Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading the top 10 local news stories of 2008 today, but could not let the one about GUSD's Improved School Test Scores go without comment. "School officials attributed the district's overall

success to the wealth of new administrators appointed to head several schools and district departments and to increased standards in the classroom..." Isn't there something or someone missing here, such as the people who actually work with the students that are achieving at greater levels now? Anyone who believes that administrators are the sole reason for this improvement is deeply misinformed. With data being the focus of instruction, especially at Gilroy High School where the data team process has become an institutionalized practice that began in the early 2000s when dismal scores spurred action, we know this practice is a significant element for the evolving success of our students. I emphasize "evolving" because any improvements are the result of a focused goal, and time. Just putting new people into place does not guarantee success, but a sustained, focused effort on practices that work and collaboration among colleagues to hone these practices is key. If administrators believe what this paper has said about the improved test scores and do not give credit to the teachers and other campus staff who actually work with the students on a daily basis, then woe to any ongoing academic success in any school in the district. Good management anywhere, in any business, supports the entire team to ensure success.

Valerie Hunt, teacher, GHS

Proposed animal welfare ordinance will prevent violence

Dear Editor,

The proposed Santa Clara County animal welfare ordinance, if approved, would go a long way toward alleviating animal suffering.

Precedent has already been set. Alameda and Contra Costa counties banned steer tailing ("las colas") in the early 1990s. The state of Nebraska outlawed both steer tailing and horse tripping in 2008. The steer's tail and horns may be broken, and sometimes the horses break their legs when the steers run the wrong way. Some "sport"!

The proposed on-site (not just "on call") veterinarian for all rodeo and charreada events is a "no-brainer," for animal injuries are often of an emergency nature. The counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco all require on-site rodeo vets, as do the Hayward Rowell Ranch, the Solano County Fair and the California State Fair. Santa Clara County should do no less.

Charges of "racism" are untrue and misguided. The issues are animal cruelty and animal protection. To repeat, simple "tradition" justifies nothing. As the late Cesar Chavez wrote to me in 1990, "Racism, economic deprival, dogfighting and cockfighting, bullfighting and rodeos are cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent toward all life will we have learned to live well ourselves." Words to live by.

Letters in support of this humane ordinance should be sent to the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors, email public.comments@cob.sccgov.org.

Eric Mills, Action for Animals

Fee for bags won't change our habits, but a reminder will

Dear Editor,

There seems to be this thinking that money will change our behavior so by levying a charge for grocery bags we will all use recycle bags. What we really need is a memory jogger.

Stores should place big, obnoxious, uniquely colored signs on the entry doors that ask, "Did you bring your recycle bags?" Over time, a big logo with the sign color would suffice. I'd be able to go back and fetch my bags before loading up with a cart of groceries and getting to the head of the checkout line. You see I need to be trained, to change my behavior. I've learned that changing habits is very difficult; so much of what I do on a shopping trip is automatic. My "going to the grocery store behavior" is all consumed with trying to remember what else I forgot to put on my list or trying to think of something to have for dinner. Remembering recycle bags has not been able to crash through the thick wall of my food-focused mind.

One day, I drove to the store with the bags on my lap; not a good idea. The bags kept sliding onto the floor, so I threw them onto the seat beside me. When I got to the store I pulled out the keys, grabbed my purse and went in. I forgot the bags. I learned that my purse is always in the same spot, and I grab it without looking.

Lots of people, me included, believe in using recycle bags. The stores probably have statistics that will show how many bags have been purchased. I love the bags: the handles don't break, they don't tear. I own lots of bags. In spite of those positives, I still can't remember to bring them with me; and I learned that I am not the only one! Grocery clerks have confirmed this after each of my embarrassed comments, "I wish I could remember to bring in my bags."

Money won't change my habits . . .a memory jogger outside of the store has a chance.

Beth Dewey, Gilroy

We need to pressure politicians to fund Highway 156 construction

Dear Editor,

With the California Transportation Commission about to approve $5 million (suddenly, now that Prop 1A passed) for final engineering (including congestion "road pricing" - read toll road) and selection of the final route for eventual construction of the 156-101 link, may I ask the Dispatch editorial board to consider an editorial to our legislators, especially federal, to include funds for the next phases, including construction as part of the stimulus bill - without tolls or road pricing. We can be ahead of deaths, injuries and damage rather than constantly reacting to head-on fatalities, which I still entitle Manslaughter by Politician (see Jan 2006 Letter To Editor).

Funding for this vital route has clearly been held up for years to help fund (road pricing) the high-speed rail subsidy/waste/boondoggle/rail fan fanaticism despite human suffering on SR152 and the state's $14 billion deficit (and takeback of local dollars, leading to Gilroy layoffs, in part). The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sued them for a business plan - to be open about California High-Speed Rail Authority funding by new road pricing, etc. - that was not revealed explicitly in Prop 1A ads, but part of their one-third "Public/Private" financing.

With the editorial board's support, it can be suggested and perhaps leveraged and pressured to our federal elected officials - all of whose constituents use/benefit from the road, some who have died, some who have been maimed for life. All will benefit, including Santa Clara Valley businesses, with a safe, reliable, four- or six-lane freeway that can be built well before CHSRA.

An editorial for its "immediate," unconditional funding as a stimulus/urgency line item is perfect timing now. Line item funding or funding instructions in law is how north valley light rail and some BART dollars have come in. So, too, deadly 152, the final 1923 vintage two-lane killer section can use the same technique at this opportune time.

The timing is right for editorial support in the Federal Infrastructure Stimulus Package.

Omar Chatty, San Jose

Caroline Kennedy just perpetuates problems of elite

Does playing hide and seek in the Oval Office qualify you to be a US Senator? Why isn't being Governor of Alaska a qualifier for Vice President? Do we need to teach Sarah Palin to say "you know" in each sentence?

The answer is simple. We need rich people from prestigious Ivy League schools to run our government. And you thought we left the monarchy us in England.

I am personally tired of listening to Ivy League educated politicians tell us common folk what is good for us. Ivy League educated politicians got us into the financial mess we are in today. How are we expected to believe that they are smart enough to get us out of it?

Karen C. De Filippis, San Jose