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Letters
Superintendent encourages parents to listen to children
Editor's note--Superintendent Joseph Rudnicki sent this letter home to parents following the tragedy in Columbine.
The Columbine High School tragedy has shaken the community of parents and educators who share the bond of caring for our students. As parents and a community whose children attend our schools, we watched with shock, horror, dismay and disbelief as the tragedy unfolded. Through the glare of publicity and commentary surrounding this event, we want to take this opportunity to share our thoughts, especially with parents and students.
One of Sunnyvale School District's major goals is to ensure that our schools are safe, our students are disciplined and that an environment exists where teachers can teach and students can learn. Toward that end, we have involved teachers, administrators, law enforcement officers, parents and community members in developing a comprehensive plan that has been in place throughout the school year. We believe this is one step toward helping to prevent a tragedy like this one from occurring here. People in our schools are trained and prepared. They are also available to talk with you about any aspect of our planning and to take your suggestions about ways to improve what we do. Sunnyvale and other communities throughout the nation are examining all that we do to ensure student safety.
More importantly, we are ready to talk with students and parents about their concerns. We ask parents to talk with the staff at your school about any unusual behavior you observe in your child. We implore you to hold your children close, carefully observe behavior and never, ever assume that something that you think is unusual is acceptable because "kids will be kids." If you or your student sees something that is unusual, please call the principal at your child's school.
We have instructed every one of our principals to operate in the same way at school. If they, or a member of the staff, sees or hears something from your child that is unusual, the school will call, question it and talk with you about it. We take all such situations seriously. We would rather ask a question and be wrong, than fail to ask a question and be wrong.
If we support each other we will support our children and make their world and ours a safer place in which to live and learn.
Joseph W. Rudnicki, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Sunnyvale School District
Girl Scouts are prepared, too
I enjoyed the title of the emergency preparedness article on April 21: "Be Prepared--Earthquake kits that'll make any Boy Scout proud."
I would like to assure you that all of the more than 500 Girl Scouts in Sunnyvale will also be very proud of any neighborhood or family that prepares an earthquake kit like the one pictured. Each year, troops throughout Sunnyvale take stock and prepare for the possibility of the "big one." If it hits, you can find the Girl Scout or leader in your neighborhood and ask for help! We too pride ourselves on "being prepared."
Kristin Mingst
Service Unit 71 (Sunnyvale),
Manager Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County
Sunnyvale School District
Build a path and bicyclists will come
If drivers have no desire to park their car and take a bus over the San Mateo bridge, who would think that bicyclists may have the desire to ride in a bus over a bridge? Knowing that one will most likely have to wait approximately two hours for a bus, if the bus runs at all, why wait for a bus for two hours when you can drive across the bridge in a car in 15 minutes? Why ride a bike at all? Since most people drive, maybe all bicyclists should drive as well. This may mean that there will be more cars on our roads with more cars trying to cross the bridge.
Certainly the bridge will once again become congested, but that's why we have bridge tolls and taxes! It won't take long before there will be the need, again, to build another bridge or enlarge the existing one. Maybe we should begin planning how we should tax Bay Area residents for the new bridge we will need in 15 years.
Imagine, there was this creek in Mountain View which was once only visited by birds, stray cats and maybe a few homeless residents. Today this creek has changed into a beautiful recreational area for children, pedestrians, rollerbladers, and bicyclists. How did this happen? Strangly enough, someone built a path along the creek. How hard can it be to acknowledge that if you build a path, a trail, a bike lane or a road, people will find it, enjoy it and make use of it. Certainly, since we are expanding the San Mateo bridge, drivers are going to find it, enjoy it and make use of it until it becomes too congested to be worthwhile. What could be so terribly wrong with giving people the option of finding, enjoying and making use of the San Mateo Bridge by other means than the car, such as a bicycle?
Daniel Kuettel
Sunnyvale
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
