Public Input: Where is the public?

Our school board had a public meeting last Monday, to gather input on our yearly goals.  We met at the local library, in a big, comfortable room. The library is new and attractive, warm and airy. It sits in the middle of town, with plenty of parking and accessible to most people simply by walking. Meeting notices had been emailed, posted and publicized.

We anticipated a good crowd.  Our district had just completed a consolidation, closing one school and moving students to another, and  major renovations putting Stimulus Moneys to work in our town.  Also, just a few weeks previously, there was an incident over a weekend  involving arson and theft at the high school that had the whole community buzzing.  Over $ 4,000 dollars were raised overnight by students and community to catch the perpetrators of such acts.  Our board of directors had been busy maintaining open communication on many fronts and felt that a public meeting would allow many people to ask questions, receive answers, and feel reassured about the future of our schools.  Our goal setting protocol had not been this elaborate in the past, I might add.

Working on goals with our community would have allowed us all to clear the air, concentrate on children's future, and face our challenges together.  The specialist from Oregon School Board Association that was invited to guide us, had been briefed on what our situation was and what we might expect. We had set aside a good four hours for this task.

The day was rainy. Nothing unusual about that. I walked to the event, a mere 1/2 mile from my house.

At meeting time, we counted two community members: a parent, and a volunteer.  The rest of the group was associated with the district in some capacity or other. We explored our strenghts and challenges, identified areas of need, outlined priorities. The group worked hard and left satisfied and united in their resolve to build strong schools.



Everyone leaves politics for the politicians.  That's not how democracy works. If we don't get into the conversations, how will anyone know what's on our minds, what our needs are?

You see, politics is about the good of the many.

Diabetes: Part Two.

I want to thank all of you who left comments on my last post. The facts are frightening and cannot be any clearer: Our quality of life is directly related to the food we ingest, the stress we face, and the amount of exercise we engage in.

Some genetics is involved as well; but we are still in charge of what we do everyday. My ancestors lived simpler lives, some past their eighties and with all their faculties intact, but they had opposite problems: lack of food, too much physical exercise, no chance of relief in their work situation. Those good old days were not so good.

Now we have an abundance of food, availability of work with little or no physical stress, and opportunities for recreation and pharmaceuticals that cure many diseases that used to kill us in childhood.

With all this, we make strange choices. We are smart and well read, and can definitely beat the odds if we realized the consequences of our choices. Remember when we all began to do self breast analysis? That small change, understanding that we are in charge of our own health, has saved us possible problems. If I feel anything unusual, I'm telling.

Medical education is not part of school curricula. We offer a semester or two of general health information squeezed with the physical education curriculum. We can't afford to offer anatomy, physiology and other medical primers.

I am part of the local school board that creates policies and curriculum offerings. We have begun to cut programs to manage our budget. We are not expending moneys we don't have. Yet, more than ever before, we need broad-based and iron-clad policies for all disease control , policies that should be funded at state and national levels, and that reach down and are part of the curriculum at all grade levels.

And for you men reading this, diabetes causes many physiological changes, among which is e.d. We don't need pills to fight the effect of diseases. We need education and pharmaceuticals to fight the occurrence in the first place.

Education Post: Part two

"I can tell you; but then, I'd have to kill you!"

Do you know where this phrase comes from? If you do, you are a movie watcher; better, a movie worshipper, because, to have remembered this phrase, you watched The Princess Bride more than once.

My eldest son obsessed over this movie, memorizing every single character's lines. His daughter, can also recite the same, sharing a love for the same movie.

If your schooling felt like a movie you couldn't wait to see over and over again, if you rushed back every day because you loved your teacher, and adored your classmates; if your school work was displayed on the refrigerator; if your family spoke about the lessons you received with enthusiasm and appreciation for the work that your teacher did; if you had confidence in your abilities to handle everything that came your way; if you were that child, feeling love and concern all around you, from every adult around you, you were a happy child in happy circumstances, and your schooling and the passion it created in your family benefited your life.

In the next few weeks we'll explore the business of educating our youth. We'll also discuss what the Obama administration is doing to improve education, and how it translates at the local school level.

If you want to get ahead of the class, I recommend the New York Times editorial: " Ending the 'Race to the Bottom'", published on March 11th. Happy Reading. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while, know that I have worked with 5th graders and with the SMART program before the injury that I'm presently nursing.

I'm happy to report that the 5th graders sent their letters of congratulations to the President. I will share their letters in the next few posts.

The view from the top

Looking at a town from the top of a mountain gives us clearer outlines, a cleaner sense of the interaction among people, their jobs, their environment and their history.

Looking from a distance of 65+ years one can see areas that have become congested, neglected, and abused. One can also see beauty never seen before.


Descending back to our corners of the world, we know what needs to be done at fever-pitch immediacy. We see the waters surging and destroying levies, winds toppling trees and shattering structures. We have seen; and we can't remain silent.

We can join to clean roads, build bridges, shovel dirt, teach children, feed the hungry,
interdependence made obvious, the runoff from one farm into the other, the struggle of the fish to pass the damns and return to spawning sites.


On Mondays we will deal with Governance , from issues affecting this hamlet, to the status of the economy in Oregon.
On Tuesdays, we'll address educational issues and what the current administration hopes to accomplish.
On Wednesdays, our backyards, rivers, forests, ports and natural areas will be featured.
On Thursdays, communication ,media , status of knowledge gathering, status of newspapers and reporting of the news will be featured.
On Fridays, the arts, music, painting, photography, movies, and all other aspects of culture will be reported.


For the weekend, we'll shoot the breeze, try new recipes, learn a new language, garden, take a trip, share stories, throw a party, go shopping for hand-made goodies, or just do nothing.

This is quite ambitious work I plan to undertake. I will attempt this pace for one week, then evaluate the results. The areas that receive the most comments will probably survive and become regular features. Those that struggle might become victims of the marketplace.

Last week I dedicated some songs to my regular visitors. I hope some of you dropped by http://www.feelthecomforters.com/ , and listened for your song. Let me know if you liked my choice for you. The trouble with giving gifts on line is, you never really know if people received them, or worse, if they liked them at all. I promise, I will not send you empty-handed...........................................................................................................
With such an agenda, visitors can drop in when they are interested in the topic.


As of today, the number of regular visitors exceed the number of students in a regular classroom, even college courses. It's hard to know you well if you don't raise your hands, ask questions and wave at me now and then. I tend to walk around, stop by your desk/blog and ask questions about your interests. We are all adults here; we know when we need to take breaks, drop out, or divulge more immediate and necessary information. Let's enjoy the journey.

Intermission: End of Act I- Obama 's Educational Agenda

I will continue to pursue the topic of education in the next weeks. Since the topic is dense with layers of facts and interpretation, I will break the topic up into various aspects. In between these posts, we'll wander in other directions, observe other sights, integrate other interests.

Once a week, on the same day of the week, EDUCATION will return as the theme of the post.

Meanwhile, disclaimers :

-I hold the chairmanship of the local Board of Education. My opinions on this post are strictly personal, and in no way represent the position of the Port Orford/Langlois 2cj School district.

-The Board meets in open sessions with published agendas and invites the public to observe all of its deliberations, and participate in decision making. In addition, board policies are available on its website to be accessible at all times.