It is a community defined by our schools, our parks, our weekend activities spent watching AYSO and Little League. Every newsletter is highlighted by the activities available for families and for students. Every day, my kindergartner is sent home with information from the cottage industry of after school tutoring, Lego clubs, sports leagues, and more. The school choir sings at the local tree lighting. The high school band has marched in the Rose Parade more often than any other band in the country. It’s Norman Rockwell in a 21st Century world. In others words, our community, as with many communities in this country, is tied to our schools.

But this post isn’t about what I love about our area. It is, in fact, about a disappointment.

I recently received an informational brochure through the mail slot that gave an overview of an initiative that the school board is trying to pass as a funding measure to get on our local ballot. Fine by me. The goal is to educate people about Sacramento’s funding cuts and how they are chipping away at our schools. No problem there. They are seeking to “create a stable funding source that cannot be taken away” by the ebb and flow of cuts. Got it. I’m with them so far.

Here’s where they lose me:

“Senior citizen homeowners, aged 65 or older, can receive an exemption.”

Look, I’ve heard this before. The older generations in this country have raised their kids, and they no longer have a stake in our schools, so why should they continue to help pay for them?  This possibility of exemption is seen as a selling point for this measure, but I see it as a sadness in an increasing trend.

It’s simple. As the superintendent says, “we all benefit from living in a community with great schools….quality schools make [our district] a desirable place to live and creates demands for our homes. This keeps our property values strong, which is more important than ever.”

We are entering a very interesting time in this country as our citizens age and the next generation statistically will not be as well off as the one that preceded it. Since we all benefit from our schools, can we afford to exempt a growing population in this country from being held responsible for helping to support the students of this country?

Even printing the possibility of exemption sends a message that if it doesn’t apply to you, it is something you can overlook. Yet our schools do apply to us all. We can’t just hold the young parents of our students accountable for funding our school system. It is a responsibility of us all. Our public schools help neighborhoods to flourish. They help us all retain our sense of community, a sense that we all want as adults and one that begins at childhood with the sense of security, community, and neighborliness that is found in places like church, temple, and school.

How can we fund our educational system with only the aid of the generation that is currently using its classrooms? What message does that send to our students?

It sends the message that once a student leaves school that person can walk away from schooling and societal responsibility. It send a message that you can allow the current generation to fend for itself, but still expect that the community in which you live will be maintained without your aid.

If people live in a community, enjoy the benefits of that community, go to restaurants, events, break bread in that community, can they ignore the responsibility for helping to maintain that community? What will allowing an entire generation of citizens to opt out of educational funding do to our schools? That Norman Rockwell image would be a mere echo in this community were it not for our schools.

Does responsibility end at a certain age?

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: educational funding, Educational Policy, k12, middle school, public schools

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OK, I admit it.  I watched Glee last night on Fox after American Idol just because Ryan Seacrest told me to.

Stand aside Lean On Me, Teachers, Dangerous Minds, and Freedom Writers.  This new fall program, whose pilot aired last night after Idol, is the most accurate (and palatable) depiction of public school life that I’ve seen in a long time.  After all, who really wants to watch a show about teachers being taken advantage of, budget cuts, and student achievement?  Makes for some boring entertainment as we all found watching David Kelley’s 2000 drama, Boston Public.  Until now.

Humor, it seems, it mightier than the sob.

Basically, Glee’s A-story is about a teacher who offers to teach Glee Club and is told by all that it’s worthless.  His heart, however, says it’s not.  The B-story is about the kids who struggle to climb out of their adolescent roles and into something that actually means something to them.  It’s “The Breakfast Club” for geeks.

I know it’s cheesy and cartoony and full of dreams (I mean does your school have such vibrant wall colors?), but there’s something this show has captured that those dramatic movies only tell you they have: heart.  And heart is what abounds in every school, from the most privileged to the most challenged.  Jeesh, I sound like an ad.  

Best beats of the show include:

-Our lead shows up in the principal’s office to offer to teach Glee Club.  He’s told that’ll be 60 bucks per month.  ”Wait, and you expect me to pay for it?”  Not only is he told that he has to pay for it, but because of budget cuts, if he wants the elective he’s got to do after-school detention for free.

-Later, the principal tells him that AA wants to host their meetings in the Glee Club’s auditorium.  ”Lots of drunks in this town.  And they’re willing to pay me $10 a head.”  

-There are no glass coffee pitchers in the Mr. Coffee machine in the lounge.  Why?  Budget cuts.

-The teacher has to consider whether to pursue what he loves (teaching) or get a job with better money and benefits having just found out his wife’s pregnant.

-The monologue by Best in Show’s Jane Lynch.  When asked if some of her award-winning cheerleaders wouldn’t mind joining Glee Club, she responds, “OK, what’s you’re doing right now is called ‘blurring the lines.’  High school is a caste system.  Kids fall into certain slots.  Jocks and your popular kids: up in the penthouse.  Invisibles and the kids playing live-action-druids-and-troll-out-in-the-forest: bottom floor.” He asks, with trepidation where the glee kids are.  ”Sub-basement,” she replies.  

The list goes on. I’m not doing it justice.  But I tell you that compared to your typical, bad-kids-until-some-A-lister-comes-along-to-turn-them-on-to-learning-and-show-the-school-that-the-losers-really-do-matter flick, this show was brilliant.  

And don’t even get me started on the background collegiate a capella music as the soundtrack.  Sigh. Brought me back, let me tell you. 

The only negative thing I’ll say about Glee at this time (it is a pilot, after all, and character arch has yet to come) is the little scene in the beginning with the flamboyantly gay teacher brushing a student’s chest.  Although stereotypes abound in Glee in great even-handedness, portraying the homosexual teacher with the eyes for his student seems like there’s more at stake in the laugh than the dullard, bullying football coach character.  Plot-wise, it was a ploy to have the teacher fired so that our protagonist can move in and take over glee club.  Plot-wise it was also so that fired teacher could go off and make a living dealing weed, thus earning more than his mere teacher’s salary could ever garner him.  But could they not have gotten rid of this character in a way that doesn’t feed into the terror of the hearts of homophobic parents everywhere?  As my dear friend who brought this to my attention said, “Where was GLAAD in all this?  How did they let that through?”

It’s always wise to talk to many people, to get their perspectives, and to see through their eyes.  Despite this one line-crossing, however, we both agreed that Glee has the potential to earn our audience when it returns in the fall.

The pilot episode ends with our band of misfits singing, “Don’t stop believing.”  Their teacher, giving in to his own passion for teaching finally believes.  And we the audience cheers for the fall school and TV season to begin so that we might be gleeful once more.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: budget cuts, fox, glee, public schools, TV review

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