Institutionalized Racism is in Full Force at Pinole Valley High School in 2014

Mr. Kleiman does not have the capability to achieve any of the goals that he set out for himself exactly one year ago. The three goals are; Goal #1: Community Building, Goal #2: Set High Classroom Standards, Goal #3: Open and Constant Communication.

Mr. Kleiman said one year ago that he did not have four years to reach these goals. He repeated the same mantra just last week. He just seems to move the finish line one year at a time.

Mr. Kleiman stays sequestered in his office and runs his operation from a walkie talkie that he communicates with constantly even while “listening” to parents concerns.

The new campus is incredibly oppressive and feels and is run more like a detention center rather than a place of learning. Mr. Kleiman has more of an emphasis on security, penalties, credits for absences, and ability to do make up work rather than on academics.

In a recent e-mail Mr. Kleiman made excuses about why he cannot meet the freshmen, “It’s hard to get to know our school’s incoming freshmen personally: it’s a pleasure for me to get to know our families and get a clear sense of what they hope Pinole Valley can provide for their son or daughter.” This statement frightens me.

In my first interaction with Mr. Kleiman, he was incredibly condescending to both my wife and I. This condescending attitude of Mr. Kleiman will not do anything to help him to achieve his first goal.

In regards to setting standards and expectations, Mr. Kleiman has set the bar so low, for the kids, staff and teachers at Pinole Valley High that if you are a homeowner I think it might be prudent to consider re-locating because with the hands-off and low expectations that Mr. Kleiman has set it will not be long before Pinole Valley High will be just another bottom scoring school in a District that is currently receiving a D- grade and private school will become mandatory.

Apologists will disagree with me and cite his no hats policy as his big win. At this point quantum improvements are just in the noise and will do nothing to move the needle in a positive direction. Yup, things were allowed to get that bad.

One year later, Mr. Kleiman is failing on his communication goal. On July 8th we received a notification of an upcoming orientation on August 7th. My son was un-enrolled on July 18th. My son attended the orientation on August 7th and he received his badge and registration number at the orientation.

On Monday August 18th, my son was informed that he had been un-enrolled and my son spent nearly his entire first day of High School in the office. At no time between July 18th through August 18th did the school notify us that my son had been un-enrolled. Failure!

When questioned about the “glitch” he was indifferent and completely incurious to my wife and was offended by the question. He felt this was not important. We disagreed.

Mr. Kleiman had assured my wife and I that the problem had been resolved however, he failed to inform his staff, utilize his two Vice Principals, his walkie talkies, or his PA system to find my son during the lunch hour. My son was finally informed of his schedule near the end of the final period of the day.

This clearly demonstrates Mr. Kleiman’s a complete lack of administrative skills. And a clear disregard to academics. In fact Mr. Kleiman intentionally did not inform my son that his schedule was ready because he took offense that my wife and I wanted to know how the dis-enrollment had happened and he passive aggressively with-held the schedule from my son. Intentionally denying children access to academics is throwback to the 1950’s. Criminal.