The R-Word


This article is great! (“MPUSD parents say special-ed kids aren’t getting the attention they need,” Sept. 13-19). I understand exactly what it’s like to deal with these retards! My daughter has cochlear implants and is mainstreamed into a classroom at Monte Vista. It’s not because of anything MPUSD ever did for us and I feel sorry for the people coming in. 


Every year, they cut the budget more, it seems, and put even more less-qualified people in charge of our children’s education. If my family had the money I would move to P.G. or Carmel too! The best part that the article doesn’t say is that the new speech therapist that the school district hired has a speech impediment of her own! My daughter can barely understand her and she’s the one teaching our deaf kids how to speak! To me and my family this is very unacceptable! They need to spend that $14,500 on paying a real speech therapist, or give it back to the families to pay for someone themselves. 


The MPUSD has been disappointing me since the day my oldest kid went to his first day in kindergarten. These people need to be stopped! Along with their misappropriation of our children’s special needs children. If these kids were foreign it wouldn’t be this hard. Which is even more sad and a whole different subject! - Shanky76 | via Web


I am saddened by this article and the fact that people are going to read this and think that all MPUSD parents feel this way. This could not be farther from the truth. This article and “opinion” only represents a handful of parents. The part that saddens me the most is what “Shanky76” wrote. 


How dare you use the R-word in any capacity, but let alone as a derogatory term. I am a parent of a beautiful child who has an intellectual disability. I am proud of my child and want the very best for her and I will fight for my child. I am more than pleased with the services and supports my child has received in MPUSD. 


When relocating to the Peninsula, I researched the districts and services available for my child and purposefully choose to live within MPUSD boundaries to access these services. If you truly are so unhappy with the services available to your mainstreamed daughter, than I am one parent that would be happy to see you go! And as far as your comment on the therapist with her own impediment – wow, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. How are you going to feel or think if/when your daughter is ever spoken about in the same manner you have just spoken about this person?


In the current economic status, I applaud MPUSD. My daughter has made incredible progress since we have been here. That progress has been noted by our family and friends. I thank MPUSD and all of the staff that work so hard and deal with parents like you, for continuing to come in day in and day out and dedicate their efforts to improving our children’s lives. You should take a second and do the same thing.


In an effort to educate Shanky76 and anyone else, the following is a link to end the R-Word: www.r-word.org. - venluckier | via Web


I am happy to hear that one person is receiving quality services in MPUSD. It is good to hear that with their $16.4 million dollars at least one parent is happy. I think the most important thing that needs to be recognized is that every child is different and each disability is different. Maybe your daughter is exceeding your expectations that you had set for her, and MPUSD has helped her overcome her challenges. 


But I think with the parents in the article that their certain child’s needs are not being met by MPUSD. And they are just throwing them in the system and they will never be able to accomplish what they are able to accomplish. 


If there are other SPED parents that you know who are happy, I encourage you to have them comment as well. You are the first person I have heard who is happy. Good luck to you and your family; raising children with special needs is not easy but it is rewarding. - Lucky2bme | via Web


What Doesn’t Kill You


Others might have mentioned this already, but not giving the raw milk to your kid now isn’t the logical response (“Unpasteurized milk is fresher and tastes better. It might even do your body good – if it doesn’t make you sick,” Sept. 6-12). Not only is the risk of coming across campylobacter-contaminated milk again greatly reduced, but now your kid has built an immunity to campylobacter. His immune system will be much stronger now as a result of this exposure. Now he can handle anything the raw milk can throw at him, and the raw milk is really good for him! - ecobrad12 | via Web


a Racist Asked


Ugh… Baja rat should be ashamed (First question in “Ask A Mexican,” posted Sept. 24). What happened? Did a Latino steal your woman? Get that job you interviewed for? It’s OK to form an opinion based on ignorance and assumptions (although not advisable, but let’s face it, it happens all the time) – but to spew that kind of nasty, hateful garbage is just deplorable and embarrassing. - Crystalina1977 | via Web


Endeavor Ahoy


(“Who watched the Space Shuttle fly over Monterey?” photos posted to web and Facebook Sept. 21)


Sure did. Here’s my post from DLI, up on the hill! ‘WOOOOOWWW… The second coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life – the Endeavor Space Shuttle (on back of the 747, of course) just did a low-level fly over of our area (many of the astronauts who flew it graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School, also in Monterey). It was so close I could see the windows on the shuttle. We all abandoned ship (well, nearly all) to run out and look, all exclaiming, jumping up and down, and waving frantically. WHAT A SIGHT! - Liz Clark | via Facebook


Yeah I saw it, but it was kind of hard to see through all the contrails/chemtrails. It’s becoming blatantly obvious that someone is spraying the sky. All those contrails (chemtrails) are creating a blanketed haze all over Monterey County. Why aren’t people speaking up about this? It’s so damn obvious. - Alessandro Guzman | via Facebook


CORRECTION: A story about Esperanza Spalding incorrectly identified her as the youngest instructor ever at the Berklee College of Music (“The New Jazz Age,” Sept. 20-26). That accolade should go to Pat Metheny, who was 19 when he was invited to join the school’s guitar faculty in 1974.