Half Empty

HALF EMPTY… Squid loves a good competition. As a sea creature, Squid especially loves competitions that involve water. So Squid was sad to see the water polo season for the Salinas High School junior varsity girls’ team end on a sour note with Athletic Director Art Hunsdorfer reportedly firing Coach Stacey Cheatham Wilson in front of the players.

The JV team had a game scheduled the same day as the Salinas High homecoming game; most players notified Wilson they would miss water polo due to the conflict. That meant too few players and Salinas forfeiting the game against Hollister on Oct. 5. Shortly thereafter came Wilson’s unceremonious firing, which players and their parents spoke up about at a Nov. 14 meeting of the Salinas Union High School District board. Yvonne Gray described the standoff: “I believe [Hunsdorfer’s] behavior taught our young ladies… that a man can use his size and status to yell out in anger to a female employee and this would be acceptable.”

SUHSD declined to comment on this personnel matter. If Squid’s ever in deep water and gets fired, Squid will just swim away – too bad humans can’t do the same.

OFF THE ISLAND… Speaking of antics at school boards, Squid’s been tuning into the Carmel Unified School District lately. The board tried to push through a superintendent appointment as if hoping everyone would forget about the drama of the past year, which led to former supe Ted Knight resigning in exchange for a $770,000 payout.

When the board met on Nov. 15, several people spoke up against that, including representatives of two unions; Tamara Michie of the Carmel High School PTO; and Marcus Michie (Tamara’s son), the student representative to the board. While the board ultimately agreed with critics and opted to proceed with a public input process, there’s fallout for the Michies. Marcus was set to attend a one-day student conference on Nov. 29 in San Francisco, hosted by the California School Boards Association, as past student reps have done. (Because he is under 18, his mom was planning to attend as well as a chaperone – total registration for both of them, to be paid by CUSD, was $700.) But Tamara reports that on Nov. 21, they learned from CUSD administrators that Marcus was on a waiting list and there was no space for him. She called CSBA and lo and behold, got him registered, no problem. In an email to the school board and district leadership, she wrote that while on the phone with CSBA learning all that was needed was payment, someone from CUSD logged in – only to cancel the registration. “This feels like retaliation,” she wrote.

Sure does. Squid did not hear back from CUSD, but will be tuning into the next meeting, with shrimp-flavored popcorn at the ready.