour notice to the public).

I can forgive Mr. Navarro for his lack of experience. His rudeness to students however, is despicable.

During the section of the board meeting wherein students come to report out on the events and successes at their school, Mr. Navarro repeatedly turned aside to ask private questions of President Gibson-Gray, thus distracting her also.

It was painfully obvious that the very constituency that Mr. Navarro is tasked with championing was the very group he couldn’t have cared less about.

I beg the citizens of Antioch to come to witness the debacle that has become their school board so that they will understand when I say, please do not elect this man (who was not elected, but appointed by an already dysfunctional board) to another term.

Sincerely,

Dylan Howell
Teacher, Antioch High School

 

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13 comments

Terry Johnson Oct 27, 2016 - 5:04 pm

Navarro, who is a republican is trying to bypass the brown act and not even follow Roberts Rules of Order? I expect that from the Democrats! He needs to go! How can one justify placing an agenda item onto an agenda the night of the meeting? Its common sense.

He was appointed a year ago, he should at the very least know the rules. This is what happens when you take money from special interests, in this case, charter schools. He took the money and now he is bought and paid for and he is now doing political payback on behalf of charters.

I am voting for Diane Gibson-Gray, Joy Motts and ECT Publisher Mike Burkholder

Karen R Oct 27, 2016 - 5:19 pm

The school board appointed him so this is what they got. Chaos!!!!!! Maybe the voters will get it right and vote him out of his appointment. Trying to bypass the Brown Act for personal game is criminal. He should not be allowed to serve a full term.

R jb Oct 27, 2016 - 5:31 pm

This article is hilarious. Was this a mistake perhaps a learning a learning curve? Or are you directly alleging him of a criminal act?

Choose your words carefully.

Karen R Oct 27, 2016 - 6:00 pm

Learning curve? As a teacher, you learn a thing or two in a years time. I know my 2nd graders do each year. He has had enough time on the board since his appointment to know better. Voters should vote him out on Nov. 8.

R..j..B Oct 27, 2016 - 6:40 pm

Anyone who hasn’t done anything before will have have a learning curve. I don’t think Navarro is a politician; therefore, it is understandable if he’s not familiar with procedures.

The article states the situation in such a manner that he was doing this deliberately. If that is the case, then he is being accused of a criminal act.

Accusations like yours are taken very seriously, I would be prepared for legal actions.

Moreover, I’m so glad Navarro is up there calling it what it is and stirring the pot. We need more people like him in AUSD. You need to get over yourself Karen R. A teacher should have respect for other people’s opinions and provide the benefit of the doubt. Shows exactly why you teachers at AUSD are so pissed off that you’re not getting what you want.

Fernando Navarro Oct 28, 2016 - 9:22 am

I normally try not to interject on these heated comments. however it seem, from every ones frustrated posts, that I need to give additional context. I DO know the brown act. I am a big defender of public transparency.

what I was trying to do was a LAWFUL action. On Oct 12th the board made it clear 5-0 to accept and receive the Charter school petition. But by accident (or by design) the language of the motion only recorded the acceptance and left the dates up in the air. This was not acceptable. as it leaves open loopholes for the district to derail an honest assessment of the review. I contend that it was the districts attempt to push this off to a more sympathetic future board.

For continuity and consistency, this process will be defended. It will be THIS board that does the review and the heavy lifting …AND …it WILL be THIS board that votes on this petition.

Since this was an already publicly presented subject it does not violate the brown act.
I was doing what is called a placement of an urgent item for same day action
(board policy 9322 vi,D. 4.) http://www.antioch.k12.ca.us/internalboardoperations

” 4) The board of education, By majority vote, reserves the right to waive any portion of this policy or to adopt additional procedures in situations where it deems such actions necessary”

I want a hands off honest debate…no funny business. I will not tolerate the disgusting pressure tactics that were implemented in the past like the Dozier Libbey debacle. That hurt kids, parents and teachers.
or the atrocious doings that occurred to Rocket ship in Concord.

Some are accusing me of being paid off. I am not for sale. It was pointed out to me that one of my $125 donations from a private citizen to my campaign was a trustee of Rocket ship. Don’t know, didn’t ask. But it is public record ( I reported it…you’d think I would hide it). wow $125…that buys a lot of grease for the skids. Regardless. I have not made up my mind about Rocket ship….what I am of singular thought is that I WILL NOT PUT UP WITH SCARE AND PRESSURE TACTICS!

Julio Oct 28, 2016 - 4:38 pm

Thanks you for being an honest person who is totally interested jn only what is best for our children. It is about time someone stepped up to the plate instead of just the lip service we have gotten for over 25 years.

Tim Oct 28, 2016 - 7:44 pm

Navarro for the kids? How do you figure?

No on Prop 55 = less money for students
No to vaccinations = ensures sick kids are around healthy ones
Accepted money to push a charter school through = bought vote
Has provided an F- grade of the District = just a middle finger to the entire district
Told the Superintendent she is making too much money = shame on him
Thinks lining up children in rows is the answer to good education
Thinks taking education back to the 1950’s is the answer.

So again I ask Julio, what exactly has he done to show he is for the kids other than be a mouth piece? What is one thing he has actually accomplished for our youth?

Fernando Navarro Oct 28, 2016 - 8:35 pm

Yes on 55= money to the unions ..crumbs to the kids
Yes to open ended vaccinations= experimenting on kids and social engineering
Accepting money from the unions=bought votes
Sbac scores came out= we got a failing grade…its a heads up not an f finger
Giving another superintendent practically the same amount as Gil= shame on us!
Good class management=productive happy students/better acedemic results
In the 50’s California was tops in education in America (never mentioned the 50’s but since it was asked)

So I ask you Julio. Who’s got our kid’s back?

Dylan Howell Nov 1, 2016 - 9:02 pm

After reading all that has been written on this matter I will concede that it might have been legal for Mr. Navarro to attempt to place the item on the agenda. Therefore I do hereby publically apologize to Mr. Navarro for stating that it was my opinion that he did not understand the Brown Act. Could his attempt have been less bull headed and less bumbling? Yes, and probably to better effect. But as I stated above, I can forgive inexperience.

However, none of that was the point of my editorial. My main point was that he was rude to students who were presenting to the board. And I notice there has been attempt to justify that behavior.

Dylan Howell Nov 1, 2016 - 9:20 pm

After reading all that has been written about this meeting, I will concede that it may have been legal for Mr. Navarro to place an item an the agenda. Therefore, I publically apologize to Mr. Navarro for stating that it was my opinion that he didn’t understand the Brown Act. Could his attempt been less bull headed and bumbling? I think yes, and to much better effect. But as I stated in my editorial, I can also forgive inexperience.

However, my main point was that he was rude to the students making presentations to the board. For someone claiming to champion students, he did not seem to care a wit at what they had to say.

Dylan Howell Nov 2, 2016 - 5:51 am

Apologize for double post. Was having trouble putting posting from mobile…

ECT - Mike Burkholder Nov 2, 2016 - 7:29 am

Wasn’t you. Site was shaky due to an update in the backend. We have since disabled the problem until fixed. 🙂

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