HAYWARD SCHOOL BOARD SCANDAL | As Hayward students returned the classroom last week to end what was hopefully a joyous summer vacation, it was not so eventful for its five-member school board as it continues to sort through allegations of an affair among its fraternity and persistent internal squabbles.
After a raucous meeting last July 25 where school board member Luis Reynoso repeatedly referenced the burgeoning scandal among trustees Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia and a shortened special meeting Aug. 8, little has occurred to sort out the issues swirling over the moribund school district.
Wednesday night’s agenda includes two notable items including guidance on proceeding with a vote of no-confidence against Armas and potential deliberations over the use of its current legal representation.
Reynoso requested information Aug. 13 to discuss a potential vote of no-confidence be placed on the agenda. However, if the issue heads to a vote, it is unclear whether a potential motion has enough support to pass. In recent interviews, school board member William McGee had voiced support for such as move, as had Reynoso.
In what is characterized in staff reports as a potential cost-cutting move, the agenda also includes discussion tonight of reevaluating its connection to GCR, LLP, for the school board’s legal representation.
MCGEE’S PLEA In a letter to the community last Aug. 10, school board member William McGee welcomed returning students to the classroom and broached the subject of the allegations against Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia. In the memo, he called for leadership at the school district and board level. “We need to allow for conflict, which is healthy for any organization, and at the same time work through that conflict openly, and constructively,” said McGee.
He also appeared to urge for the board to take a proactive role in investigating the charges and ramifications of the allegations against Armas and Heredia. “We must acknowledge this negativity, seek the truth, learn from the experience, and move forward while remembering this lesson as it becomes history so we can put forth an effort not to make the same mistakes again,” said McGee. “Hopefully this acknowledgement will guide and lead us to a level of increased trust and success of our school district to benefit our students in a positive way.”
McGee also referenced the Aug. 8 special meeting that was adjourned after 20 minutes when notes from the contentious July 25 meeting containing the alleged affair were not presented for a discussion of the board’s reworked bylaws. During that meeting, it was asserted the previous meeting had included staff direction to bring back the reading of the bylaws for an additional first meeting Aug. 8. “In reviewing the video from out meeting July 25, it was never stated to bring these policies back for another reading,” said McGee. “The miscommunication of the reason for this meeting shows the need to work on clear communication strategies to minimize confusion in an effort to not waste money and staff time.”
THE BOARD MEETING WILL BE TELEVISED The growing sense of impropriety at the Hayward School district has certainly fostered skepticism among residents and, in one case, a bout of immense distrust.
An email Tuesday from administrative staff at the school district alerted board members the sound system at Hayward City Council chambers was inoperable and may not be fixed in time for Wednesday’s school board meeting. If not, the meeting proceed as scheduled, but would not be broadcast on the city’s public television channel.
Cries of a media blackout by residents and charges the school district was attempting shield itself from a potentially heated public debate were quelled Wednesday afternoon. “There will be a broadcast tonight,” said Clancy Priest, the city’s technology services director.
In the past, critics of the school district have asserted meetings would periodically move to its district offices were they could only recorded for audio and not video.
He didn't have to pay, he could have saved some $ by using a paper bag over her face!
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These people vote on programs for students?
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Maribel Heredia altered her face and still looks ugly and just as rude and obnoxious. Get her out of the school board her looks match her stupidity. Lisa Brunner too looks just like her mental skills.
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Did she fix her face?
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Still no comments about Armas from any of the local politicians or candidates for the school board. They're all clearly hoping it will just fade and don't want to be forced to chose a side – Armas and his dirty tricks/intimidation or the people and re-election. Cowards all. Shameful community lesson for our kids that corruption does pay off and there are no consequences. We will continue to reap what we sow, Hayward.
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Armas had/has an inside contact that screens the Grand Jury requests and can deem certain cases not worth further investigating. I'm sure she's part of why the Grand Jury diesn't move forward. Doris Rodriguez leaked the effort by the City Council to investigate Armas when he was City Manager.
Real corrupt network in Hayward all cowed by Armas for some reason.
Guess we need Kamaka Harris investigate but doesn't appear to be a direct way to request them to investigate local political corruption. : (
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You need at least 3 votes for board to start an investigation of any kind. Remember Lisa Brunner does snot want to investigate and is supporting Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia. WE need to recall Lisa Brunner.
I am sure that Dr. Reynoso in the past has complained to the grandjury because I attended one of his workshops 2 years ago where he was teaching people on how to complain to the grandjury.
I am certain that people are saying here we are on our own. WE have too many very spineless politicians in Hayward city council to not help us to get rid of corruption in school board.
Dr. Reynoso and Mr. McGee are on their own.
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4:54
There have been numerous attempts to get the Grand Jury to investigate, all of them filed with more than adequate documentation. NOTHING HAS EVER COME OF THE COMPLAINTS/REQUESTS FOR AN INVESTIGATION!
The community has a right to request that the Grand JUry investigate, and many have but there has been no response to any plea. With that said what do we do?
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Can't Reynoso and McGee request a grandjury investigation of the District's use of consultants? Do they have enough evidence to get the ball rolling?
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Please in expressing outrage, please do NOT forget to sign the petition demanding Heredia resign. The petition includes information about her relationship with Jesus and failure to perform due diligence as a board member Here is the link and full text is below:
http://www.change.org/petitions/hayward-unified-school-board-trustee-maribel-heredia
It is the responsibility and privilege of Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees to promote the education of Hayward's children to the highest standard possible. We are demanding Maribel Heredia resign immediately due to her dereliction of duty and unbecoming behavior for an elected official.
Maribel Heredia has failed to fulfill her duties in a manner that is transparent, forthright, and shows goodwill to students, parents, teachers, classified staff and administrators.
Ms. Heredia has an ongoing problem with her commitment to attend meetings; she is frequently tardy and leaves early.
According to a story published in ebcitizen.com on July 26, 2012, Ms. Heredia admitted under oath that she does not read board materials, but depends on the judgment of another, unnamed HUSD currently elected board member to make decisions on how to vote. This is collusion and creates a myriad of possible conflicts of interest.
Ms. Heredia, is a subject of an ebcitizen.com article, published July 25, 2012, that exposed a scandalous illicit affair with fellow HUSD board member, Jesus Armas. Both have families. This behavior demonstrates poor ethical judgment.
We believe that Ms. Heredia was obligated to disclose her new relationship (that may have started over a year ago) with fellow board member, Jesus Armas to the community at large. Since that time, Ms. Heredia has voted on hundreds of agenda items that greatly affect and influence the quality of education in our community and working conditions of HUSD employees.
The community believes that Ms. Heredia has failed in her duties as an elected Trustee for HUSD. Therefore, we demand her immediate resignation.
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9:57 Dilute vote is right and lack of competent candidates. I will not vote for any of the other candidates because they are really weak and they were endorsed by CoC. Time to slam dunk the Hayward chamber of Armas for the corruption too.
I admit when Dr. Reynoso first came on I was very critical and was not listening to what he was saying.
The man has been right on everything-I will vote for Dr. Reynoso only.
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Does the same go for you 10:39?
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4:07…
Get a life. One that goes beyond local politics.
You must be poor, uneducated, stupid, or ugly otherwise you'd be in the running
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The next school board race will be ugly. My prediction is Armas contributes big bucks to help Buffete who will come out with an expensive mail campaign to target Reynoso. Right now, he may not have the money to fight fire with fire. We have to be prepared for this and may need a strategy to counter this. Here it is:
Vote for REYNOSO ONLY. Do not dilute your vote by voting for more than one candidate.
We will have three open seats. IMHO, the other school board candidates will not fight the HUSD crooks like Reynoso.
Eliminate Peter Bufette for being an Armas stooge and John Taylor for supporting defiant staff who are obstructing Reynoso and McGee's attempt to investigate Armas/Heredia and to censure Jesus with a vote of no confidence. The others are dead silent. Do any of them really deserve your vote anyway?
Remember, vote for REYNOSO ONLY.
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Assistant Principal at HUSD,
I had to repost since I pasted a draft comment. I apologize to all of you. Here is more of what Intended to say. Before you start jumping on me for making mistakes please realized that even Assistant Principals make mistakes too. Please do not ask what school I work at because for obvious reasons I will not tell you.
—–
Assistant Principal at HUSD,
In any school district to get rid of corruption that in itself is polarizing.
On one side you have nothing but corruption and on the other you have people working towards improving and making things better because of transparency and integrity.
The fight for good is very polarizing since evil will be identified and eliminated.
Dr. Reynoso and Mr. McGee please continue to be polarizing towards getting rid of corruption. Any more polarizing candidates coming up that want to get rid of evil will get my vote.
To embrace evil is not good but to identify good and bad people is what polarizing requires. We need to get rid of nasty people like Jesus Armas, Maribel Heredia, and Lisa Brunner.
I never realized how much of an ass and racist Lisa Bruner can be and how corrupt she is.
Lisa has shown her true colors and besides being a racist, low intelligence, she has sided with Jesus Armas now. Yuk. Bad show Lisa. I saw you on Chanel 15 and am very dismayed.
Recall time baby is right! Let us all polarize ourselves towards a district clean-up by recalling Lisa Brunner, making sure Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia resign, and by electing candidates that want to polarize corruption.
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Assistant Principal at HUSD,
In any school district to get rid of corruption that in itself is polarizing.
On one side you have nothing but corruption and on the other you have people working towards improving and making things better because of transparency and integrity.
The fight for good is very polarizing since evil will be identified and eliminated.
Dr. Reynoso and McGee please continue to be polarizing towards getting rid of corruption. Any more polarizing candidates coming up that want want to get rid of evil will get my vote.
To embrace evil is not good but to identify good and bad people is what polarizing requires. We need to get rid of nasty people like Jesus Armas, Maribel Heredia, and Maribel Heredia.
I never realized how much of an ass and racist Lisa Bruner can be and how corrupt she is.
Lisa has shown her true colors and besides being a racist, low intelligence, she has sided with Jesus Armas now. Yuk. Bad show Lisa. I saw you on Chanel 15 and am very dismayed.
Recall time baby is right! Let us all polarize ourselves towards a district clean up by recalling Lisa Brunner,making sure Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia resign, and by electing candidates that want to polarize corruption.
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5:44 truer words were never spoken
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I want a politician that is honest smart and looks after my kids education and if he is considered polarizing them I need to get rid of the people that ares sitting next to my polarizing politician.
Dr. Reynoso the smart people will vote for you that want education improved.
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All of them need to go. The problem? The people that are running to replace them.
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Reynoso needs to go. He is so polarizing.
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Non-partisan office. But if you want to, you can get rid of the democrats from the school board since they're screwing it up.
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11:54 AM, if you nee to call a fireman do you request a Democrat or Republican? If you need surgery do you request the best Democrat or Republican surgeon. If your child grows up to be a Republican will you refuse to have him/her a part of your life? Get real and open your mind.
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When has Dr. Reynoso indicated any stance on an anti-public school or anti-union position in any of these situations? He has been fighting against corruption and very questionable ethics.
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There are Republicans and Democrats (as well as Independents) that have integrity, courage and the sense to do what is right for the children despite their political affiliation just as there are Republicans, Democrats and Independents that connive, collude, cheat and manipulate the system for their own purposes and gains. You need to look at the entire person and I'd take one with integrity and ethics over one who is cheating and gaming the system in their favor. Give Dr. Reynoso a break and don't give Mr. Armas and Ms. Heredia a pass simply based on their political affiliation.
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OMG! So we should keep people like Armas and Heredia and Brunner in office because they aren't Republicans???? Dr. Reynoso has worked to support the unions here in HUSD. many HEA members come to him with problems and he works to help them. He is the one who questions spending on more administrators than we do for classroom support for students. He questions paying consultants with money that is supposed to be directed to students.
What a fool you are. I hope that you call Armas or Heredia or Brunner the next time you need help for your student, your family or yourself. Once they have clarified what you can do for them they may decide to help. There is no goodness, compassion or heart in any of them.
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Every one here realize that Dr. Reynoso is a Republican? The GOP is anti-public school and anti- union.
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9:12 my thoughts exactly. We need a petition for Armas as well. Can't just take out the Knights without taking out the Queen.
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We need more people like McGee and Reynoso on the board. Kathryn Benson needs to be fired. Does she have a college degree? She reminds me of Lisa Dumber. It looks like the new Supt. is trying to make positive changes. As long as Armas and the other corrupt board members are in place it will be difficult to make changes.
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Hayward: Free lunches, breakfasts at five schools
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Why is the petition only targeting Heredia?
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Yah, right.
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McGee was right in that many people didn't show up because they fear retribution. The fact that Armas asked people to raise their hands to show their affiliation was really uncalled for and a not so veiled attempt at intimidating people. One obvious reason why there were so few people is that it was the night before the first day of school so my priority was with my kids and making sure they are ready, ON TIME and present at school.
It didn't help that the item was so late on the agenda and Armas would not allow the order to change to accommodate the most controversial item first. Again, Armas is manipulating the meeting by controlling the agenda and clock, cutting off people and generally pushing those with any comments he doesn't agree with to curtail their comments mid-sentence.
Spread the word about the petition at change.org and let your vote be heard by the District and Board. They're only looking for 250 votes but let's overwhelm them!
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I will be going to Maribel Heredia to sign petition.
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Lisa Bruner and Jesus Armas really made themselve known what they are really like. They were arrogant and stupid. I want to sign the recall petition too for Lisa.
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Lisa Dummer was on a roll again tonight. I like the guy who said he was on the fence about a recall. I would like a petition to circulate. Get her out with armpits and hoheadia. Where was hoheadia tonight?
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If you could not make the meeting tonight, please at least sign the Maribel Heredia resignation demand petition at change.org (just type in “Hayward” in the box that says “browse petitions” at the top of the page). If you cannot sign it because you work for the District, please circulate as much as you can to friends, family and neighbors.
If you want to hide your signature from the public, just deselect the box that is labelled, “display my signature publicly.” That means your name will be signed on the petition, but not available to see on the computer.
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Seems certain contractors are raking in some “BIG BUCKS' while the district fails to correct infrastucture problems because theses contractors are “Sugar Coating' a lot of problems by giving the sites a drive by street look eye appeal.
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Meeting tonight, most laughable part is Peter Bufete showing up in suit with glasses trying to look and sound like a grown up. LOL. Sorry, but you are going to have to do a lot more to be taken seriously.
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Word on the street. Give me a break.
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So word on the street is Jesus paid for Maribel's plastic surgery. I know she's been hitting the gym pretty hard since I've seen her leave the district office in work out gear. But apparently it's common knowledge among the inner circle Hayward elite that Armas paid to have her get surgery.
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Is everyone at the meeting???
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Why is Armas digging in his heels regarding calling Reynoso Doctor????? He is, so give him the respect.
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HUSD's Title I money is being audited for misappropriation also!
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Mr Drake, well said! Call them out! 3Rs, Bullis increases test scores by kicking out low performing students.
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No cost ? Where is the technology? Data dashboard? Really? Now I see why Hayward only hires inexperienced administrators, so they don't get called out on there rhetoric !!!!
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21st Century without Technology? That's some Christine Quinn regurgitated crap! Gallery Walk? This is old!
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This is so embarrassing no wonder Hayward is last. Where is innovation? Technology? Low expectations .
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Technology was such a small part of his presentation
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So 16 months to go for Evans to put in his 2 years and leave.
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Armas lying politician Reynoso keep asking the tough questions
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Great job McGee and Reynoso.
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Evans just said if the board wants?! Isn't McGee a board member?
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Duran taught everyone to couch corruption in large documents because no one reads!
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Dutra and Pacheco Brothers. Armas did not answer the question
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Armas if you answer the question
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Dobbs did you read?
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Who bought those IPADs for the board members. Student money!
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Armas is out of order, what a circus?
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Grand Jury report pointed out financial misdealings, read the CDE report Armas, it's still going on. True politician Armas deny everything
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Lisa brunner is making excuses, did she just make an issue about text messaging among board members? Call out Armas and Heredia for their conduct.
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Reynoso just read a CDE report 703 findings of misappropriation of funds on behalf of the district? Crooks
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Is that Chien sitting next to Kathryn Benson? That's why Benson is always in certificated business because Chien is dumb as a box of rocks and getting paid $150,000+
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Armas must be on Direct TV's board.
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Typical community response…all talk, especially on this blog.
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Disheartening to hear that there isn't a lot of people there.
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To answer your question Brunner that grand jury report might be 2010. But the misappropriation of grant funds report is 2012, read it and clarify that one? Too little to late!
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Tavares are you here ?
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Armas is the article true? Answer him?
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Tell Lisa brunner to shut the hell up!
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Kathryn Benson needs to resign!!!!!!!!
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Corruption!
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Called out Heredia on her dereliction of duties as a public official
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Go Anne Terrasses! Kathryn Benson is not credentialed and needs to stay out of credentialed business!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The board room is empty!!!! Where is the community outcry? This is why they keep screwing you Hayward!
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Why did Lisa Brunner just interrupt the community speaker?
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Anne Therasse is speaking
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Heredia is not there again !
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Comcast Cable is the only means for viewing the meeting live. Unfortunately the other forms of in-home television broadcast do not carry the municipal channel.
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It is on comcast channel 15. I don't know if you can get it any other way. It is the Hayward Public Access channel.
There is a petition to demand that Heredia resign you can sign it on line at:
http://www.change.org/petitions/hayward-unified-school-board-trustee-maribel-heredia
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Good question? Anybody know the specifics? It's Channel 15 in Hayward, I believe. For satellite, I don't know. I told my mother, who has DirecTV to watch so she can see people care about what I report, but she can't find the channel.
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What are the broadcast channels? Does it broadcast on satellite?
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A media blackout is common for HUSD. Anytime they need to do something behind closed door s they will have a meeting in the daytime and in the district head quarters with no media coverage.
Hopefully the community will come in and be heard. We deserve better than Maribel Heredia and Jesus Armas, They can have the affair but no ton the backs of the students and the community. They need to resign and do the last honorable thing to do. But who ever said Jesus Armas and Maribel Heredia are honorable.
Thank You Tavares for keeping on top of this
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