Letters: Eliminating suspensions | Smoke-free district | Distracted pedestrians | Fitting end | More pay

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Don’t cut suspensions
without teaching first

Re: “Booting kids from class could get harder” (Page B1, April 30).

State Senator Nancy Skinner’s Senate Bill 274 seeks to eliminate willful defiance as a cause for student suspensions in middle and high schools.

I would suggest all state legislators spend one week as substitute teachers in any public middle or high school in California prior to discussing Skinner’s bill. I believe our lawmakers will see her suggestion as a step in the wrong direction. It might also spur discussion to funding alternatives to at-home suspensions.

Steve Stavis
Los Gatos

Foothill-DeAnza district
should be smoke-free

Re: “De Anza students express support for smoke-free campus” (Jan. 22).

Exposure to secondhand smoke/vape increases the likelihood of lung cancer by 20%-30%, according to the CDC. I’m writing this letter to express my concerns with designated smoking zones in the Foothill-De Anza district and to encourage a change in board policy.

De Anza’s students have shown interest in this initiative since 2018. I’ve lived near De Anza’s campus my whole life and even visit occasionally. However, despite De Anza College Council’s vote to be 100% smoke-free, there needs to be a district-wide policy change for safer campuses for students, faculty and visitors.

I strongly urge the district to take action and prohibit tobacco products entirely. I hope to see changes toward making local campuses 100% smoke-free.

Asheeka Noronha
Saratoga

Pedestrians must also
take care on roads

One hundred eighty pedestrian deaths on the streets of San Jose is not good. But I have to ask how many of these deaths could have been avoided, whether the driver was fully at fault or not, if the pedestrian was just paying attention.

I have seen too many pedestrians be oblivious to the cars around them while their faces are buried in cell phones. Too many don’t even notice my car as I am stopped waiting for them to cross. I know personally I am not about to put an inanimate law or lines in the road between me and a 5,000-pound mass coming at me.

I am not making excuses for drivers, but streets do have cars on them; look before you cross.

William Ortendahl
Santa Clara

A fitting end
for Fallon statue

I’m done with all the woke whining about the Thomas Fallon statue.

First it’s up, then it’s down, then it’s up, and now it’s down again. Such a waste of resources. Just grind it up into dust and be done with it. Use the dust to fill in all the potholes.

Phil Griego
San Jose

Mental health workers
deserve more pay

Community mental health care provides essential mental health services to low-income families. As a student therapist at a San Jose-based community mental health agency, I have watched my colleagues work 50+ hours a week, tirelessly supporting their communities at barely liveable wages.

Caseloads and productivity expectations leave hardly a moment to use the restroom, let alone process the secondary trauma experienced as a direct result of their work. The patriarchy prevails as this female-dominated field continues to unfairly compensate women for their expertise. County contracts for Medi-Cal funding go out to the lowest-bidding nonprofit and continue to reinforce already low wages.

As the state looks to increase its supply of mental health care providers, it must also increase the quality of care by increasing worker wages. It is not enough to pay community mental health care providers in good karma. We must show them the money.

Brenda Jones
East Palo Alto