Day laborers wait on Tennyson Bouleavard in Hayward, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. Tennyson Boulevard is a popular hang-out for day laborers, and near a school, which has some residents concerned.
Posted on 08/20/2008 10:16:14 PM PDT by SmithL
HAYWARD — Walking to and from school has been a nightmare for Amoni Packnett, an eighth-grader at Cesar Chavez Middle School.
The 13-year-old and other girls are the target of daily whistles and hard stares from day laborers, who often also stalk the girls, along Tennyson Road in south Hayward.
"It can get uncomfortable, and I feel violated," Packnett said. "We just want something to be done to prevent this from happening again."
Helping children feel safe along a stretch from Ruus Road to the railroad tracks on Tennyson Road — an area dominated by day laborers — was the focus of a community meeting attended by about 30 people on Tuesday night in the Cesar Chavez cafeteria.
Packnett, along with sisters Angelica and Alma Venegas, discussed problems they have had in the area when walking to and from school. Also in attendance was parent Jonathan Hopkins, who said he refuses to let his 13-year-old daughter walk to the campus because of past experiences.
"It is brutal," he said. "The verbal abuse is loud and constant."
One parent and student who attended the meeting, however, said they have not encountered any problems with the day laborers who hang out near the back end of the school.
City and police leaders also attended the meeting.
Mayor Michael Sweeney said "it is unacceptable to treat young women in the fashion we have heard. Period."
While some were quick to put the blame on day laborers for creating an unsafe environment, others suggested working with them to help put an end to the problem.
Gabriel Hernandez, executive director for the Hayward Day Labor Center, also on Tennyson Road and just a few blocks away from Cesar Chavez, said he will begin to notify workers of the concerns raised by parents and students. About 500 day laborers have registered with the center, Hernandez said.
"Internally, we are going to do a little education and let them know what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior," he said.
Principal Vanessa Smith-Stucky said she will meet with Hernandez next week to try to address the safety problems.
Meanwhile, Smith-Stucky said she will inform students of the issues when school resumes next week and will have staff members educate them on safety tips, such as walking with friends.
But unless the large group of day laborers is removed from the immediate area near the school, some said nothing will change.
"It may just be one bad apple messing it all up for them," said Barbara Boykin, a teacher at Cesar Chavez who spearheaded the meeting. "But just the fact that they are there makes for an uncomfortable atmosphere to get to school. We need to be able to let our kids go to school without feeling threatened."
They have their priorities. Sanctuary for the illegals and terror for the children.
>”Internally, we are going to do a little education and let them know what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior,” he said.<
Sure. That’ll fix it.
Try this...GTHOOMC!
Now that works!
Send an I.C.E. van down the street. Will work better than a police patrol.
Send the registration list to I.C.E. with a note, "Suggesting 500 agents and 10 empty buses put an end to the problem."
“working with them”? The same kind of talks I assume BHO wants to have with dictators...
Harassing/molesting girls who are THIRTEEN isn’t a language barrier or cultural difference or some other misunderstanding that can be taken care of with some PC workshop.
Guess we’ll just have to wait until someone’s little girl disappears into a van before real action is taken (too late).
What a ridiculous comment. Are you serious?
How about the fathers get out there and put a stop to it.
Does that mean that they are going to "educate" the girls that it is racist, ageist and perhaps classist for them to feel threatened if illegal laborers stalk them? These are progressive officials in California, after all, and the progressives have made it clear that criminal behavior is not only tolerated, it is welcomed. For a second I thought they might be promising to "educate" the illegal aliens as to what type of behavior is expected of them and then I laughed at myself for having such an old-fashioned and naive idea.
I should have highlighted the entire quote, but your statement isn’t really all that unlikely, unfortunately.
>Gabriel Hernandez, executive director for the Hayward Day Labor Center, also on Tennyson Road and just a few blocks away from Cesar Chavez, said he will begin to notify workers of the concerns raised by parents and students. About 500 day laborers have registered with the center, Hernandez said.
“Internally, we are going to do a little education and let them know what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior,” he said.<
By a five year old?????
I would agree better safe than sorry, but I have trouble with your five year old nieces describing the offender looking a bit like Obama... are they that tuned into politics?
Actually, I was half-joking because I am fed up with how the leftists just demand that we accept any anti-social behavior from politically-protected groups. The school should provide armed guards or very visible police escourts for the children but money is tight and has been spent on things other than public safety.
Welcome to the new education system.
6 Y/O rapes classmate in school lavatory
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1357135/posts
Asst Principal instructs father not to call police after gang rape
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1382434/posts
District targets bullying after allegations of rape on school bus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1611789/posts
Family Sues Over 6-Year-Old Son’s Rape At School
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1778900/posts
Sexual attacks by 2nd graders not so unusual, say experts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974176/posts
Special-Education Students Charged With Raping Classmate
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1393754/posts
Teen Recounts Sexual Assaults by Older kids at Sunnyvale Middle School(Yes, that says MIDDLE school)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048008/posts
Actually, I know public school teachers who have told me horror stories about very young children caught trying to sexually act out things. I don't know how to delicately put this - children too young to actually do some things or know what they are doing but they are mimmicking behavior they have seen adults do. Either the children have been abused themselves and they are acting out or they are immitating mommy and her latest boyfriend or customer. The system cannot do much to correct the children or protect them from abuse - it is not politically correct to investigate too much where poor children from a minority demographic are concerned. There are powerful political interests intent on keeping such children in unfit homes, although homes is the wrong word.
How sad that the town I grew up has come to this low now. I was there in the Tennyson Area just a few weeks ago, but I am always alert of my surrounding.
This is not the first time I heard of day laborers harrassing young females. Here in Concord, people have complained of day laborers also doing the same thing toward young girls walking home from school.
Is this the “Family Value” that Bush talked about?
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