May 02, 2008
From the Director 5-2-2008
In the Very, Merry Month of May
Brian Thomas, Director
Are we there yet? Nearly.
The last full month of school is finally here. Hooray! May is named after the Greek goddess Maia who, like her Roman counterpart, Bona Dea, was associated with fertility. No wonder so many of our colleagues are having babies, two due to deliver later this month (Pascale Tooth and Jennifer Franklin). Celebrate!
Every month comes chock full of events and dates. May certainly has its share. Of course, there are those eponymous flowers; they’re the ones that come after April showers. Also, who can forget Mother’s Day? Errr… you better not. May is also the month for horse racing in Kentucky, the hundred and thirty-fourth running (“And they’re off…””). Plus, the Indy 500 is on the Sunday right before Memorial Day.
Horses and cars, horses and cars.
It’s also Cinco de Mayo, not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is September 16th. May 5th brings another cool day that I wished I'd heard about when I was a kid. It’s Children’s Day in Korea and Japan. How children in these countries got their very own day (when I lobbied my own mother as a six year old for one of my own), I’ll never know.
Additionally, May brings a slew of month-long remembrances and acknowledgements. It’s Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month, International Awareness for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases Month, and Older Adults Month.
For us at PHS, May mostly means May Festival. May Festival is a celebration of spring, rites of passages, and renewal. Like so many special occasions, the true meaning of this school-wide event represents different things to different people. I asked a bunch of second graders what they thought May Festival meant:
One boy said, “Fun.” Another girl chimed in, “Yeah.” While still another said, “Lemony lemons and candy sticks. That’s what I like.” The same girl who said, “Yeah,” also said, “Yeah, yeah. We like Lemony candy.” One boy said he, "loved to hear the poetry and see the eighth graders go around and around and around the Maypole.” Whatever your favorite parts are (you can like it all, really) come enjoy this Sunday, May 4th and hear some of the best poetry around.
Below you'll find a terrific history of May Fest compiled by Dan Goldensohn, which you should definitely check out. (Just remember that Monday is also Dan’s birthday.)
THE PHS MAY FESTIVAL:
A Few Historical Notes
Founded in 1918, Presidio Hill School has had plenty of time to develop some wonderful traditions. While we enjoy both the performances of our totally modern student body and the pleasure of each other’s company in the here-and-now, today’s May Festival reflects the long history of the school community.
The Festival itself is a celebration of spring, honoring the blossoming of our kids’ lives through their poetry, dances and songs. Through many decades the May Fest has also become a way for us to come together as a community to eat and play and be together.
For more than a quarter century, the Dragon Dance has played a big role in the May Fest. When the school re-opened and re-invented itself after a fire, the dancer Anna Halprin led a dance through the streets that has over time taken on some aspects of the Chinese New Year celebration. The PHS Dragon Dance is led by the tallest Middle Schoolers and the tail is brought up by our smallest kindergartners. Somehow Herbie Hancock has gotten in there too.
No one seems to know when the Virginia Reel became one of the traditions here, but this old dance form allows our kids to play together in such a spirited and communicative way and connects them to many centuries of other dancers. Why “Turkey in the Straw”? Well, why not?
The Maypole Dance is so ancient that it may seem far removed from our modern world: it is a springtime celebration that hearkens back to Shakespeare’s time and before. Children in the U.S. have been dancing it in schools since the 1700’s, and here at PHS it has become the privilege and responsibility of the 8th Graders to end the performance part of our May Festival with their version.
Another tradition to be enjoyed is the poetry book: all the students contribute a poem to this book. When the school was smaller, each student in the school would read their poem at May Festival. Once upon a time, the older students printed the book themselves on a printing press. The poetry book is a tradition that seems so natural when you consider that the school was founded by a poet.
April 11, 2008
From the Director 4-11-2008
April 11, 2008
Dear Families:
Spring Break is finally here and we want to wish you a very restful break (to come) with your families, friends, and loved ones. Spring is not only a time for renewal, but it’s also a time to take stock of what is essential and important in our lives. Presidio Hill School has been a place where many of us have found a unique sense of community for ourselves and for our children. Each person—parents, guardians, children, staff, and community member—represents a valued and valuable part of what makes PHS so special and different.
One reason for writing this letter is to inform you of some news that is hard to frame even in a letter. Adra Valentine will be leaving PHS at the end of the school year to work at Marin Country Day School. It goes without saying that Adra has given so much of her time and talents to Presidio Hill School—parents, colleagues, and children—that it will be very difficult to imagine the school without her. As many of you may know, Adra has given so much to the community over the last 10 years—as a Board member, as the chair of the safety committee, and in other seen and unseen ways that demonstrate her desire to continue to stretch herself and grow, sadly even beyond the walls of Presidio Hill School. (Please see Adra’s letter to the community, which follows my letter.) As with the other positions, the deans and I will be looking for an experienced art educator to fill the art position that Adra will be vacating. Adra has also agreed to help us in that search. Adra will be dearly missed.
The second reason for this letter is to tell you that we have hired a 3rd Grade Teacher for next year. Sarah Weidman will be teaching one of the two 3rd Grade classes—along with Emily Koch. Sarah comes to us from the Saklan Valley School in Moraga where she currently teaches 3rd Grade. Sarah has taught 3rd Grade at Fred T Korematsu Elementary School in Oakland, she has been an environmental educator for the AIM HIGH Program, and she has also been a 1st and 5th Grade Teaching Intern at Live Oak School. Sarah received her BA degree from Sarah Lawrence College and her Multiple Subject Credentials from the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute at San Francisco State. Please join me in welcoming Sarah Weidman into the community when you see her.
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback about the hiring process or anything else, please don’t hesitate to call or email me. I will be checking and responding to messages over the break.
Sincerely,
Brian Thomas,
Director
Dear PHS Community,
I am writing to let you know that I will be continuing my education practice/career at Marin Country Day School next year. I will miss my PHS family, and wanted to have a chance to let you all know how much you mean to me. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since I started at PHS. I feel enormously fortunate to have spent so much time with all of you. I also want to let you all know that I firmly believe PHS is an amazing school, and that the community will continue to thrive for the next 90 years. I know that some of you may be concerned that there are a number of changes in the staff this year. Although I certainly cannot speak for my colleagues, I do want to let you all know that having Brian, Lisa and Ann settled into their administrative roles has helped me feel more able to focus on my professional life. While working on my master’s degree through Klingenstein at Columbia I have been able to prioritize career objectives and working in a larger environment will allow me to focus on those objectives. And so I find that the time has come for me to embrace the next phase in my life. I will still be in San Francisco, and will definitely visit and stay in touch.
Much love, Adra
April 04, 2008
From the Director 4-4-2008
THIS LETTER/ARTICLE HAS ALSO BEEN MAILED HOME
Friday Letter
April 4, 2008
Dear Presidio Hill Community Members:
From time to time we want to share good resources that speak to the core concepts of progressive education. The current issue of Independent School Magazine is devoted to “Education and Democracy, Today.” Not bad timing for a Presidential election year. The feature article in the magazine is by Alfie Kohn who came to the Bay Area to talk about progressive education: what it is and what it isn’t.
Attached to this letter (click here) is Kohn’s fabulous article, “Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, but also Hard to Find.” I spoke with Alfie Kohn by phone two days ago to ask for permission to send this article to all of you. He graciously agreed. As you read the article, as many of our teachers have already done, I hope that it will generate questions that I hope will spark agreement, debate, and interest in what we do as a school. Also as you read, please recognize what we do and perhaps what we could do better as a progressive school in the early Twenty-First Century. Also know that in our work together in helping to facilitate the learning of all the children at PHS, we invite conversation and feedback about philosophy but also about making the abstract real as a progressive school.
At our next Dialogue Circle on Thursday, May 1st at 6 PM, “Built to Last: PHS, Progressive Education, and What’s Next,” we will discuss the practical nature of how we can continue to push the edges of the envelope of progressive education for the next 90 years.
Sincerely,
Brian Thomas,
Director
March 28, 2008
From the Director 3-28-2008
More news to report on the staffing front for next year.James Wygant has accepted our offer to be the 8TH GRADE HUMANITIES TEACHER beginning in the 2008 - 2009 school year. For the last two years, James has been teaching at the San Roque High School in Santa Barbara where he has collaborated closely with other teachers at the school while also helping to encourage students to be "flourishing learners and confident individuals." One of the many things that impressed us about James is his ability to relate immediately to our students during his demonstration lesson as well as his passion for the vigorous study of reading and writing in a progressive way. James comes to PHS with a BA in Art History from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MFA in Poetics and Creative Writing from New College of California here in San Francisco. James has also been an editor and writer for BEATITUDE MAGAZINE and AIR MAIL, DRIVING TO DEERLICK.
Please join me in welcoming James Wygant to Presidio Hill School.
Sincerely,
Brian
March 21, 2008
From the Director 3-21-2008
A HARD COPY OF THIS LETTER HAS BEEN SENT HOME AS WELL - CLICK BELOW FOR A WAY TO COMPLETE YOUR PARENTS ASSOCIATION NOMINATING FORM ONLINE
March 20, 2008
Dear PHS Families:
It’s hard to imagine that nearly three-quarters of the school year has come and gone. In many ways, it feels like we have just begun the year. In fact, the nature of schools and schooling feels like we are always just beginning. Which is why being in schools as educators and parents, particularly at Presidio Hill School, is so transfixing. As many of you know much has been accomplished at the school over the year, and we have many of you to thank for that—Fall Gathering, Grandparents & Special Friends Day, Follies, and the admissions tours and open houses. Also, it feels like much is left to be done at PHS.
One area of the school that deserves a good hard look is how we work with and manage our parent/guardian volunteers. After all, the school would not quite be where we are if we didn’t have a consistent and comprehensive way to tap the expertise and talents of our parent/guardian community.
Over the years, a number of people have done a tremendous job of advancing the Parent Association at Presidio Hill School. In the past three to four years, Susan Byrd (Ethan 5th), Noel Kaufman (Gabe 7th and Stella 4th) , and Rita Fahrner (Kelly 7th) did yeoman’s work in crafting a structure for the current Parent Association that has brought us a consistent well of volunteers from throughout the community. As we look to the future, two parents, Kimberley Spears (Canavan 3rd and Danny N. K) and Regina Casciato (Victoria 6th) have agreed to co-chair the Presidio Hill Parent Association going forward and look at the next evolution of this important group.
Please take a look at the nominating form (click here to download - or click the link below for a way to complete the form online), which asks people within the PHS community to help nominate others or one’s self to work on important community projects, tasks, and events. This is a new process for our school, but we expect it to become an integral part of our parent association. Click here to download a cover letter about the form from the parent association. It is important that each person in our school—families, faculty, and staff—complete this form and return it to PHS by April 11 or complete the form online by going to the Friday Letter and clicking on the link or going to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=a6bPYdYcb1U8E9LYuY7flg_3d_3d. Please make sure you participate and help us initiate this new process.
Please feel free to email Kimberley Spears kimberleyspears@yahoo.com or Regina Casciato at CasciatoReggae@aol.com for specific questions about the Presidio Hill Parents Association. For questions of a general nature, don’t hesitate to email me at Brian_Thomas@presidohill.org or call me at (415) 751-9318 ext. 101.
Take care,
Brian Thomas
March 07, 2008
From the Director 3-7-2008
Creativity
by Brian Thomas, Director
Last week Adra, Lisa J., and I attended the National Conference for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in New York City from February 27 – March 2. One of the featured speakers was Sir Kenneth Robinson; I had heard him speak when I worked at the Agassi School in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I was captivated all over again by Sir Kenneth’s engaging oratorical witticisms, which were Monty Python meets George Carlin with a dash of Jon Stewart.
Indeed, Sir Kenneth’s thesis promotes creativity as a transformative element in our society today, particularly in schools and in business—much like Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, last year’s summer reading book. So much of what Robinson said resonated with the NAIS audience at Radio City Music Hall as we listened intently to his overall premise, which is: NAIS member schools have a moral obligation to shift the national conversation away from our new (national) obsession with tests and towards a more sane and rational focus on creativity. Independent Schools—schools that have their own Boards, missions, accept no money from the government, and are not connected to religious or other institutions—represent less than 1% of our nation’s schools. Robinson’s book, Out of Our Minds, tells us that the only thing that can save us from ourselves as a society is to develop divergent thinking (in our students and in ourselves as educators) and offer solutions that have more than one answer.
So, what would this look like in our schools, especially in our nation’s Independent Schools? Well, it would look much like Presidio Hill School or other schools where children’s interests are taken seriously and developed, producing life-long learners who have a penchant for thinking differently.
Sir Kenneth argues that in the United States, No Child Left Behind is a scourge on our national landscape with testing being at the center of public education. This obsession is backwards looking, according to Robinson, with its focus on the memorization of facts, which leaves many children behind, or “what we do in the future is what we did well in the past.”
Sir Kenneth goes on to say that any high-stakes tests such as the ones that most states promote under No Child Left Behind, or even the SATs, which most students take in order to get into college (or the SSATs, which many students take in order to get into private schools) have a narrow focus and are poor indicators of future success according to most studies about K-12 testing. Sir Kenneth piqued the interest of the Independent School audience by saying SATs are actually only 24% successful in predicting success later in life.
Sir Kenneth is not completely against testing. To illustrate, he gave two examples of testing—one negative and one positive. In the first example, Robinson says that the fast food industry has made standardization the norm in its industry to no real gains in terms of society. He argues that if you go into a McDonalds anywhere in the word (Paris, Texas or Paris France) the Big Mac will pretty much be the same: bad. The McDonaldlization of the world (hamburgers, coffee, etc.) is one form of standardization that, according to Sir Kenneth, adds no real value to our living on the planet. Yet, he gives a positive example of the Zagat Guide where readers independently rate restaurants. In other words, you know what restaurants are good because of people who eat at restaurants. He says this independent rating is quite useful in determining an eating establishment’s standards because the criterion is clear and easy to understand, thereby adding value to our world.
Sir Kenneth’s last line about schooling and creativity stuck with me because it is what all educators should live by when they are thinking about educating children. He said, “The problem in education is not that we aim too high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.”
Words to live by to be sure.
Namasté,
Brian
February 15, 2008
From the Director 2-15-2008
REVISIT: Discovering PHS’s Past
It’s been quite a week for the school. In fact, the notion of February being the shortest month makes me laugh out loud, a kind of great belly laugh because it only means that we get to cram more “stuff” into a limited amount of time.
Yet, this week was quite auspicious for me, and perhaps one of the best times I have spent at the school to date. I was honored to be in the company of three of Flora Arnstein’s grandchildren, Margaret, Becky, and Eric Jenkins. (Flora Arnstein was one the founders of our school along with her sister-in-law, Helen Salz.) Both Becky and Eric went to Presidio Hill School (or Presidio Open Air School, as it was known in the beginning). Presidio Open Air School was originally founded with Becky and Eric’s mothers, Edith and Ethel, plus their cousins and an assortment of other local children in mind. The school soon grew to educate many, many more children in the progressive ideals of the times.
The four of us, along with Carolyn Wilson Koerschen, a researcher and a true lover of historic progressive schools, met this past Monday (February 11, 2008) to talk about, Flora Arnstein.
Although she did not have many stories of her grandmother to tell, Margaret had what I imagined was the same kind of quiet and stately intensity that Flora Arnstein must have had. In fact there was something in her demeanor and confident certainty that I imagined was the reason that her grandmother lived to be 104-years old and accomplished the things that she did without the usual fanfare reserved for famous founders. Margaret is artistic director of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, another San Francisco institution. Becky, on the other hand, was the passionate firebrand daughter and former union organizer. I understand that she was also quite an actress, too. Eric told many stories of his family. His stories are so important and one of a kind. I actually first saw Eric in a video on YouTube, not knowing who he was, while searching for information about Mrs. Arnstein and Mrs. Salz.
Here is a home movie from 1935 (Note: Eric is the baby in the home movie. More information about what’s going on in this movie can be found at the end of my letter):
As I listened to the stories that Eric and Becky regaled us with, I thought about this one-of-a-kind 8mm home movie, which gives us a small, immeasurable sense of who this family was.
From the video one feels that the family is a gregarious bunch who loved being together at these sorts of gatherings. Indeed, the Arnsteins and Jenkinses were known for their salons where people came to visit, play music, and enjoy each other’s company. Flora Arnstein, or Auntie Forgie (“FOR–gee” – she thought Flora sounded too stiff, matronly, and formal), taught at the school for nearly thirty years after it was founded and later renamed it Presidio Hill School, around 1938.
Before he began recounting this amazing piece of oral history, Eric put a picture of his Gabby (“GOB-bee”, which is what the grandchildren called their grandmother), on my file cabinet, as if she were presiding over the conversation. The picture of Mrs. Arnstein was probably taken at some point in her late 80s or early 90s (she lived to be 104).
We heard about Auntie Forgie’s dedication to teaching, particularly creative writing and poetry, even though she never received formal training. Like most women at that time in San Francisco, she was a mother and homemaker until she and her sister-in-law came up with the idea of starting the school for their children and a few others. Marion Turner, the second director at Presidio Open Air School, convinced Mrs. Arnstein that she was a teacher and had a gift to share with the students at the school. She did, and we are grateful for what she is still teaching us today.
While at 3839 Washington Street, Mrs. Arnstein was friends and acquaintances with other notable people who were either from or traveled through San Francisco at the time, including Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Paul Robeson, Anna Freud, and Ansel Adams, to name a few. She even went to see Maria Montessori when she came to the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915.
According to the Jenkins’s family, the school came out of a particular point of view that truly was a-political. As I listened to them tell stories about their family, I was struck by how their German-Jewish secularism attracted a great many types of families both Jewish and non-Jewish to the school, even in the early days. Mrs. Arnstein herself was not a religious person, but she did have a deep abiding faith in humanistic ideals, especially in the arts and later in psychoanalysis. In her later life after she left the school, Mrs. Arnstein worked for Erik Erikson, another luminary in the psychoanalytic movement, as a typist and was herself the subject of a deep psychoanalytic study.
Indeed, what was obvious during our nearly two hours together is that Presidio Hill School/Presidio Open Air School, deserves a special place in San Francisco History and in the history of education in the United States. Quietly and under the radar, the school has survived, through two World Wars, a catastrophic flu pandemic (of 1918), worldwide depression, the Holocaust, 16 Presidents of the United States, the Civil Right’s Movement, space travel, the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, the Cold War, and the rise of a strong GLBT movement among other things. Now we at PHS have found renewal in connecting back to our historic roots.
What is clear, as you see more of the school’s history, is that we are poised to celebrate an incredible 90-year-old legacy as a school. My hope is that we find a time to reflect on all that we have been given, all that we must give, and all that we must keep in order to go into the next 90 years with the same sense of life-long learning and fierce urgency as Auntie Forgie. I know that her descendants, Margy, Becky, and Eric Jenkins, will be cheering us on to remember our purpose, to do better always, and do more with all that we have.
Namasté,
Brian Thomas, Director
I want to give special thanks to Carolyn Wilson Koerschen, who connected the school back to the Arnstein and Salz family, giving us a glimpse into our most precious history.
16MM film digitized by Alan Denmark, March 2006
Characters identified by Edith [Nickelsburg] Parker, November 2006
Uploaded by Jonathan Parker, January 2007
In order of appearance:
Flora "Forgie" [Jacobi] Arnstein, 1885-1990
Leonard "Lennie" Jacobi, 1890-1968
Edith Arnstein, 1913-2005
Edith Nickelsburg, b.1924
Melvil Nickelsburg, 1885-1943
Janet [Jacobi] Nickelsburg, 1893-1983
Stephen "Steve" Nickelsburg, 1918-1971
Ruth "Rutie" Nickelsburg, 1920-1998
Ethel [Arnstein] Voorsanger, 1911-1969
Jacob "Jack" Voorsanger, 1909-1972
Eric Voorsanger, b.1934
"Yaya" Foster (possibly)
Scene 1: The Nickelsburg home, #1 21st Ave., San Francisco
Scene 2: Arrival of Forgie Arnstein, Lennie Jacobi, and Edith Arnstein, greeted by Edith, Janet, Rutie, Steve, and Melvil Nickelsburg
Scene 3: Arrival of Eric, Ethel, and Jack Voorsanger
Scene 4: Eric and Ethel
Scene 5: The Nickelsburg Family; Rutie, Melvil, Edith, Janet, and Steve
Scene 6: Melvil, Janet, Edith, Rutie, and Steve on the balcony overlooking the Presidio
Scene 7: Melvil and Steve
Scene 8: Melvil
Scene 9: Steve
Scene 10: Edith N. with the San Francisco Chronicle
Scene 11: Steve and Rutie dancing
Scene 12: Forgie, Lennie, and Janet (sisters and brother)
Scene 13: Ethel
Scene 14: Edith A.
Scene 15: Edith A., Forgie, and Ethel (sisters and their mother)
Scene 16: Jack and Ethel
Scene 17: Rutie and Edith N.
Scene 18: Eric and Jack The "Wedding":
Scene 19: Steve (the "groom"), Edith N.
Scene 20: Edith N. (the "ringbearer"), Edith A. and Ethel ("attendants"), Janet, Rutie (the "bride"), Lennie, Jack, and Steve
Scene 21: Rutie, Steve, Lennie, Jack, Edith N. (In the background: Janet, [possibly] Yaya Foster, and Forgie
February 08, 2008
From the Director 2-8-2008
Please contribute to the Auction this year!
We only have one month before the deadline for Art for Kids' Sake donations. Remember, each family is asked to donate at least 2 items for the Auction (minimal $100 dollar total value) Check out the Art for Kids' Sake page for information about donating: http://www.presidiohill.org/afks/ or the Art for Kids' Sake section of the Friday Letter: http://www.presidiohill.org/news/archives/art_for_kids_sake/
Also, we need volunteers to work on committees. Contact Claire Barnum : barnum@bigplanet.com
Get in the spirit and contribute to the ArtRageous 1920's Art for Kids' Sake Auction.
February 01, 2008
From the Director 2-1-2008
The Democratic Process
On Tuesday, February 5th, 24 states will hold primaries, caucuses, and state conventions to determine the number of delegates that will be elected to the national conventions this summer. The two main political parties in this country, Republicans and Democrats, will then choose a nominee at their respective conventions who will in turn square off against each other in a national election in early November that will determine who will be the next President of the United States. After Super Tuesday, the Democrats will elect about 54% of its total delegates and the Republicans will select around 41%.
Okay, that’s Civics 101, but what do you tell your children about the elections and this seemingly endless process, if anything?
Well, please do engage with them in talking about “the process.” It’s a truly an amazing and wonderful way of electing one of the world’s most powerful leaders that often gets lost by talking about the individuals and the acrimony. I resist telling my own children who I intend to support, but I do spend a fair amount of time talking about the country as a whole and educational policies in particular.
I do this for two reasons. First, we as a nation must get away from the winners and losers mentality that makes politics just another sport. Will Hillary put Barack in his place? Has Bill overstepped his bounds? Will McCain and Romney win the ultra-right wing support of the Republican Party if Mike Huckabee drops out? All of these “ripped from the headlines” kinds of questions dilute the real issue of the marvel of this peaceful (and convoluted) process that is the envy and (sometimes) scourge of the world, especially when it is rammed down the throats of other nations and people. Second, we owe our children, many of them who have never experienced the kind of political upheaval that other children in the world have experienced, an explanation about what process truly means.
A few years ago, I was invited to a symposium at the Castanoa Retreat Center in Half Moon Bay by the Harwood Institute to discuss civic engagement. In off election years, particularly in underserved communities, people depend on certain organizations as beacons in the night to get them and their children through the storms that they encounter every day. A contingent of leaders from the Agassi School, including myself, along with other “Centers of Strength” in Las Vegas were invited to discuss issues relating to poverty, education, and social services. Our goal was to just talk about our process. How did we do what we were supposed to be good at? How did we build a school out of thin air and create a (then) $60 million endowment in less than ten years to keep the school running for forever? Finally, how did we get people to feel less silo-ed (i.e., isolated) from the process of civic engagement?
In short, the answer was what Jane Addams at Hull House did so fabulously well. It was to provide her community with highly process-oriented choices. Addams (1860 – 1935) collaborated with a great many people and made Hull House a Center of Strength in the City of Chicago at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Hull House provided young immigrant women in Addams’ “Settlement House” not just a community but a way to advance themselves beyond their present circumstances by engaging deeply in Democratic principles. Hull House had a library, gymnasium, swimming pool, Chautauqua’s (which is like the Berkeley Extension School—or adult education—today), and much, much more. Hull House is the model for Progressive Schools because it explicitly taught Democracy.
So, what does that have to do with you, your children, and the Democratic Process?
Understand that Presidio Hill School is our Hull House, of sorts, allowing children and parents the opportunity to engage in process driven work and ideas that will carry them far beyond their current circumstances. You can discuss the issues that are important to your family because even as early as kindergarten your children are discussing “big ideas” at school related to Democracy. Find ways to engage them in process-oriented work that underscores the democratic principles of vision, collaboration (rather than service), and sacrifice. Again, Progressive Education does teach a specific kind of engagement and is activist in its origins.
One small way that we at PHS give back and are in collaboration in our community is by being a polling place on Election Day. Truly, we are so limited and constrained by space that having one more box in our school is a hardship. However, having PHS as a Polling Place teaches a subtle yet powerful message, which is we at PHS care deeply about the Democratic Process. It also says that we care about our city, State, and country. Patriotism is not always about flag-waving and bumper stickers, but it is about making sure that we are a part of the process in a small but symbolic way.
Ghandi, King, and Mother Teresa were all activist in the Democratic tradition. Yet, their greatest strengths as leaders involved the processes that gave people hope, a sense of wonder, and the ability to transform the lives of others by bearing witness to the work they did in collaboration with others. In the end, that is what we do, that is what distinguishes us as a school, and as a community.
Namasté,
Brian Thomas
Director
January 11, 2008
From the Director 1-11-2008
Funny, You Don’t Look That Old!
Brian Thomas, Director
While going through the historical archives at PHS, which is very limited due to a fire that happened at the school in the early 1970s, a researcher* (not connected with but a new friend of the school) came across an article on the PHS Fortieth Anniversary.
From time to time, I enjoy sharing the school’s history with you. The following is an article written by Art Hoppe, the legendary San Francisco Chronicle writer and alumnus of PHS:
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, April 20, 1958
Presidio Hill School --- Where Curiosity Bolsters the 3 Rs
By Arthur Hoppe
Most institutions of education, by the time they get to be 40 years old, develop an aura of dignified maturity, an impression of ivy-clad immutability.
The first impression given by the Presidio Hill Elementary School is one of cheerful impermanence–as though everyone concerned with the undertaking might strike camp at any minute.
It’s been this way for the past 40 years; it will probably be this way 40 years hence; and the surprising thing to many people is that it’s still in business at all.
The two-story board-and-batten school building at 3839 Washington Street could use a coat of paint. A plank is missing from one of the basketball backboards in the schoolyard. And visitors to the director’s office are often seated on child-size chairs borrowed from the first grade room.
FUN IN LEARNING
This is just as it should be for an institution that has long been dedicated to the ideal that education should be “child-centered,” that learning can and should be fun–for the pupil, the teacher and even the parent.
In this sort of world, poster paint is a better expenditure than exterior enamel and balsa a finer wood than oak.
The underlying philosophy of the school is that concepts are as important as facts; creativity is the equal of scholarship; intellectual curiosity more profitable than the accumulation of data; and that one of the most important things a human being can learn is how to get along with his fellow human beings.
FOUNDING IDEA
These goals were what Mrs. Lawrence Arnstein and Mrs. Ansley K. Salz had in mind when they founded the school back in 1918 in order to “give our own children a little more opportunity than was available in the public schools at the time.”
“Our idea,” says Mrs. Arnstein, who stayed on to teach during the school’s early years, “was that children should learn from experience as well as books; that they should be drilled in the three R’s, but only as necessary tools, not as ends in themselves. Our aim was to keep alive the child’s natural curiosity.”
A good many of those then-radical ideas have since been put in practice by the public schools–over the dead bodies of a goodly number of conservative educators. Today, in the post-Sputnik era, they are once again up for a highly emotional examination. It seems worthwhile, then, to see how they work in practice.
‘CORE CURRICULUM’
“See?” said 5-year-old Nora, pulling out a rack of nursery bottles, each filled with a different color water. “We mix the blue and the red and get the purple and mix the blue and the yellow and get the green.”
“And it always comes out the same way!” she added with the awe of one who first comes up against the inviolability of scientific law.
The present technique applied at the school is the “core curriculum” principle.
“Basically,” explains Mrs. Rheua Pearce, the school’s educational director, “this means that each field of study is related to all the others as much as possible through a unifying theme.”
The current unifying theme is the study of California’s culture, beginning with Indians in the second grade and winding up with tours of the bay in the sixth grade. The teachers bring in studies of other culture as the student progresses to relate the child’s environment to the world around him.
NEW WORDS
While this doesn’t eliminate drills in the three Rs, the attempt is made to show the child their worth. Take the inherently dull scholastic task of memorizing spelling lists.
“We don’t do it that way,” says second grade teacher Katherine Fromer.
“The children are given new words when they need them as tools in what they are doing. For example, if they are writing a story about Indians they may find they need the word ‘bow.’
“We write it down on a card and file it in our ‘word box,’ which is really a dictionary in card file form, easy for the children to use.”
Like many institutions with idealistic aims, the Presidio Hill Elementary School has had trouble keeping its financial head above water for most of its 40 years.
It is currently set up as a non-profit institution owned by the teachers, all of them impressively dedicated, and the parents, most of them professional people including a number of university-level educators. The phrase “non-profit” brings a wry grin to anyone concerned with the school.
As co-owners, the parents find themselves not only in work projects around the building (“Someone will simply have to paint the sandbox.”), but through participation in the festivals that the school holds regularly (“Who’s going to sew the costumes?”)
These festivals–such as the Indian “potlatch” held last January–serve not only as projects in cultural studies for the school’s 50 or so children, but also as a device to raise money for the school’s invariably anemic treasury.
PARENTS’ ROLE
The inclusion of the parents in the school’s affairs, in turn, also serves a purpose other than financial.
“We feel that the school should be a learning experience for the parent, too,” says Mrs. Pearce. “It certainly is for the teachers. In a way, we all learn together.”
Already tacked up on the school’s bulletin board is a detailed chart which will eventually delineate which parent or teacher or child will do exactly what in preparation for the school’s biggest festival yet–the 40th anniversary on May 25.
This chart perhaps illustrates best the basic social principle behind the school–co-operation.
Competition, especially among the students, is avoided whenever possible. Each child progresses at his own pace academically in the small class under individual instruction, and the emphasis is on group projects. No grades are given. Instead the parent is advised of his child’s progress
*The researcher’s work centers around women in Progressive Education, specifically the life of Josephine Duveneck, a former PHS Director from the late Thirties to early Forties, who was also a Quaker. Duveneck’s family also owned Hidden Villa, the sustainable 1600-acre farm and ranch that is still in operations today as a non-profit, educational study center today.
More About Hidden Villa (from their website)
Every year Hidden Villa serves approximately 50,000 visitors from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Core offerings are Hidden Villa Environmental Education Program, which teaches key concepts of ecology and environmental stewardship through farm and wilderness experiences for 20,000 elementary school children; and Summer Camp which builds relationships among over 900 youth of diverse backgrounds, using the natural environment of Hidden Villa as a teaching platform.
Core programs reach into the community through collaborations with local schools and social service agencies. Hidden Villa’s resident intern program provides training for young men and women interested in environmental education, social justice, organic farming, or animal husbandry. Neighborhood shareholders in Community Supported Agriculture partake of Hidden Villa’s organic harvest; domestic and international travelers stay at the Hostel; local businesses or nonprofits rent facility space for meetings and retreats; and thousands of informal visitors explore Hidden Villa’s hiking trails or attend Community Programs.
As a nonprofit, Hidden Villa is supported by the generosity of our donors and dedicated volunteers.
History
Purchased in 1924 by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, Hidden Villa was more than just a family home. It was also a gathering place that supported and encouraged progressive community, environmental, and political activism.
Since 1945, Hidden Villa has sponsored multicultural Summer Camps designed to expose young people to the natural world and to others whose ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are unlike their own. On Earth Day 1970, the Duvenecks founded the Environmental Education Program, one of the first environmental education school programs in the Bay Area.
The Duvenecks were also instrumental in founding the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club and Friends Outside, a support group for families of prisoners. They sheltered Japanese-Americans returning from internment camps and provided safe harbor for Cesar Chavez as he organized farm workers in the fifties and sixties.
Hidden Villa became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1960 and was gifted to the people of the region by the Duveneck family upon Frank’s death in 1985.
Programs and Activities Include:
- Environmental education
- Multicultural summer camp
- Hostel
- Working organic farm
- Community Supported Agriculture
Workshops, classes and performances for children, adults and families
December 14, 2007
From the Director 12-14-2007
What We Give…
Last night seven of the most recent alumni from PHS got together for December’s Dialogue Circle that focused on how the school prepared them for high school. We did a very similar evening last year, but we didn’t have 9th graders as our target group; we had all high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. This year, we had six 9th graders and one 10th grader. The students were at a range of schools from public to private to parochial: Drew, Lowell, Convent, San Francisco School of the Arts, Sacred Heart Prep, and Urban. The audience was composed of parents of fifth through eighth graders, with four eighth grade boys thrown in for good measure.
What we all learned (again) is how articulate and open-hearted our alums are. They think very well on their feet, passionately speaking about their old school. They did not candy-coat anything, yet understood in a deep way the ways in which PHS prepared them to fully participate in their current schools. They said their recent past experience of Presidio Hill School served them well, particularly in Humanities and writing. They talked about the connection that they had with each other, which spilled over to all of their relationships, notably with teachers at their high schools. This was a difference that they saw in themselves as opposed to many of their peers. They also highlighted their successes across the board in school, mentioning that even the students who did not come to the Dialogue Circle (because they were studying for exams) were doing quite well academically. They said that high school was definitely a step up, but in all areas, they were ready for just about all of the challenges they faced.
When the topic turned to matters of why they chose their current schools, one young woman from Lowell talked about choosing her school because it wasn’t “manufactured diversity,” as she found in many private schools that she applied to last year. She said she chose Lowell, which is seventy percent Asian, because it is a public school that based its decision to admit her on merit (a student has to test to get into Lowell) rather than on some criteria that she didn’t quite understand. While this may sound like a tweak against diversity, I don’t believe that she meant it that way because she reiterated later in the evening that she was able to navigate all of the different social circles at her school, including and especially different ethnic and social groups that she found at Lowell, because PHS taught her how to be relevant in a multicultural world.
At the end of the conversation, I was struck by how powerfully confident and self-assured every student seemed to be, academically, emotionally, and socially. Even if there seemed to be glitches programmatically at times at PHS, over the years by and large the program has gotten tremendously stronger because it is our intent to keep working on how kids learn and how they are relevant in the world they will one day lead. Most importantly, our students are ready to give and to give back because of the gift of PHS.
Give to the Annual Fund
During this holiday season, remember to give generously to our annual fund. Not only is it a tax write-off for individuals and companies, but the annual fund also supports our teachers, students, and program. Another important reason to give to PHS is that it amplifies to possible outside funders that Presidio Hill School generously supports its own mission, teachers, and students.
November 16, 2007
From the Director 11-16-2007
Giving Thanks II
Last year, I wrote about all that I was thankful for. This letter to you on Friday, November 16, 2007 aims to do the same thing this year.
My attention recently has turned to the unpredictability of the weather. At 3839 Washington Street in San Francisco, sunshine can often peak through the veil of fog that creeps or gallops over the Golden Gate. Sometimes even blustery days give way to winter rains, soaking us all, but cleaning this palette for warmer times. When warmer times do come, as they did one day early this week, it almost seems that we have nothing to complain about because we live in one of the most sun-kissed spots on the planet.
I love Thanksgiving time because it feels like renewal. This has been a very good year, and I’d like to tell you just a bit about what I am thankful:
• Once again, I am thankful for my family, Jaime, Eian, and Olivia, who love me and allow me to love them back. It’s not easy being the immediate family of the head of a school, with the sharing of their dad and husband. They handle their roles with a great deal of grace, humor, and humility, teaching me that every day is just another day, as well as an incredible gift.
• I am thankful to the children of PHS, who live their lives with the fervor of NASCAR drivers on their last laps and the attention of monks after a long time alone in meditation. Every day we adults learn new and incredible things about our own lives from these teachers, which is what adults forget, sometimes; children have been our best teachers.
• I am thankful for a community that is so giving and forgiving. I continue to learn what being in real community is all about. PHS’s culture is very specific, idiosyncratic, and alive. What attracts people to us, the “realness and authenticity” that one admission’s tour-goer described to me, is what I see in our collective faces at the curb and in the hallways of this place.
• Finally, I am thankful for the ancestors—our grandparents, grandfriends, and “the people gone to glory,” as my grandma would say. If we listen real close to those voices, both near and far, they’ll always tell us what is right and what is the right thing to do.
Namasté,
Brian
Here’s another Letter from one of our alumni, who is the grandmother of Josie Noone in Kindergarten, writing to her daughter Addie Hilgard, about her memories of Presidio Hill School in the 1930s and ‘40s:
Hi Addie,
Here is a draft of some of my experiences at PHS. Some of the spellings of names may be wrong, but here goes:
I started at age 5 in 1938 in kindergarten at Presidio Open Air School. I stayed in school there for 6 years, through the 5th grade. During that time the name was changed to Presidio Hill School. I had some wonderful teachers through these years. Mrs. Arnstein ("Auntie Forgie" we called her) taught everything, especially writing, poetry, bookmaking and creativity. Mrs. Nicholsberg taught science and other subjects; I continued to know her after I had left PHS. "King", who was John King, taught PE and yard games, etc. Franz Bergman taught shop. Mrs. Gillis (We called her "Wee Gillis" after Wee Gillis the book) was our kindergarten teacher, who I remember well, we loved her. These teachers were all very kind. I have a specific memory of painting a life size self-portrait in the art room when I was about 9.
Paul Robeson came and sang in the auditorium for the whole school. It was thrilling. We spent a lot of my 4th grade putting on HMS PInafore by Gilbert and Sullivan. The whole school worked on this production. I was understudy for Buttercup and in the chorus too.
There were the Big Kids and the Little Kids at the school. I was a Little Kid and my sister Ellen Howard, 2 years older ande also a student at PHS, was a Big Kid. Some Big Kids accompanied me on the Cable Cars, etc. to get to and from school, as we lived in North Beach. Suki Means was one of them. She had a Boston accent. We called Suki "Big Lug", my sister Ellen "Little Lug", and I was called "Miniature Lug". We had fun. Once a week we got to treat ourselves to a raised doughnut on the way home. I took the Hyde Street cable car, then transferred to the California Street cable car which I took to the end of the line, and then walked from there (past the graveyard, which isn't a graveyard anymore) to school. Also we sometimes carpooled with other parents and their kids.
I remember the Fenn twins, Donald and David (Little Kids), and their older brother Bob. The older girls had a crush on Bob. I remember John Carey and Stephen Carey and also Judy Powers, Barbara Heil, Jean Eliel, Francis Gaskin, Aline Bier, and Donald Huber. Carla Wolff was my best friend in kindergarten and other years at PHS, and has remained my good and close friend through life to this day.
In third grade one morning we sat around the round table in our class and we discussed how war had just started for America. The bombing of Pearl Harbor has just happened. There were posters around school for "Buy War Bonds" and "Uncle Sam Needs You" after that. These became the war years. There were shortages, for example rubber for sneakers. I really wanted some high-top black-and-white Keds to wear while playing in the school yard and I waited several years for them. Also there were shortages of gasoline and butter. Our mothers rotated cooking lunch for the whole student body down in the cafeteria. Food was not tasty, meager ingredients . . . once I had to spend the whole afternoon in the office of the principal (Nushy Planck) because I didn't eat my lunch. I gagged on it. My mother finally came to pick me up when school was over that day.
At School we played games such as kickball, baseball, kick-the-can and one-foot-off-the-gutter. Also the school had two huge teeter-totters I loved to play on.
In fifth grade we worked on long division which I found very hard, but I finally learned it and use it all the time now. My sister Ellen wrote an exciting report on the explorer Pizarro. I looked up to Ellen a lot.
So, Addie, those are some thoughts about my times at PHS. Let me know what you think.
Much Love,
Mom
November 02, 2007
From the Director 11-02-2007
Alumni: History
Many of you know that I have been trying to reconnect the alumni back to PHS so that we get a complete picture of what the school is and has been for families throughout the school’s eighty-nine year history.
Almost every week a recent PHS alum will stop by to tell me about how things are going at the high school they have chosen to attend. I love hearing about all of the wonderful things they are doing. One alum was cast in “Dead Man Walking” at Drew, another visited PHS this past week playing with the Bay School Jazz Band, several have told me about their first exams and report cards from Lowell (Great marks, I hear); yet another alum informed us that Mayor Gavin Newsom named a date a few weeks back to highlight dyslexia because she wrote to him. Whether large or small things, it’s heartwarming to know that our alums lead lives that are fulfilling and significant to them and the people they love.
Two weeks ago, I met with an alum who talked about his time at Presidio Hill School (although when he started at the school it was still called the Presidio Open Air School). Bill Stewart attended PHS in the 1930s and graduated from the school in 1941. Mr. Stewart wanted to reconnect with the school in the same way that our recent alums do. Even though he’s 8o years old now, Mr. Stewart remembers a time in the school when all (or just about all) of the students who graduated from the school went to Lowell High School. He remembers Paul Robeson visiting the school and shaking the building with his thundering voice.
He remembers a science teacher taking his class to the California Academy of Sciences and who so inspired him by her scholarship and brilliance that he became an engineer. In fact, Bill talked a great deal about many of his teacher who meant a lot to him during his time at the school. He vividly recalls one of the school’s directors, Josephine Duvaneck, speaking to his parents about bringing him to live on her family’s ranch—Hidden Villa— in Los Gatos for the summer. Indeed, Mr. Stewart’s time at 3839 Washington Street was a great deal like the experience of our recent alums at the same location. His close relationships with his teachers contributed to his later success as a merchant marine and made him a life-long learner, attending Stanford and becoming a successful engineer, businessman with the Blue Star Gas Company, and person.
I look forward to hearing more stories about the people who went to Presidio Hill School (or the Presidio Open Air School), a place that I enjoy coming to every day. Although I am focused on the children who are currently benefitting greatly from their time at the school, I also want to hear stories from people who went to the school, those from the recent past and back to the founding of the school. We’ll be collecting remembrances of Presidio Hill School and those who knew it as Presidio Open Air School from the people who went to the school and their parents. We consider a person an alum or alum parent if they were at the school for a year or if they graduated. To send in a remembrance, email me at brian_thomas@presidiohill.org or send me a letter to 3839 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94118. Submit memories of a cherished teacher, photocopies of any memorabilia (remember there was a fire in the 1970's where much was lost), names of great friends whom we may have lost touch with, and of course stories of tremendous experiences in the classroom. I look forward to writing in future Friday letters how we intend to share these remembrances with you.
Brian Thomas
Director
The following came from a blog site about one of the founders of the school, Flora Arnstein, after she left PHS.
My Teacher
Submitted by Tessa on Sun, 02/04/2007 - 10:27.
Flora Arnstein taught poetry to children in San Francisco and even as an elderly lady in the 1960s took great pride in each student. She celebrated the ones who didn't win awards just as much as the ones who did.
One of her methods started with a blank book. She came to the first session with a stack of blank spiral bound drawing books (very precious thick paper), several rolls of japanese rapping paper, and pots of rubber cement. We started by making our own blank books.
Every week she began the class by reading several poems out loud. Old poems, Modern poems, Haiku, a real mix. Then we would write. "Write anything," she would say. "Write what you think, write what you feel." ans "You don't have to rhyme but you can if you want". I suppose that today that doesn't sound very radical, but it was.
She also had each of us select which poem of the ones she read we liked the best. At the next week's class she brought us a typed copy of whatever poem we each liked from the previous week, as well as a typed version of our own poem. We would paste the poems into the book and if we wanted we could read our own poem to the others.
Then she would read to us and the cycle would continue.
When we graduated from Elementary school she took us on as private students in her home, fed us coffee cake and tea, and taught us how to be real. I have never felt so fairly treated and loved within a group of equals and never will again.
Thank you Mrs. Arnstein. Thank you Aldon for giving me a place to write about my love for my teacher. She died 30 years ago, but will never leave me.
October 19, 2007
From the Director 10-19-2007
What is a Progressive School?
A few weeks ago (October 5 – 6, 2007), the teachers at Presidio Hill School joined other progressive educators from around the country for the first national Progressive Schools Conference in more than a decade. You’ll be happy to note that we helped to host the event by sponsoring 15 progressive educators at the school for a lunch and tour. Many of the other area progressive schools were involved with the conference planning, including San Francisco School, Park Day School in Oakland, Blue Oak School in Napa, and several others. Two of our own teachers presented at the conference, Kelly McDonough and Trevor McNeil, talking about progressive practices and what they are up to in their classrooms.
As I have often said, progressive education is less about regurgitating rigid content standards (although content is very important as students mature) and more about creating habits of mind that make life-long learners successful. Progressive Education is also democracy in action.
Thinking about Presidio Hill School as not only the oldest progressive school in California, but also as one of the exemplars of progressive practices, I put together some questions that people ask me about our school. The questions serve as a starting point for this discussion.
What are the hallmarks of a truly progressive school?
Progressive schools value the social-emotional growth of students. Progressive Schools also value collaboration over competition, which is part of both democracy in action and our social activist heritage. Also, progressive schools promote depth over breadth in all content areas, which spurs student interests and helps students pave their own way into a particular subject or discipline. Additionally, many Progressive Schools either de-emphasize or just don’t give grades as a way to tell that a student is progressing. Written comments take the place of just having grades only.
Don’t many other schools do this?
Absolutely, comments and commenting is a hallmark of not just progressive schools but most independent schools in general. What’s unique about our school is that parents, teachers, and even students are in on the conversation. It’s not just a one-way monologue, but the whole community is engaged in the discussion. Comments serve as a way for teachers, parents, and students to understand what can be done to improve and how we all can work together to usher that improvement along.
Who decides what gets taught at PHS?
At many independent schools, the school decides. It is the school’s curriculum. It is what the school values.
At PHS, teachers have great autonomy on what is taught, what is added, and what is taken out. The school (in teams of educators) does “scope and sequence work” to determine what should be taught where and when in the curriculum. The school audits what we teach by having conversations around what students know and should know, and what skills they have or should have from teacher to teacher and year to year. Nearly all our teachers belong to national and local organizations where best practices (and even standards) are shared. Our teachers present what they know at conferences, workshops and staff meetings and learn from each other and from conferences, workshops and other means all the time. We don’t rely on textbook companies or the state to tell us what gets taught when.
In what other ways do teachers collaborate?
Teachers discuss students constantly. This is a very important point: teachers know more about students and their world—socially, emotionally, and academically—than at any other school that I have worked. I have worked in traditional schools, progressive schools, and alternative schools. Teachers also tend to know other students that aren’t in their classroom, too. The great thing about being the size that we are is that we get to know one another well.
Last question, my child really loves PHS, can I go to school here?
Absolutely. Many parents and adults involved with PHS report they get so much satisfaction from engaging the students they love with what they are learning. By attending the Corporation Meetings, Follies, driving on field trips, going to Dialogue Circles, volunteering at the auction, and many other kinds of endeavors gives parents and the adults in the community a progressive school education too.
October 05, 2007
From the Director 10-05-2007
GET UP, STAND UP
Dear PHS Families:
The fields in the Presidio may be taken away. I’d like to appeal to many parents in the community to write to the Presidio Trust, if you feel moved, to lobby on behalf of keeping (and perhaps expanding) the playing fields not only for youth sports, but for everyone. The Vikings Youth Sports League is leading the effort. I have included a sample appeal letter from the Presidents of the Viking League, along with a sample letter from one of our parents, David Thompson.
Again, if you feel moved to keep and hopefully even upgrade the playing fields in the Presidio used by many of our children, I urge you to write.
Letters of support are due by, October 9th, the end of the public comment period.
Thank you,
Brian Thomas
FROM THE PRESIDENTS OF THE SF VIKINGS YOUTH SOCCER LEAGUE
A sample letter you can use, cut and paste and sign your name and send to the trust.
Your email should be addrssed to: thproject@presidiotrust.gov and simply state:
Dear Members of the Presidio Trust:
I write to urge the Presidio Trust to ensure that no playing fields are removed from the Presidio until alternative fields are built of the same size capacity. In particular, Morton fields, a full size soccer field, should not be eliminated until it can be replaced with another site that is also a full size soccer field. One alternative is Pop Hicks
but only if it is large enough for a full size soccer field. In addition, I urge you to maintain and seriously consider expanding the playing fields within the Presidio. The San Francisco Vikings Youth Soccer League that my children participate in has played at the Morton and Paul Goode and Fort Scott soccer fields as part of partnerships with
Town School and University High School. These fields are a truly priceless community asset, as are the other sports fields within the Presidio. I urge you to renew your commitment to the city's families by maintaining these fields, and rehabbing older fields (Pop Hicks) and creating new fields on appropriate grounds, including Crissy Field. I encourage the use of the fields for multi-sport use. We need large playing fields. We need the same size fields as Morton, Ft. Scott and Paul Goode. Julius Kahn field is not an option as a playing field replacement. Julius Kahn is already in full use. Morton, Paul Goode and/or Ft. Scott cannot be replaced with a field already in full use. Morton, Paul Goode and/or Ft. Scott need to be either left in tact or similar playing surfaces, not already in use, built.
The Presidio is a wonderful, vibrant, dynamic jewel. Daily it is being transformed to meet the needs of the community. Please consider the needs of both child and adult athletic programs as you review the Trust's mission and goals. It is vital to the health of our community that this need is considered in the Presidio's short- and long-term plans. I ask you to act immediately to preserve existing fields and revive those that have fallen into disrepair. These are vital community assets, and should be utilized to the fullest extent possible.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Your name
FROM DAVID THOMPSON (PHS PARENT)
Dear Members of the Presidio Trust:
I write to urge the Presidio Trust to ensure that no playing fields are removed from the Presidio until alternative fields are built of the same size capacity. I participated in the planning meeting on February 15, 2007 and the attendees at that meeting were nearly unanimous in support of the position that no field be eliminated before another is ready to replace it *and* and was also nearly unanimous that the number of fields should be expanded to 12 fields total.
I encourage the use of the fields for multi-sport use as well as the development of large playing fields. Specifically, I encourage the following as discussed and overwhelmingly supported at all of the community meetings:
1. Morton Field cannot be closed until a new full sized soccer/lacrosse field is developed and opened to replace it.
2. Pop Hicks Field has been discussed since 2002 with the Trust as a priority field for redevelopment with San Francisco Little League---the fact that nothing has happened for 5 years is unacceptable. Now it looks like nothing will happen for another 3 years. Please put this field on a faster timetable. Additionally, while the reclaiming of
the western tributary is a valid objective, the more important goal with Pop Hicks is to retain this field as a first class playing field and not to reduce its size to the extent that it loses its viability as a Little League playing field.
3. Decisions to renovate Paul Goode, expand and renovate Julius Kahn, and expand and renovate Fort Scott need to be made and moved forward with now. These fields are the life blood of critical youth sports organizations like Viking Soccer, San Francisco Little League (baseball and softball), San Francisco Lacrosse and City Lacrosse. These fields need to be replaced with an artificial surface now as they are not holding up to the current heavy use they experience. Holding off on those projects for three-five years or longer is not acceptable given their current extensive and critical use.
4. New fields (Child Care Center Field, Commissary West, Paul Goode parking lot, Fort Scott North and West) need to move forward on a clear and aggressive timetable. To back burner these fields is to ignore the clear and immediate wishes of the Presidio's community.
5. The objective of 12 playing fields in the Presidio (up from 3 today) is the right target-it represents a substantial contribution to this immense need and is reasonable given the opportunities already identified by Trust staff.
The Presidio is a wonderful, vibrant, dynamic jewel. Daily it is being transformed to meet the needs of the community. Please consider the needs of both child and adult athletic programs as you review the Trust's mission and goals. It is vital to the health of our community that this need is considered in the Presidio's short- and long-term plans. I ask you to act immediately to preserve existing fields and revive those that have fallen into disrepair. These are vital community assets, and should be utilized to the fullest extent possible.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
David Thompson
September 21, 2007
From the Director 09-21-2007
Friday Letter September 21, 2007
Agents of Change
As a school, by philosophy and practice, PHS prides itself on fostering our students to be agents of change. This means that students are exposed to a wide variety of ideas—at school and at home—about ways that they can make a difference. Every once in a while in the Friday Letter, we want to highlight the efforts of our students, present and past, who not only view themselves as change agents, but who also do something to earn that title.
The following essay was given to me the other week by a current 7th grader who spent much of last year analyzing the school’s paper consumption. The student wants to remain anonymous for a variety of reasons, and we will respect the student’s wishes. The text of the paper is below:
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
My PHS Paper Project
Why Did I Choose This Project?
I did this project because everyone in my family does community service projects because we think it is important to give back to the community and make the world a better place. I chose to help the school buy recycled paper and plant trees to replace those cut down to make the virgin paper the school uses. I did this because I am interested in saving the environment, especially trees and forests.
Why Should PHS Buy Recycled Paper?
PHS should buy recycled paper to help save the environment, to support the people who are making the recycled paper for a living and to help them in their work to save the environment. The school shouldn’t only recycle paper, it should buy recycled paper. If everyone recycled paper that would be great. But if nobody bought the recycled paper, that paper would sit in warehouses until there was so much of it that it had to be sent to a landfill. That’s why PHS should not only recycle paper, it should buy it. It’s important to save trees from being cut down because trees provide us with oxygen and reduce CO2 that we put into the air.
How Much Paper Did PHS Buy?
To find that out, I had to organize PHS’s paper purchases so that I could calculate how many trees to plant for all of the non-recycled paper PHS bought. First I got invoices from Pascal that said how much paper PHS bought in the 05-06 school year. Then, I copied the name, item number, date, quantity, and price of each paper item purchased by PHS onto a spreadsheet.
I organized all of the data on my spreadsheet by what paper came in reams. I put all of the paper that came in reams at the top of the spreadsheet. I focused on the reams that PHS bought because it seemed like most of the paper PHS used comes in reams.
Then I figured out the total weight of the paper that PHS used by using a calculator on a website called www.replanttrees.org. I have attached the calculation of PHS’s paper use to this report. I know exactly how many reams of paper PHS used from the invoices, but I had to estimate the weight and quantity of the other kinds of paper, including tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, post-its, file folders, easel pads, composition books, newspapers and magazines, catalogs, etc., etc. The total number of pounds of paper PHS used was approximately 6,841.5.
How Much Recycled Paper Did PHS Buy?
For the reams of paper PHS bought I figured out how much of that was recycled. I searched each item on the Office Depot website to find out how much of each item was recycled and I recorded that data onto the spreadsheet. I figured out that PHS used 3,365.4 pounds of virgin paper in reams and 630.6 pounds of recycled paper in reams. Only 16% of the paper PHS bought in reams was recycled.
For all of the other kinds of paper PHS bought, I estimated that only 5% of it, at the most, was recycled. That means that only 142.3 pounds of other kinds of paper were recycled compared to 2703.2 pounds of other kinds of paper that were virgin paper.
The total amount of virgin paper used by PHS was 6068.6 pounds and the total amount of recycled paper was 772.9 pounds.
How Many Trees Did I Need to Plant to Offset PHS’s Virgin Paper Purchases?
To find out how many trees I had to plant to offset PHS’s paper purchases in the 05-06 school year, I went back to the calculator on www.replanttrees.org. I changed the number of reams used from the original total to equal the pounds of virgin paper that I calculated in my spreadsheet. I did that so that the calculator wouldn’t count the pounds of recycled paper PHS bought. The calculator told me that I need to plant 30 trees to offset the total amount virgin paper PHS bought.
How Did I Plant the Trees to Offset PHS’s Virgin Paper Purchases?
I donated money to www.sustainableharvest.org. They use donations that they receive to plant trees and help people in the area that they are planting. I chose them because they plant many more seedlings for a cheaper price. That allows me to spend less money. Plus, the more seeds that are planted, the more likely it is that 30 of them will survive and thrive. Also, they plant trees in Central America which is very near the equator, which has been proven to be the most effective place to plant trees to reduce CO2. www.sustainableharvest.org also helps villages and towns where they plant trees to learn more environmentally safe ways of living such as using more efficient stoves in their homes, not cutting and burning trees to make farmland, and helping families plant other more lucrative crops such as Tabasco peppers so the family makes more money and doesn’t need to cut down trees to make more farmland.
I donated $20 to www.sustainableharvest.org to offset PHS’s total virgin paper use in the 05-06 school year. That is enough money to plant approximately 44 trees which would provide a little insurance that 30 of them live until they are fully grown. I used money that I received from birthdays and had been saving so that I could plant trees with it.
What Kinds of Recycled Paper Could PHS Buy?
No matter what kind of paper PHS is buying, it should always try to buy 100% recycled paper with as much post-consumer recycled content as possible. Looking online at the copy paper that Office Depot has, I couldn’t find one that was 100% recycled or over 35% post-consumer recycled. I recommend that PHS look at the Give Something Back catalog for recycled paper that they could buy. Give Something Back is a company that sells all sorts of recycled and virgin paper plus other office supply items. Give Something Back is a very charitable and environmentally responsible company. Much of the energy they use is made from solar panels at their facility and they give away over half of their after tax profits each year which is 68 times the national average.
The best recycled paper from Give Something Back that PHS could buy is Encore 100 20# copy paper which is 100% post-consumer recycled, chlorine free and comes in cartons of 10 reams. Encore 100 20# costs $50.99 instead of the $29.99 paper from Office Depot. That is $21 more than the Office Depot copy paper, or $2 more per ream, but has three times more recycled content. This copy paper is also sold at Kinko’s.
But if the school can’t afford to spend that much more, then some other good options would be:
1. 90% recycled, 50% post-consumer recycled copy paper, 10 reams per box, call for price, item # NSN753000NIB0644
2. 100% recycled, 30% post-consumer recycled copy paper, 10 reams per box, call for price, item # GSB-RCY8511
Other products PHS could buy from Give Something Back include:
• Recycled Facial Tissue, 12 per box, $21.99, item # KIM03131
• Recycled Toilet Paper, 40 rolls per box, $39.47, item # GEP19840
• Recycled Post-its, 12 pads per pack, $13.79 , item # MMM654RPYW
• Recycled Envelopes, 500 per box, $29.99, item # AMP19702
The Give Something Back catalog is attached and I’ve marked pages with recycled paper products with post-its and circled the best ones.
What I Found Out From Doing This Project?
I discovered that PHS bought over three tons of virgin paper in the 2005-06 school year. It requires over 30 trees to make that much paper. Over a few years, PHS could waste over 100 trees just because they don’t buy more recycled paper. The school can buy much more recycled paper if it wanted to. It could buy from Kinko’s (there is one about 10 blocks away from the school) and/or from Give Something Back, which delivers the next day for free. I also learned that it is more expensive to buy recycled paper but if everyone bought recycled paper the price of recycled paper would go down and the environment would be better off.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
As you can see, the project is not only impressive, but the student also analyzed the problem well and offered a creative solution, which included what the school could do. We’ll let you know how we will proceed in the coming weeks.
I will keep you informed about what other students and alums are up to as they set about changing the world. Thank you for encouraging activism and compassion at home and at school.
Brian Thomas, Director
September 07, 2007
From the Director 09-07-2007
PHS: What's at the Core?
By Brian Thomas
At the end of July I traveled to Rochester, New York for a conference. My own summer vacation was over, and I was ready to get back to thinking about school and school people.
I had never been to Rochester, the city dubbed "the World's Image Centre," largely due to George Eastman's little camera and his huge camera comany, Kodak. Many people may know that Eastman created the modern camera–the Brownie–where the average person could afford to take pictures just like the famous portrait artists before them.
At one point during the visit, I found myself with the other conferees at the George Eastman House, which is also a museum devoted to Eastman's life and the modern art of photography.
Aside from interesting tidbits about the life of a great American inventor and philanthropist (Eastman), I wandered into an exhibit at the museum featuring a Bay Area native, Ansel Adams. Something about this exhibit made me feel immediately at home. If Eastman innovated the mass produced Brownie camera, where one can see the precursor to our own vision of ourselves through today's digital imagery or even the disposable cameras that we have all used at one time or another, then Adams can be viewed as one of the important creators of modern photography who raised his craft to an art form using the American West. Adams gave us his vistas of California that John Muir celebrated, the indigenous people of this land loved so well, particularly Yosemite in all of its glory and splendor.
Ansel Adams's majestic black and white view of Half Dome still burns in my memory from the time when I first saw his photography as a high school student back in the late Seventies. Most of us know Adams as a chronicler of the West, but I noticed something else, something that is not even in an Adams photograph.
Looking closely at the Adams's exhibit, I am struck by his early years in San Francisco, particularly his birthplace home. As I scan the visual timeline, I notice that the hillside looks awfully familiar to me. I note the address of Adams's birth home: 114 Maple Avenue.
114 Maple?!!
That's the home on Maple Street just down the hill from the replica of Le Petit Trianon, our neighborhood's taste of Versailles just across the street. I run to the registration station at the Eastman House, blurting out something fairly incomprehensible, I'm sure, like, "That's near my school! That's near my school!" After the look on the face of the attendant's face that says, "I hope this man is sane," I compose myself and in a more San Franciscan dignified (sort-of) way, I ask to speak to the curator.
The curator speaks with me via phone. She is somewhere in the recesses of the museum and is delightful. She tells me of the Trust that holds the Adams estate, about how Adams grew up across the street from where the school would eventually be, of how Adams broke his nose during an after shock of the 1906 Earthquake (he would have been two-years old!) and of how Adams's father had to nearly bribe the Headmaster at one of our peer institutions to keep young Ansel in "grammar" school until at least eighth grade because he loathed it so much. Adams hated school, I was told, because his interests lay far beyond the boundaries of the school's walls and because of the early Nineteenth Century restrictive ideas about education. Have we changed all that much? (Can anyone say, "No Child Left Behind?")
At that point, I get it. I later understand the resonance of the predominant thinking about education and educational theory at the time, which probably led to the founding of our little school across the street from the photographer. What I understand now is a part of what was esstially PHS, which is having students out in the "Open Air," using the entire vibrantly energetic (and new) City just healed as its classroom, and establishing basic principles of equality and justice for all–Progressive Education. It must have been in the very air on the street at Washington and Maple in the late 'Teens.
I get off the in-house phone with the curator and am floating on the currents of some kind of imagined conversations about what is at the core of our school. Inverting what we at PHS have said about education but was very true for Ansel Adams during his formative years: if students aren't happy, they tend not to learn all that well. (Note: Ann Meissner always says, "Happy kids learn best.")
I am proud of myself because of the connection(s) I have made. Adams would have been a year or two too old to have attended our school by the time it opened, but my mind drifts to the conversations that must have permeated San Francisco at the time as well as the nation. Having a school where students were respected enough to follow their own passions and interests in their learning was a radical notion at the beginning of last century, especially in the West. Having a guide in Flora Arnstein and Helen Salz who opened their home and hearts to teach not only their children but other children as well, creating curriculum based on the Open Air principles and the ideas of Progressive Education was probably like a dream come true to the people near this mini-City on a Hill. What a radical idea!
Perhaps we should be lucky that the educational system at the time failed a young Adams. Maybe we would not have had such beauty in the world.
However, think of the possibilities of further refinement. Of your own children, those gifted humans–writers and artists all–think what they have been given. Like Adams, I'm certain they thank you for this incomprehensible gift.
June 01, 2007
From the Director 06-01-2007
Opening Minds Since 1918
Upstairs at PHS, on the second floor in a closet that is filled and rarely used, I found a framed copy of the school’s mission statement tucked down deeply in a box. As I was scanning some of the notes next to the framed statement, I realized that it must have belonged to Carey Davis, our last director.
The statement sits in one of those borderless frames, encased in beveled glass, that draws you into the words. The paper itself has a border.
The statement reads:
Presidio Hill School is a co-educational independent school committed to multiculturalism and the development of our students into active and responsible participants in the world.
By tradition and current emphasis, Presidio Hill encourages children to question, evaluate, and think creatively and independently. Social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth are promoted through an enriched individualized program. Basic and practical skills are taught as useful tools rather than ends in themselves. Children are encouraged in their strengths, assisted in overcoming weaknesses, and recognized for their uniqueness.
Parents, staff, and students participate in decision making as a collaborative school community.
The eighth graders who will graduate next week embody the mission of the school. They have conducted themselves in accordance with every line of the statement that highlights the principle of “open minds.” The class of 2007 have spent their days at PHS—no matter how long or short the time they were with us—surrounded by a culture that values collaboration and consensus. They understand the multicultural context in a text and in each other. In the final analysis, they are comfortable in questioning and evaluating while thinking creatively and independently. Next week does not end their journey, but begins it all over again, living the mission that so many hold dear and keep alive.
Brian Thomas
Director
May 25, 2007
From the Director 5-25-2007
RECOMMENDED SUMMER READING:
A BOOK (OR THREE) IN COMMON
Last year, we recommended that everyone read a book in common as a community. As many of you recall, we read Sara Lawrence Lightfoot’s Respect: An Exploration, which a number of people indicated they enjoyed. We also recommended that children and adults read Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer about two intrepid kids who attend a Progressive School in Chicago and solve an international art mystery. Both books set the tone for this school year.
This summer, we want to maintain the practice of sharing a book or two together while thinking intentionally about tone setting for the year to come. Program Council, which is made up of the two deans and the director, have chosen a number of books to read this summer as a community but, any one or all, are optional. The books that we are recommending this summer for adults are A Whole New Mind, The Blessings of a Skinned Knee, and The Price of Privilege. We’re recommending three because many of you may have read one or even all three of these books already. We also wanted to provide people with a choice of books to read, depending on which books or titles grab you. The rising eighth graders will probably also enjoy reading A Whole New Mind and/or The Blessings of a Skinned Knee. We suggest that you order books through your local bookseller like Books Inc., Book Passages or any other bookstore that you enjoy visiting. You can also pick up a copy at your local library. Unfortunately, we won’t have copies available at the school this year. All three books share common elements or address challenges that today’s parent may want to know more about. It’s also just fun to read a book together as a community and discover what you may be doing well as a parent.
In the midst of the next installment of the Harry Potter juggernaut, we are recommending that the children read something, too. Since we have a wide age span and a diversity of interests in various genres at PHS, we are asking that children dive into the books of Phillip Pullman. Adults will appreciate Pullman’s work as well. For the older student readers or those who want a greater challenge (perhaps fifth grade and up), Pullman’s Dark Materials Trilogy, especially The Golden Compass, would be a good starting point. For younger children (perhaps third through sixth grade), Pullman’s The Scarecrow and His Servant or The Fire-Work Maker’s Daughter may be of keen interest. These books mix great storytelling and divinely well-drawn characters. You could have your children read one or two of the books, listen to them on tape or CD while traveling, or even read them aloud to each other before bedtime.
Whatever you choose, we hope you enjoy the act of reading together as a family and as a community. Just like last year, we’ll give the adults the opportunity to discuss the readings next year during the first Dialogue Circle of the year in September.
Recommended Books :
Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind
"Abundance, Asia, and automation." Try saying that phrase five times quickly, because if you don't take these words into serious consideration, there is a good chance that sooner or later your career will suffer because of one of those forces. Pink, best-selling author of Free Agent Nation (2001) and also former chief speechwriter for former vice-president Al Gore, has crafted a profound read packed with an abundance of references to books, seminars, Web sites, and such to guide your adjustment to expanding your right brain if you plan to survive and prosper in the Western world. According to Pink, the keys to success are in developing and cultivating six senses: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Pink compares this upcoming "Conceptual Age" to past periods of intense change, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance, as a way of emphasizing its importance. Ed Dwyer
Copyright © American Library Association
Wendy Mogel’s The Blessings of a Skinned Knee
Frustrated with a therapeutic practice that "shifted too frequently to be an anchor" for parents struggling with issues like overindulgence and overscheduling, clinical psychologist Mogel turned to her religious heritage for ways to help her clients and her own family "find grace and security" in an increasingly complex world. "In the time-tested lessons of Judaism, I discovered insights and practical tools that spoke directly to these issues," writes Mogel, who left her psychology practice in order "to help parents look at their children's anxieties and desires using a different lens." Digging into the rich traditions of the Torah, the Talmud and other Jewish teachings, Mogel builds a parenting blueprint that draws on core spiritual values relevant to families of all faiths. With warmth and humor, she offers strategies for encouraging respect and gratitude in children, and cautions against overprotection ("we treat our children's lives like we're cruise ship directors who must get them to their destinationDadulthoodDsmoothly, without their feeling even the slightest bump or wave") and the pressure of "Lake Wobegon parenting" (a reference to Garrison Keillor's fictional town where "all the children are above average"). Her thoughtful observations consistently illuminate and reassure. Impassioned, lyrical and eminently practical, this inspiring volume is a real treasure. Agent, Betsy Amster. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Madeline Levine’s The Price of Privilege
Wandering among suburban estates, sports clubs and prep schools are overlooked children of a perplexed generation. Their lives overflow with abundance and praise, yet ironically, the mask of apparent health and success may hide a gloomy world of emptiness, anxiety and anger. Strangely, argues Madeline Levine, a clinical psychologist practicing in Marin County, California, the nation’s latest group of at-risk kids comes from affluent, well-educated families. Despite advantages, these children experience disproportionately high rates of clinical depression, substance abuse, anxiety, eating disorders and self-destructive (even self-mutilating) behaviors, according to various studies. Based on criteria from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Levine says these children "are exhibiting epidemic rates of emotional problems beginning in junior high school and accelerating throughout adolescence." One may brush off these youngsters as overindulged products of wealthy, narcissistic parents. But Levine says many of these kids are really ill. They suffer from a weak sense of self, often struggling to fill inner emptiness with objects and praise. Too often they know something is wrong and grope desperately for help yet fail to escape a downward spiral. Could it be, Levine wonders, that privilege, high expectations, competitive pressure and parental overinvolvement yield toxic rather than protective effects? Levine explores such issues as social isolation, the fine line between parental underinvolvement and overindulgence, and the perverse role of money and material goods in creating false promises of fulfillment. Yearning for outward approval, adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the delusion that wealth causes happiness. In many cases, a rude awakening occurs only after many years of anxiety and depression. Levine’s writing is surprisingly reflective and interesting. A constructive therapist, she offers practical guidelines and parenting strategies for those struggling with troubled teens. The advice is useful to any parent of any income level and includes ways to foster healthy autonomy, impulse control and sense of self. Levine emphasizes the importance of discipline, monitoring and limit setting as ways to encourage kids to construct healthy "inner" homes. More important, parents must "stand on their own two feet" before expecting their children to stand on theirs—noting that many parents scold their children for social behaviors that they themselves cannot manage, such as substance abuse and lack of self-discipline or self-assertion. Parents must strive to get their own inner homes in order before they can expect kids to straighten out theirs. Richard Lipkin
Scientific American
Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials Trilogy
In the epic trilogy His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman unlocks the door to worlds parallel to our own. Dæmons and winged creatures live side by side with humans, and a mysterious entity called Dust just might have the power to unite the universes--if it isn't destroyed first. The three books in Pullman's heroic fantasy series, published as mass-market paperbacks with new covers, are united here in one boxed set that includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Join Lyra, Pantalaimon, Will, and the rest as they embark on the most breathtaking, heartbreaking adventure of their lives. The fate of the universe is in their hands. (Ages 13 and older)
Phillip Pullman’s The Scarecrow and His Servant
Old Mr. Pandolfo, feeling that life is getting too difficult–what with troublesome weather, troublesome soldiers, and very troublesome cousins–decides the time has come to create a scarecrow. At least a scarecrow would take care of the birds. Mr. Pandolfo creates a fine scarecrow, indeed, with a large turnip for a head, a broomstick for a backbone, dressed in a tweed suit stuffed with straw. Hidden within it, carefully wrapped in oilskin, is a mysterious letter. But how can this extraordinary creature–who comes to life when struck by a bolt of lightning–fulfill his destiny if he's stuck out in the middle of a field? Enter Jack, an enterprising, intelligent, and practical young orphan fleeing the soldiers who robbed him of home and family. Jack's motto, It could be worse, comes in handy as he agrees to become the servant of the rather egocentric scarecrow, setting off to find excitement and glory. Scarecrow's excellent opinion of himself sets the stage for a variety of silly, yet dangerous, adventures. Run-ins with government officials, soldiers, and unscrupulous business people provide plenty of opportunities for moralizing on the evils of society. In another setting, this story line might seem over-the-top, but Pullman's clever employment of fairy-tale conventions, his superb use of language, and his engaging dialogue make it a wholly satisfying yarn of ridiculous proportions, and Bailey's line drawings provide just the right feeling of long ago that every good fairy tale deserves.–Sharon Grover, Arlington County Department of Libraries, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Phillip Pullman’s The Fire-Work Maker’s Daughter
Lila, the heroine of Philip Pullman's charming fable, was, as a baby, "a cross little thing, always crying and refusing her food, but Lalchand built a cradle for her in the corner of the workshop, where she could see the sparks play and listen to the fizz and crackle of the gunpowder." Once out of her cradle, she showed a marked talent for pyrotechnics, even inventing her own fireworks with names like Tumbling Demons and Shimmering Coins. Nevertheless, when Lila tells her father she'd like to become a master firework-maker, he's shocked. Firework-making is no job for a girl, he tells her; besides, with her burned fingers and singed eyebrows, he's afraid he'll never be able to find a husband for her.
If Lalchand is horrified by Lila's ambitions, his daughter is equally appalled by the prospect of a husband. Instead, she decides to run away to Mount Merapi, where every firework-maker must go to claim some of the royal sulphur from Razvani the Fire-Fiend. Lila's adventures on the road to Merapi alternate with those of her best friend, Chulak, and his talking white elephant, Hamlet, who set out after her when they learn something that could mean life or death for Lila. Along the way, they meet pirates, wild animals, and supernatural beings of every stripe until, at last, Lila must face the scariest obstacle of all: her own fear. Pullman invests The Firework-Maker's Daughter with wit, wonder, and more than a few goose bumps. The charm of the prose is reflected in the black and white illustrations by S. Saelig Gallagher that punctuate this slim novel. Though not as sophisticated as Pullman's remarkable fantasy novels The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, this engaging story does share a courageous heroine, an exciting adventure, and a singular philosophy that ties everything together in a deeply satisfying denouement. (Ages 9 to 12) --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
May 18, 2007
From the Director 05-18-2007
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Reframing the Essential Work of Inclusion
Last week, I had a professional growth opportunity in working with the students and staff members of the Wesley School in North Hollywood, California. I was fortunate to be invited down by Ruth Glass, the Head of School at Wesley, who also chaired our visiting accreditation team for the California Association of Independent Schools.
As I prepped for the work on Thursday night (May 10, 2007), I had flashbacks from my very first time in LA—as an actor! I was staying at the Beverly Garland Hotel then, too, which was the same place that I stayed when I first auditioned for and was hired to be on "A Different World." This time the news was different. After a little less than a week of dealing with a major fire in Griffith Park, the reports were that a fire was raging out of control on Catalina Island. People were being evacuated from near the area known as Avalon. The only fire I remember from last time I was at the Beverly Garland Hotel was whether I would get the part, which I eventually did.
I, on other hand, was going through a bit of a firestorm in my own mind this time. I began the finishing touches in my preparations for the next day ahead, surfing online for what would give me more material for working with people I had not met nor seen before. While looking for what I could say about being in a respectful culture, I came across the text of Lightfoot's speech that had so transfixed me at the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) People of Color Conference two years ago, which was based on her book, Respect: An Exploration.
This was the agenda for the day:
The Wesley School
Brian Thomas
May 11, 2007
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
New lessons of inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism, and privilege:
Objective:
1.) To understand the “Good.”
2.) To get students to examine and reflect on their place at the Wesley School as it relates to who they are and what is respectful.
Materials:
White Board or butcher paper (6 sheets), three different colors of post it notes, computer speakers, three colors of white board markers
Procedure:
1.) As students enter the room, music plays from the computer. [Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds’]
2.) Introductions: BT and students/faculty. Explain the concept of “justice” and “the good.” Also, talk about why I came.
3.) Explain the day and the ground rules. WRITE ON THE BOARD: Respect self, respect others, and respect personal property, one person speaking at a time (even in groups), make “I” statements, give the speaker your whole attention, listen with your whole self, silences are okay.
4.) Students are asked to do an exercise that requires concentration, teamwork, and listening. (Birthday line—no talking, count off by groups of five or six) [Play original tune made on Garage Band called “Robbins, Illinois”]
5.) [Play Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road] In their groups of six, family group, students are asked to think of two truths and a lie. They go around the circle and reveal their truths]
6.) Brian talks about how it’s not what is shown in schools that matters, but what lies hidden.
7.) Dialogue #1: What part of yourself do you never show at school (the real you)? Perhaps it’s because people would laugh at it, or it just isn’t cool, or because you think it would not be accepted at Wesley. On the white board or butcher paper, using the post it notes, students write the parts of themselves that they do not show anyone. Example: When I was in middle school, I never let anyone come to my house…vicious dog…smelled like dog…ashamed of my father and mother… [Play John Mayer’s “Daughter’s”]
8.) Dialogue #2: What can the Wesley School do to help you bring more of yourself to school (the real you), especially the part that remains hidden. Also, what can you do to bring more of yourself to Wesley? Example: “I can spend some time listening to others. The school can give us more time for team building. [Play John Mayer’s “Clarity”]
9.) Discussion: How does the person you bring to school every day influence and effect Wesley being a respectful school? How can we be more respectful to each other? How can Wesley be a more welcoming and respectful school?
10.) Thank people for giving their whole selves to this dialogue. [Play Bill Withers “Lovely Day”]
Later in the day, I worked with the staff on what the students were able to come up with. The object of the exercise for both students and staff was to play with the ideas that whatever remains hidden in a system can and will come back to bite a school in the butt. Schools are often like family systems, particularly smaller schools.
Yet, issues of common decency and respect can derail the work that goes on in schools, since people expect a certain thing from a school. Parents expect that their children--and hence they themselves--will not only be educated but that they also will be taken care of. If, for whatever reason, parents and children feel that they aren't taken care of, then a raging firestorm can and will happen. Oftentimes, these storms can be accusations of racism, sexism, and other forms of hurt and discrimination. Lawsuits can and do occur when people feel disrespected.
So, how is this a reframing of the work of diversity practitioners?
In diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion, and white privilege work, people begin to unearth pieces of the organizational system that looks at the parts of the system or the people who make up those pieces of the organization. It's very much like post-modernist literature, where pieces of an entire work are dissected for the problems. If there are problems, they will be rooted out. If there is racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, or other -isms, those things will be exposed. The story of the target or dispossessed takes on a meta-narrative of its own (witness Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States, which our own 8th graders read parts of in Humanities class).
However, when respect is the modus operandi, it's not always about the greatest pains or the biggest historical losers. People who have been excluded from history must stand for and by the very principals that have excluded them. If they don’t, they take on the guise of their oppressors. It's more like truth and reconciliation and less about reparations. Let Caesar keep what belongs to Caesar.
So, the day of teaching at the Wesley School was quite wonderful and healing. The highlight of the day was being able to work and teach a full slate of classes all day. The last time that happened was nearly nine years ago at Marin Academy. I was teaching four classes per day for forty-five minutes every day three days a week, then two ninety-minute classes. The sheer energy of being able to get people to be passionate about not just a text, but also about their very own existence was exhilarating. I discovered I deeply missed being in the classroom.
That's the new challenge: To find relevance in the life of the common person. Not everyone will grow up to be Dr. King or David Beckham or Angelina Jolie. That's okay, really. Perhaps just the quiet of an afternoon walk or the attempt to put out the fires that rage in our minds may give some comfort here. My hope is that the connections are happening all around us and that teachers and parents are taking the work they do with students and children—every last one of them—with some degree of seriousness, self-reflection, and humility.
Namasté,
Brian
May 04, 2007
From the Director 05-04-2007
The Advocacy Equation
Walking around Laurel Village for lunch earlier in the week while thinking about this week’s Friday letter, I noticed what everyone must notice when they do this walk. Babies and toddlers are everywhere, in strollers and walking (finally) by themselves, doing the start/stop quickstep, peg-leg down the sidewalk from Café Lo Cubano all the way to Starbucks. Mothers, fathers, and other caretakers hustle after or push along their charges, pointing at various objects in store windows to make the outing an educational adventure. I’m certain that many of you remember the adventure of early childhood outings, marveling at how you ever did it (or do it!!). With every step along California Street, I try to encapsulate in my mind what makes PHS PHS.
What I have noticed is not just that Presidio Hill School students can voice what they see while making sense of a world that leaves most adults flummoxed. It’s their skill and comfort with “advocacy.”
PHS students are amazing at advocating for themselves in a way that leaves me breathless. Yet, self-advocacy is a part of the equation that creates compassionate human beings. Self-advocacy plus direct attention (which can be multiplied by facilitation and/or intervention from adult modeling) can lead to advocacy for others, which equals empathy.
SA + DA (F/I) = E
Just to give you a month’s worth of what the advocacy equation in action at PHS reveals:
• About four weeks ago a group of second graders persuasively write to ask for a tetherball set-up on one of the yards, so that they can hit something—rather than someone. As a result, we’ll look at ways to make this happen or find another alternative that our spaces will allow. Whatever the outcome, many students besides the second graders will benefit from this advocacy.
• Three weeks ago three third graders design a bake sale that they want to use the proceeds of to purchase jump ropes “for everyone to use.” The school went ahead and purchased jump ropes anyway. Although the third graders had an impetus to aid the entire school, many of them have been baking and cooking up a storm with Ryan in after school program and giving away their handiwork to curious passersby. The lesson: It’s not the original impetus that matters, per se, but wanting to “give something away” that benefits all involved.
• Earlier this week, the eighth graders ask and receive permission from two of their teachers to attend a rally to protest immigrant raids. Although some students march (while seeing a score of PHS recent alums), they soon watch how the rally shapes up against many of the other ones they have read about or saw on video in Spanish class or during humanities. The result: Students understand how they as well as others can be connected to issues that are much larger than they are while having a deep understanding that issues and people’s feelings connected to those issues are larger than they first seem.
In every case mentioned above, students had an impetus and the adults around them asked “what can I do to aid you in your desire to know more and do more.” That’s what I love about PHS; it’s the power of empathy and a connectedness to causes and people outside ourselves that are bigger than who we are alone. Are we perfect at this as a school? Do we have it all figured out? Absolutely not, which is also the beauty of the lesson of my initial walk.
We may not be able to voice or posse