John Hughes passing and the Breakfast Club

This thought provoking item written by a gentleman named Pye Ian in the Huffington Post pays tribute to filmmaker John Hughes, who died recently. Perhaps his most well known film is the Breakfast Club, which Mr. Ian directs his considerable writing talent to memorializing in this recent piece. Read it here.

A social experiment gone awry

"In our infinite Wisdom", was my opening line in the 'Being present and accounted for at Village View' posting on this blog. For obvious reasons, I neither demanded nor required that anyone read my opinions. I left that to those who found themselves imbued with a sense of voyeurism similar to that of viewing an auto accident. Cloaked in my opinion and commentary was a community social experiment here at Village View. Unfortunately, it failed on every level and has played itself out to the point of absurdity. I and many others have been reviled and slandered, and the trading in barbed wire kisses through the various responses on this blog have suggested that many of you would have blown up the boat full of convicts in the Dark Knight film of last summer. The unintended anarchy was admirable, nonetheless.

In attempting to foster discourse about issues that, in my opinion, were worth ruminating over initially, I managed to frame it within the context of the school which my children attend. What I found, interestingly enough, was excessive anger, combative behavior, name calling, play yard swearing, threatening sentences, personal attacks, attempts at slander, irritated teachers and heated demands by the principal himself. All have conspired against a willingness on my part to share my opinion about issues for which we all share a common interest. I will be closing down this blog shortly, as the comments have moved in a meaningless direction, not worthy of further acrimony. If one of you prefer to keep it alive, please let me know. The last sentence of the same posting noted above was rather prescient, as I recently reviewed what I wrote. It states, "we may end up failing ourselves, even as we believe we know what is best for our children." In that area, we have done a most effective job.

Comments versus Ideas

I would encourage anyone who has playing a role in this discourse on Village View school to add some comments regarding two of the postings that interested me greatly when I wrote them. Both the generalized commentary regarding 'Innovators, Journeymen and Timekeepers' and the 'Community Spirit' postings have been all but ignored. Disagree with me! Tell me that I do not know anything about people or community, but do add something here.

The View from here

I drove by the school yesterday as I wanted to visualize its potential as imagined by my community creation posting. I was struck by the bland faceless facade of the exterior, and the faded colors of the school itself. Much like the tract where the school is located, the school comes across as a symbol of decades old suburban planning in an area where land was at one time cheap and available. Many houses have changed with the advent of the new century, sporting new facades, additions, color schemes and landscaping. And the school sits, its edifice aged to a bland patina, utterly without character. The landscape is plain, open and indifferent. It has no texture, and little distinction. Yet it sports the moniker "California Distinguished School." Distinguished is defined as "marked by eminence, distinction or excellence." Where then, is the distinction? If one were to refer to earlier postings, which suggest that all is not as it seems, a distinguished school Village View is surely not. We have been hanging on to this moniker because we imagine it for our children. What then?

Realizing that the usual excuses of empty coffers apply in these troubled budgetary times, I began to consider a new view. A new Village View. I found myself conceptualizing a Village View which could evolve beyond the acrimony and childlike behavior of the school district officials, state and federal agencies, and the administrators themselves. I saw paint, color, trees, benches and beauty. I saw expressions of childhood experienced in all its imaginative forms, with murals, landscape features and welcoming elements. And then the fog moves quickly in, obscuring my view. I am left with the place I saw yesterday, with its distinction set in the painted parking spaces for special parents and school administrators.

Contact information for our Superintentent of Ocean View School District

This is the place that should be able to field your comments about Village View. I am certain that if enough people decide to contact them, they will respond.

Superintendent Alan G. Rasmussen, Ed. D.
17200 Pinehurst Lane
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
714-847-2551

You can find them online here

Innovators, Journeymen and Timekeepers in the classroom

There is a significant distinction between the innovator and the journeyman. Much like music, where distinctive sounds are created by those innovators that hold up to the test of time, there are a larger number of musicians who can clearly carry a tune, understand music, but would be considered emulators of the sound of the day.

There are very few innovators, in any arena.

It strikes me that most teachers fall into the category of journeyman, and are often relegated to emulating the prevailing teaching fad or philosophy of the day. That said, both type of teachers can provide a fine, vibrant teaching experience.

A fine teacher is remembered by the student for many years. Inspired thought by a teacher, whether from an innovator or a journeyman, creates magic in the classroom. Inspiration comes in many guises, and whether through innovation or capacity to create a dynamic environment where students are constantly stimulated, both have their place.

It is only when none of these elements are present in the classroom that the student suffers. Those lacking such texture could be considered timekeepers of sorts; relegated to managing the time and behavior of students with little else to offer. We would all like to think that Village View School is populated with only innovators and journeymen. Of concern, however, is whether any timekeepers have taken up residence at the school. Given the new direction that the school has taken of recent, there is great concern. I hear it every year when parents comment on the teachers that have been assigned to their children. The resulting disappointment and anger lasts through the first semester of school.

The Community Spirit

You might ask yourself how Village View School might recreate itself as a community hub, to develop a sense of place in this area.

For some time, I have debated whether to move out of this area since I need not live here for my job. My only justification was my children, and their connection to their school, and the friendships they had developed. That sense of connection for my children has been strained, not by friendships, but by the recent developments at the school, which has altered their sense of school in general. It was my foolishness in thinking it would change as if magically.

I suppose the first thing to ask is whether the school community believes it is worthwhile. I think so, but there will have to be some changes in how we go about forming community. Here are a few thoughts for a Friday evening:

-blog
-community posting board
-Village View community map to encourage friendships, businesses and family introductions
-parent driven swap meet: recruitment for cub, boy and girl scouts, new programs, tutoring and educational connections, etc.
-creation of a monthly farmers market on the school grounds
-Annual events that include parents and children: sporting day, Independence day event, etc
-parent review of the teachers within the blog or the community website.
-development of a means to reward teachers who innovate and inspire
-better use of the school garden
-Tree planting day

Thoughts only, but better to think about the possibilities than let the community possibility dwindle away under the aegis of the school district and its administrators. If we allow others to stewards of our community, there will be none.

Being present and accounted for at Village View

In our infinite wisdom, parents always believe they know what is best for the child. Nowhere is this more evident than our tacit approval of the clampdown that has taken place at Village View in the past two years. I applauded it initially, given the lack of parental rules which allowed easy access to all areas of the school, sniveling school district support of "No child left behind", blind eyes toward teachers lacking the tools or the understanding of how to inspire children, and the willingness to subvert the quality of education in the mad rush to secure extra state and federal funds.

I never advocated a total lock down of the school, which is having an adverse effect on the kids. That has happened, however, and kids are no longer being allowed to retain the essence that makes them children in the first place. Suddenly, we have children coming home with unhealthy anxiety, concern, mood swings, generalized fear, comments about their teachers that we cannot ignore, and a general unhappiness that should not be prevalent in a place of learning.

The teachers themselves, some already suspected to be complicit in the effort to assist the increase in school visibility for the state and federal educators, are mostly reduced to robotic procurement devices, with little to inspire children. Certainly there are exceptions, but a recent school assembly to present student awards illustrated how teachers who are most able to connect with their students can quickly lose faith in their own core inspirational beliefs.

Witness the changes that have taken place, no longer in subtle fashion, before, during and after school. The children no longer have fun. Laughter has been replaced with silence. This place of learning has turned into the rule equivalent of an armed camp. Bells ring, and kids are frozen in place. At lunch, kids eat looking straight ahead, and do not turn toward others behind them. Orchestrating this is Aaron Jetzer, replacement for a deer in the headlights style principal who was beloved, but unable to effect any changes that brought the school into the new century.

This oversight has extended to parents as well, as we are subject to police radar on Sisson while driving our children to school, special parking places for parents that have paid for the privilege, holding parents captive for chastisement by the principal at awards assemblies for our children, while highlighting our apparently mediocre efforts to give our children a broad social experience by including them in after school activities. There is a lack of effort by our school to increase the quality of the food that the children can purchase at lunch, lack of effort to create an environment of childlike curiosity that should be a driving focus of the school itself, and lack of effort to act as the catalyst for the furthering of the Village view community.

What I do see, is a sense of entitlement on the part of many parents here. I see parents who display that sense of entitlement in the school parking lot, at assemblies, and at poorly orchestrated events supposedly for the betterment of the children. I see few leaders, creators of community, or those who understand children beyond their own selfish interests. I see exclusion by certain factions of the PTA. I see protection on the part of the school for teachers who do not provide any inspiration to our children. I see anxiety in the eyes of many students, less concerned about learning and more concerned about being held back. I see a blatant attempt by the school and the district to lure more funds without generating an environment of curiosity that would allow for greater development of our children at this level.

I suppose this should encourage some who like this rather Orwellian view of our school. With all the controls in place though, we may end up failing ourselves, even as we believe we know what is best of our children.