The Sunnyvale Sun
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Homestead lets teacher go, students stage protest
Popular English teacher is an inspiration, marchers say
By ANNE WARD ERNST
The Sunnyvale offices of Fremont Union School District received more than one surprise visit from Homestead High School students who were desperate to keep a beloved teacher on staff next year.
Bo Cheli is an English teacher at Homestead High School--for now. He was told during the week of May 15 that he wouldn't be asked back in the fall. When Homestead's students found out about it, they took action.
Lindzi Wessel, a junior, was one of the main organizers of at least two protests that began at the school, with students pleading to keep Cheli on board.
They put up fliers around school with such messages as: "Let Cheli @ HHS!" and "Fight for what's right! Fight for Cheli!" and "Cheli ... mentor and friend."
As fast as the fliers were taped to the school's walls, they were taken down, replaced and taken down again.
On May 19, a day after students learned about his dismissal, about 200 of them
marched a little over a mile from the school's campus on Homestead Road to Fremont Union High School District's offices on Fremont Avenue.
They chanted and carried signs to show their support of their favorite English teacher.
On May 22, about 75 students gathered outside the school to march again in protest. This time they did it quietly.
When they arrived at the district offices, they stood just off the sidewalk as a group, some standing, a few kneeling, many with posters or wearing T-shirts with phrases used at one time in Cheli's classroom.
They stood silently facing the building, wanting to be heard.
At 4:30 p.m., district Superintendent Steve Rowley exited the building, walked past the students, got in his car and drove away.
He listened to their pleas during their last protest, but he can't tell them, or anyone, why Cheli's contract is not being renewed. It's a personnel issue and he has to abide by the rules of privacy.
"We have to be rabid around confidential issues," he said.
Rowley did say that the students conducted themselves maturely and respectfully.
"They've articulated the virtues of who this person was. I commend them," he said.
He added that in every school district at this time of the year--the end of the school year--some teachers who are provisional or probational are being told that they won't be asked back. Cheli is a provisional teacher.
The students care little about the particulars of his credentials. They just want him to stay, saying he is the best teacher they've ever had.
"You can tell he has a passion for teaching but also about teaching about life," said Jamie Keith, a junior.
Cheli teaches freshman English and mythology. Student after student extolled his teaching method as difficult to describe, but tough, and beyond textbook lessons.
"It's not like normal. You have a discussion," said junior Emily Critchfield.
Adds junior Melinda Templeman: "He makes [lessons] pertain to real life."
Other teachers notice the difference he makes.
"He's our fire. He's our passion," said Shawnee Rivera, an English teacher.
She says she can always tell when one of her students has had freshman English taught by Cheli.
"I call them Cheli's kids," she says. "They always say 'thank you' when I hand them assignments."
Cheli makes the students say 'thank you' when they receive an assignment, test or anything related to education because he wants them to understand how privileged they are to be getting one, she said.
His own education includes being a graduate of Homestead.
Freshman Kayla Maniscao is in Cheli's English class now. He's more than a teacher to her, she said. "He changed my life."
