OMG,

Manny doesn't even have a college degree?

He had no training in SPECIAL EDUCATION? He has no training in MENTAL HEALTH?

Doesn't he have any CERTIFICATIONS for performing his work?

No wonder he was let go, he didn't have the qualifications to perform that job.

@Steven Goldstein

First of all, he may have certifications and training in some of those areas. His bio above doesn't rule that out. He was not hired as a teacher so no reason to sneer at him because he only has "some college".

More importantly, if he were really unqualified for the positions he has held with the district, that would reflect poorly on the district for hiring unqualified personnel, not on him. The fact that he served as union president for the district's classified employees means that he was certainly highly regarded amongst his peers.

Easy to sneer at someone who doesn't have a full college degree. Having such a degree isn't always a recipe for success however.


[Portion removed due to violation of terms of use]

Other individuals with "some college": Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. A college degree is neither a necessary nor a sufficient marker of competency.

In response to Middle S. Pareant:

I have no problem you demonstrating my background, it is public and shall remain that way. This is again a form of Cyberstalking because I am not running for office, thus you’re just trying to intimidate dissenting opinions. You are not journalists and I am not a newsworthy topic. I am not running for any office. BUT you said:

“First of all, he may have certifications and training in some of those areas. His bio above doesn't rule that out. He was not hired as a teacher so no reason to sneer at him because he only has "some college".”

Even as a Special Education Assistant, his work requires at least a certification due to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Federal Rehabilitation Act. In order to follow and document the treatment of an Individualized Education Program. If he did not have this qualification, the Federal and State funding would be threatened. IEP’s cannot be created, nor progress notes cannot be written without a qualified professional. In fact SJSU has a Teacher Certification Program found here (Web Link Here is a typical Job posting for a Specia Education Instructional Aid (Web Link It specifically states:

“Qualifications

Experience:

Relevant, 1 year (Preferred)

Education:

Bachelor's (Preferred)

General Duties for Instructional Aide (full time):

Aide the student in their least restrictive environment, including assisting with their curriculum development, functional communication training, building peer and teacher relationships with the student, etc.

LEARN AND APPLY THE STUDENTS BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLAN/BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN IN A SCHOOL SETTING

USE BEHAVIOR ANALYTIC/EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICES IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT

Students are in various grades from 2nd grade to junior college.

OPPORTUNITY TO WORK TOWARDS YOUR REGISTERED BEHAVIOR TECHNICIAN CERTIFICATE”

In effect he was never qualified to do this work.

In this case disciplinary action was not the cause of his resignation, it was the required qualifications he was needing that forced the School Administration to let him go. Now it can be defined as Manny not acquiring the necessary qualification that got him forced to resign, and not “misconduct” per se.

But Manny is clearly out of his element when it comes to his qualifications. My Human Resources Management training would have told me he should never worked in special education because he doesn’t have the training. Too many people here want unqualified educators working in the schools.

In so far as Nora S. you said:

“Other individuals with "some college": Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. A college degree is neither a necessary nor a sufficient marker of competency.”

The REALITY is that he was doing work that he was not allowed to do. Why he got the job is questionable. I am wondering if some kind of unrelated or non bona fide criteria was used.

Laura Blakely's claim for 20% teacher retention improvement was done with 'tonge in cheek'. The metric she is referring to comes only from the 3 yr New Teacher granting of tenure calculation/ and only from the 2019-20 year! 10 teachers. Who would leave a new job - in the middle of a pandemic - if you were given tenure?

The Average Teaching Experience (all 250 of so teachers) has not improved under Blakely's tenure - and continues to lag the county, Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Cupertino (only beats Sunnyvale). MVWSD's Average also falls many years short of the California Average.

Data from the California Department of Education & Ed-Data and the MVWSD.

Blakeley is quoted as saying, "the district is still providing intervention to students who are struggling as well as those who want more challenging work."

My middle schooler is bored out of her mind and not getting access to any more challenging work. I wish I knew how to get her into a class situation where she would be challenged.

I think there are many individual stories - and 'cause it's hard - there will be a lot of problems overall, in MVWSD as well as LASD. But / as a parent / what do you think of the last 4 years? How have the current Board incumbants been helpful in 'overseeing' the administration of the schools? Are you going to Vote on That, or how Nice a Board member is?

@Steven Nelson:

Where was your tongue and cheek when you ran the last sup't out? Goldman's resignation was widely believed to be due to Nelson and Goldman even threatened to sue and to keep him from doing that, the board (including Chiang) gave him a taxpapyer-funded $250,000 parting gift and...wait for it...kept all the documents private so parents could find out what was going on.

Where were your "transparency" and "brown act" issues back when you all (Nelson/Chiang) were pulling these stunts? Oh and let's not forget you very recently publicly offered candidate Velasco money to sue the district, which of course would have to be defended with taxpayer, district funds. But we know, you reeeaaally care about money for the kids. Lol.

Not to mention you are the reason poor Chris Chiang resigned before his term ended. You must lay awake with pride every night, practicing your man-roar and chanting "must not be nice, must not be nice" like those those "nice lady". Thanks for all your mansplaining over the years. And loved how to you told a black superintendant to shut up and sit down down until he was called for. Take your latent racism and sexism somewhere else - it is rather outdated. I can't believe more people don't call you out for your crap!! I guess some are just too gleefully happy to support some man who is constantly publicly trashing the people that work the very people that so hard to take care of their kids. "Nice ladies" can often get more done at the end of the day than man-child, chest-pounding, tantrum-throwing fools. Trump administration is calling and it wants you back.

From the article above:
Nelson served during this time:
"...2012 to 2015, during arguably one of the most challenging times for the Mountain View Whisman School District. Labor negotiations with the teachers' union had soured, the Measure G facilities bond had been precariously planned, the superintendent resigned and the district's achievement gap, data later revealed, was among the largest in the country. School board meetings were also notoriously contentious, with frequent arguments, drama, raised voices and even the occasional walk-out."

So....how helpful were YOU in "overseeing the administration of the schools". Seems like you were more helpful in running people out of the room.

THAT is "what I think of the last 4 years," thanks for asking Steve!

@Parent, Ms., glad you remember (or were given Closed Session notes or comments that are AGAINST THE LAW)!
Chris Chiang and I have reconciled. Years ago! Water under the bridge lady.

The revelation of one of the largest achievement Gap in the country was for 2009-2012, before my and Chiang's (and Lambert's) time. I did not "negotiate" with the teacher's union and piss them off! Go look who did (it's in the official minutes) or look back at Voice coverage, maybe a YouTube.

Laura Blakely is a very good "we set the What, he sets the HOW" type of trustee. She stays out of Dr. Rudolph way! She does not spend a lot of time on this, and rarely submits written questions to the superintendent before board meetings (ask for her correspondence - It's Public!). I'd much rather have oversight by people who understand the "HOW" of education.

Manny Velasco was rude, condescending, and arrogant in his demeanor while working on our school campus. Please do not defend him or pity him. He should not “lead” anything and should not be in any part of MVWSD. Please vote for someone else!

@MVWSD Teacher

And we should believe you and that you are even a teacher? Everyone I have spoken to (a dozen people) who knew Manny have told me that he was a kind, considerate and thoughtful person.

He also served as the sole School Staff representative on Site Councils for four schools and in the same role for the same four schools as an ELAC Representative, see Web Link [and search for "Velasco"].

Do you think he would have been selected for that role if he weren't competent and well liked?

It is so disgusting the character assassination going on here!

In response to MVWSD Teacher you wrote:

“Manny Velasco was rude, condescending, and arrogant in his demeanor while working on our school campus. Please do not defend him or pity him. He should not “lead” anything and should not be in any part of MVWSD. Please vote for someone else!”

Again, the idea he signed away any ability to work for the school system in any way is a declaration that he knows he was ill fitted to be an educator.

In response to Middle S Parent you wrote:

“And we should believe you and that you are even a teacher? Everyone I have spoken to (a dozen people) who knew Manny have told me that he was a kind, considerate and thoughtful person.”

The fact that he AGREED to never work for the school systems in this area surely is evidence that he was ill fitted to be an educator. Don’t attack a school teacher, what evidence do you have, like an affidavit or testimony by a sworn witness to prove your claim? You wrote:

“He also served as the sole School Staff representative on Site Councils for four schools and in the same role for the same four schools as an ELAC Representative, see Web Link [and search for "Velasco"].”

Yes that PDF document shows that in the personnel report to the board, he resigned on January 10,2020. I read the ENTIRE report and it never documented he was a member of any role regarding ELAC. Why are you making such an inaccurate argument? So when you wrote:

“Do you think he would have been selected for that role if he weren't competent and well liked?”

The report you cited did not indicate he participated in anything you claimed, his name appears ONLY on page 8 of 292, again only showing his resignation. You are not describing the record correctly. So when you said:

“It is so disgusting the character assassination going on here!”

There is no evidence to prove that. The record clearly shows his resignation, and that we all know he agreed not to be an employee of the school system. In fact this action could force him to repay back the money he was provided because he is violating the settlement agreement. He WILL be an employee of the school system again.

@Middle S Parent

I am a teacher and knew Manny. It sounds like you are listening to others and have no first hand experience. Your “dozen people” might have had a good interaction with him but I did not.

No need to get upset. I offered a comment so others could see the opinion of one of his former colleagues.

I do not believe he would be a good leader.

Listen to others before judging.
That is what I teach my students.

My feeling is that there is terrible leadership and management within MVWSD. The heart of the problem is the achievement gap, rather than it just being a symptom of a bad administration. If success is reached in addressing the achievement gap, then that will improve the overall situation for all students.

Whether or not the person claiming to be a teacher is a teacher, there is very faulty logic in the comments made here about Manny V. She claims to have had enough contact to form a useful opinion, but the bio shows that Manny V worked for the district for 15 years. She doesn't address the simple question that if he was truly so terrible, how did he hang on so very long? And how did he rise to positions of such relative importance as being a Union president? His most recent job was an important one where qualifications of getting along with people were essential, namely he interfaced with district families struggling and needing some extra support. His job was to be their advocate. It seems that having such advocates would be a good way to help improve educational outcomes and address the achievement gap. Eliminating the positions is a step backward.

I would say that the job of the school board is oversight, not leadership. They may need to fire the superintendent to change leadership, but their work doesn't replace the necessary leadership from the person in the role of Superintendent.

I'd vote for Manny V and vote OUT Blakely as an incumbent. She doesn't seem to truly have the interests of the lower income kids in mind.

@Longresident

I'm surprised that you or anyone is intending on voting for Manny Velasco for the following reasons. Please hear me out and let me know what you think --

1 - He totally failed the transparency test when he failed to disclose that he was terminated from all MVWSD school employment and signed agreement to not set foot in the schools. That would have been important information to share with the voters before the election. Newspaper had to dig it up. When Voice first reported his candidacy, he was quoted as saying that he quit in order to start a business. Lack on truthfulness there is troubling.

2 - Failed the forthrightedness test when he failed to address the concerns of why he was terminated and asked not to set foot in the schools - by the newspapers, by the parents, by the voters. He refused to say even a word, despite having the freedom to do so.

3 - Lack of integrity: Why, if he believes that he did nothing wrong, did he agree to sign agreement that stipulated he not set foot on campuses - basically agreeing that he did do something wrong? If he was so innocent, he could have said no to signing the contract.

4 - Lack of public engagement. He was invited to several facebook parent forums, along with the other 4 candidates, to share their candidate statements and to answer specific questions from the parents. He joined the forums as a member, but never answered a single question or posted a single comment. All 4 others did, time and time again.

5 - Lack of info on his policy stances. All other 4 candidates have a web page that explains their views, their background, their qualifications, their policy stances, their philosophy. He doesn't have one.

6 - Not taking this seriously and lack of follow thru. All 4 of the other candidates submitted candidate statements for the county voter guide, as did probably all other candidates in other districts. He did not. He doesn't even appear in the voter guide! If he can't even do such basic "election 101" things to try to get elected, how is he going to oversee an entire school district, especially during a pandemic crisis??

6 - Lack of concern about the negative consequences about what his election to the board would mean for the community. There are likely to be lawsuits. There could be some teachers or personnel refusing to work under his oversight. This would hinder, at least a bit, the district and board from focusing on the most important matter at hand - Covid safety and distance learning and potential reopening for the children. He doesn't seem to care of the consequences.

7 - There was a very negative comment posted by a teacher regarding his temperment above and it received 55 likes!!! I would expect a few likes, but 55 is sizeable number. If we still elect him, what message are we giving to teachers and workers who educate and care for our students? Aren't their jobs hard enough during a pandemic? Do we want to start 2021 on the wrong foot? Can we even afford to take that chance?

Do we really know what we are getting into with this man? We would be locked in for 4 years. Does anyone recall the crazy dysfunction from 5-6 years ago? Do we really want to roll back to that time?

I would put forth that there are much better candidates to choose from.