Schools: The Northwest Voice

The Gingerbread Girl has been found!

I'm so excited because my class found the missing Gingerbread Girl today. Yesterday, our teacher, Mrs. Cable, led us as we followed a trail of crumbs to the library. Our librarian, Mrs. McCaa, let us look around for her, but I think we were too noisy. She was nowhere to be found. Today, we searched the office. We were lucky enough to see some frosting on a door. We knew she was close. We found the Gingerbread Girl in Mrs. Hawkins' office! We took her back to the room for a class picture and we ATE her! Thanks to all my Northwest neighbors for helping me find the Gingerbread Girl!

The virtues of youth should be met with patience

There are many current cultural descriptors of our teenagers today. Remember our teen years? Ah, yes. Those were the glory days when dads told their 16-year-old sons to hurry up and get jobs while they still knew everything about everything. It has been said that the best substitute for experience is being 16.

I always love catching myself saying the very things my parents said to me. For example, my parents would ask: “How many times have I told you not to do that?” When I offered an answer, I was told, “Don’t back-talk me.” Couldn’t win, and neither could my kids.

Here’s a favorite of mine: “Why don’t you grow up?” Being 16 means he is growing up. Correct? If he could be 21 tomorrow, don’t you think he would choose that?

One of the virtues of being young is “assumed innocence” and asking questions that are sometimes considered a bit off-the-wall. Teenagers should not be afraid to ask what they perceive as dumb questions. Truly, such questions are a lot easier to handle than dumb mistakes.

It is no secret that I work with the next generation of young adults. In fact, here is the scary part: the seniors I have this year were all born in the 1990s. Just let that sink in. The virtues of the ’90s are a bit different than those of the ’80s.

One of the generic virtues of youth is their dedication to each other as friends. Regardless of the generation, connections made by youth are so very deep sometimes — and these connections can be either very good or very bad. Brain research shows these connections are made impulsively and on factors other than things such as commitment, persistence, or care-giving. Teenagers sometimes confuse love with lust, attraction with crush, and sex with everything else. Their virtues are still forming.

Young people are not unlike lots of adults in this next area. However, with teenagers, the ability to be first with information fuels popularity. As a result, gossip is standard fare. There is virtue in the expressions of our hearts, but teens who never get a handle on gossip give birth to all sorts of “siblings” as adults, such as hypocrisy, inconsistency, and the like. What we all practice, we can expect to perfect over time.

What would parents give to have the energy of a 16-year-old, but the wisdom, reputation, connections and finances of our current age, and the youth and vibrancy of passion and emotion that goes along with the excitement of not knowing the first cultural kiss of the future? Well, it is virtuous to look “at life from both sides now ... It’s life’s illusions, I recall. I really don’t know life at all.” (Lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”)

Could it be that aging is a virtue also, in and of itself? If so, there is a reason for mirrors after all.

Parents ... Come Back to School

Back to School Night ... nothing says school has finally started and things are up and running like the event of parents sitting in chairs and desks too small for them listening to a teacher.

The teacher has spent considerable time preparing for the event. The teacher explains the discipline system and what it takes for the student to lose privileges. There is a discussion of the grading system and how frequently grades will appear on the grade-book the teacher has on line as well as the password assigned so parents can see their child’s grades. The teacher may even give out a list of student competencies each child will be expected to master during the school year so parents can help the child be successful. Homework expectations are reviewed, how to reach the teacher via e-mail, when calls can be taken and other assorted details that are important to the teacher and parent bond needed for a successful school year.

So why weren't you there?

The discussion in teachers rooms the morning after were along the lines of ... is this “poor parenting” or merely an “indifferent parent” when a parent is so disinterested in their child’s school success that they can’t be bothered to come to school one evening?

In listening to these discussions, there was genuine concern about the five or six families in some classrooms that did not show up. Best guess, the “no show” parents are where the problem children will come from for the year. The kids who never complete or turn in homework, who blame the teacher for bad grades due to shoddy student work, who misbehave in class and feel they are “picked on” by the teacher because he/she enforces a discipline plan, will almost certainly come from parental Back to School Night “no-shows.”

So where were you? Is it possible meeting your child’s teacher for the year was not as important as a football game played by millionaires? Or maybe your child was involved in an activity that was more important than meeting the teacher? It's possible, but the activity would REALLY have to be important, like an organ transplant. Yes, I’m using hyperbole here.

But let me say what is rarely said. You want to know what makes a parent fall into the range between “poor” and “indifferent?” Don’t show up to events planned specifically for parents like Back to School nights, parent conferences, retention meetings, special education IEPs, suspension meetings and Open House, and you are on the bottom end of the parenting scale.

If you choose soccer (and you are not personally playing in the World Cup) or worse yet, a practice, my money is on you being an indifferent parent and, more than likely, your student will perform poorly in school.

I know, there really are reasons to miss an event. As adults you get to make those determinations. Just keep in mind, nothing says what you value most like not showing up at school events that are designed to get you working closely with your child’s teacher.

Gingerbread Girl Missing from Rosedale North Kindergarten

Something exciting happened today in my kindergarten class. The gingerbread girl escaped! The last place we saw her was on Mrs. Cable's table. We went out to eat snack and play on the playground. When we came back into the room, she was gone. Mrs. Cable said that the other door was opened just enough to let the cookie out. I wanted to eat the leftover cookie crumbs that were on the table, but there wasn't enough to share with all my classmates.

My class walked around our school looking for the gingerbread girl. We sniffed the air for gingerbread as we walked. We saw Ms. Higueria and Mrs. Porfiri on the way. They had not seen her. They said they would keep looking. After school, I saw our PTC President, Mrs. Morris. She said she would watch out for the gingerbread girl. Mrs. Pasquini said she would help, too. I told my sister, Sarah, as soon as we picked her up. I also told a whole lot of kind people at the Southwest Branch of the Kern County Library.

As you can see, I am very excited about the search, and I'm not going to give up! Attached is a sketch of the missing gingerbread girl. Please let our school know if you see her!

Lookie who we met Friday night at the game!

Northwest Voice subscriber Cindy Meek, with Dave Meek and son, Samuel, ran into blockbuster movie actor Will Smith (star of Hancock, Pursuit of Happiness, Men in Black, Independence Day, I am Legend, and a ton more) at Bakersfield Christian High School on Friday night! BCHS was playing Westlake Village-Oaks Christian, where Smith's children go to school.

Bicycles: Let's put those racks to use!

I’d be willing to bet that most adults can remember their first bike the way they remember their first car. A pair of wheels was our first experience with freedom of movement. We were no longer limited to distances defined by our feet. Remember, this was before the current generation of parents who drive their kids to everything. A bike could also mean your first job … a paper route or riding to the store for your mom and getting some pocket change for being so nice. Plus there is the added bonus of riding your bike to school so you can get there early to play football or baseball before school starts.

There are a couple of trends that might bring bike riding back for kids. First is the obvious … gas prices are down right painful. Parents will have to decide if it is worth $5 to take little Sally to practice or if having her ride her bike for $0 is a better option. I actually think it would be nice to see sports practices indicated by a row of bikes rather than a row of SUVs. Second, we really do have an obesity problem with our children in this country. We live in one of the best areas in the world for weather and yet it is rare to see kids out and active.

However, for bikes to make a comeback we are going to have to get over some irrational parental fears and one rational fear. The irrational has to do with child kidnapping. Virtually every T.V. season every prime time program has at least one plot contrivance around kidnapping. The truth is that such an event is exceedingly rare and is usually related to some divorce squabble. But there is a rational fear I want to address.

Bakersfield has some of the worst drivers in the world. I once asked a guy I work with why cars in Bakersfield are manufactured without turn signals. He said it was because they come through L.A. When your kids take to the road make sure they wear helmets and obey traffic rules. A bicycle on the road is a wheeled vehicle and must obey traffic laws. Anytime you are on wheels you have to pay attention to what is around you at all times. Never swerve into a traffic lane unexpectedly or zip across a street without checking to see if it is safe to proceed. When riding to school, travel with a group of bike riders and get to school on time. There are plenty of bike racks … they’ve been sitting empty for years.

Think Before Reacting to School Rumors

I was talking with one of my Principal’s recently regarding a toy that had been taken from a 1st grader. It was, we think, at one time a key chain. It looks like a really tiny gun. It was not a gun. It was not even a cap gun or a replica gun. It was more like a largish charm bracelet figure. However, the stories that kids carried home were that some kid had brought a “gun” to school. In another instance a mom was late picking her child up and the youngster decided to walk home. He took a wrong turn but eventually found someone to help him phone mom and she went and picked him up (after we searched the campus, dispatched people to drive streets and called the police). We immediately got a call from an unrelated parent within minutes of the happy resolution asking if it is true that a student had been kidnapped.

Everyone must fight rumors at some point in their lives. I don’t think anyone is allowed to get out of middle school or high school without being the focus of a rumor or being accused of saying or spreading something that contributed to a rumor. So I know every adult out there understands the adrenaline surge, anger, fear and lost sleep dealing with rumors. Crime reports in the news have incidents every day where some fool took action against another based upon a rumor. In fact now that I think about it that describes most fights I had to deal with when I was a high school Principal.

I do not have a simple answer to a topic that has been researched and written about in thousands of psychology, human behavior & sociology textbooks. But I will try to make a couple of points mainly for parents raising their children, or grandparents raising their grand children, or aunts raising their nieces and so forth (I must get in my jab periodically about the divorce rate in this country.)

First, do not believe everything your child says happened at school. I must constantly remind new teachers not to believe everything their students say about their family and what happens at home. In both directions adults need to use the “Does this make sense?” filter. When in doubt, call or go in and talk … and I guess now send an e-mail to your child’s teacher. [Note: I’m not talking about stories that require a Child Protective Services referral … those are mandatory and employees are not allowed to investigate.]

Second, act like adults. That means stay out of it. Don’t get involved personally trying to straighten someone else’s child out. That is only going to result in you explaining yourself to law enforcement or explaining to your child that you can’t come to school because the school has a Restraining Order on you. Do talk to school personnel who can often give you a more balanced understanding of what is happening. They have the perspective and experience.

Finally, understand that you are hearing stories filtered through the maturity and understanding of your child. Children often repeat what they have heard as if they actually experienced it … and those are high school kids. In younger ages perception and understanding of events and stories can be even more problematic.

Pati Jones for Educator of the Month

We want to nominate Pati Jones for Educator of the month. She has been our swim teacher for three years (she is also a first grade teacher at San Lauren). She has taught me a lot about swimming and how to be safe in the pool. She is a really good teacher because she taught me how to swim in the deep end without my life jacket. She also lets me dive down and get the rings. We can both jump off "the rock" and swim to the side now. She really improved our swimming!

It's Here...

My mid-July birthday not only signals another candle on the cake, but something much more onimous than that: Back to School Supplies taunting me everywhere I turn. As a teacher, the onset of backpacks, markers, and notebook paper artfully displayed at local stores is the same as taking all the ornaments off of a Christmas tree: summer is over. Time to remove the decorations and pack up.

Sure, I have another two weeks off (this year my district has us coming back on Friday, August 8th - the earliest in my eight years as an instructor). Yes, I've had all summer off while the majority of you have worked. A handful of friends want to gag when I sigh and remark on summer being chiseled away.

I fully understand this reaction but I am not sure they understand where I am coming from. When the school year begins for teachers, we are able to catch our breath around Halloween. From Day One, it is a whirlwind of new faces - with each new face comes a host of things to learn for each child: names, parents, their family and medical history, quirks, motivations, problems... A great teacher takes the time to learn what makes each child special and this is no easy task when you include lesson plans, meetings, committees, parent communication, grading, tutoring, and of course tweaking activities to suit different learning styles. When a teacher comes to school with a headache (or a heartache), there is no hiding out at the desk. A teacher walks onto a stage in front of a live audience every day, hoping to capture - and keep - the attention of every soul sitting there.

I adore my job and wouldn't dream of doing anything else. I also have a Business Admin degree that would allow me to make much more money doing something much easier. Yet I never would. From the first day of school, when the bell rings GO, the year is a cyclone that doesn't stop when I lock the classroom door at the end of the day. Some of the kids and their issues stay with me at night, as with most teachers. But I love each student, every year, and their smiling faces and tiny hugs are worth much more than a chunkier paycheck.

So, it's here. The school supplies are out and my mindset has officially shifted gears. I'm treating the mornings like work mornings now to make the coming transition smoother. If you want to help your students at home, start easing them back into the school mode: get out the flashcards, have them read a chapter book, purchase school supplies and have them practice cursive... Get them mentally ready to roll back into the classroom. Remind them to go easy on their teachers the first week - we love our jobs, we love the kids, but boy do we love summer vacation!

I will miss you Mrs. Martin!

Most people know Dana Martin as the editor of The Northwest Voice, but I know her for more than that. Mrs. Martin was one of the nicest, coolest, and just all around best substitute teachers I have had. Everyone knew who she was. All of the boys wanted her as a teacher so much! If you look in the front of the book you will know why.

Not too long ago Mrs. Martin took a job as a editor for The Voice. On her last day of being a substitut she taught my class. She told us how it was her dream to be an editor and that she was going to fulfill her dream, and she did. So now all I can say is good job Mrs. Martin! I'm going to miss you!

Register Now ... Space Limited in Norris District Schools

The Norris School District has full grade levels. On our K-5th elementary school campuses Norris Elementary is full at every grade level. Bimat Elementary is full in four of the six grade levels, Olive Drive Elementary is full in two of the six grade levels and Veterans Elementary is full in one grade level. Even in grade levels that are not completely full, there may only be space for one or two students before becoming full. Late registering students, this includes any students registering right up and through the opening of school, will be assigned to campuses where there is space. It is possible that some students on each school’s attendance rolls will not return and have not informed the school. If space is created in this manner, the earliest registering student gets first shot at the vacancy. If late registrations require adding an additional teacher after school starts, the last registered will be the first moved out to a new classroom.

At the middle school grades, late registration may mean your child does not have an accurate class schedule for the first day of school. The earlier a student is registered the earlier we can get records from the previous school and get a student appropriately placed. Adolescents are nervous enough the first day in a new school without waiting in line to get registered, meet with a Dean, then eventually get a class schedule which may get changed once the student’s records are received.

It is important if you live within the Norris School District boundaries that you register your children as soon as possible (6940 Calloway at the District Office until August 1st).

Parents moving into any school district should always plan on registering early AND let the previous school know you have left.

Hard Work Pays Off With Lucrative Scholarship for Local Athlete

Years of hard work pay off for 2008 BCHS graduate Mitchell Porwoll as he recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball for Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.

A product of Bakersfield Baseball Academy, 17-year-old Porwoll has trained under the direction of Bobby Maitia and John Shirley. Most recently, he played at Bakersfield Christian High School under Coach Bill Gentry where the Eagles captured their first South Sequoia League championship.

Still, success for Porwoll has never come easy, according to his father, Ted Porwoll. “Over the years Mitchell has played for several local club teams. Some were positive and growing experiences.' Others, unfortunately, were not as positive. 'He was told he was too small and would never pitch in high school. Those comments, however, gave Mitchell even more determination and fueled his work ethic to be successful.”

Porwoll spent hours at the baseball school. As an 8-year-old, Porwoll was already working at BBA with his first pitching coach, Danny Ruiz, when Maitia first came onto the scene. At about that same time, his father built him a pitching mound in the backyard of the family's northwest home. Facing searing heat and freezing temperatures, Porwoll worked year round to perfect his pitching mechanics.

Then in December, left handed Porwoll attracted the attention of several mid-south coaches after striking out 10 of 12 batters at the Coast-to-Coast showcase held at the Jimmy Dean Sports Complex in Florida. “After striking out the first six batters he faced, he attracted the attention of coaches from the other 3 diamonds,” said his father, Ted Porwoll. He was elected to pitch to an additional 6 batters, of which he struck out four.

Hard work and perseverance has paid off earning Porwoll a scholarship package totaling $20 thousand a year to pitch and play outfield for the CBU Buccaneers.

Lesson in life

Chelsea Zent’s days are packed. An eighth-grade English teacher at Norris Middle School, she spends school hours instilling students with a love of literature and language, then it’s home to spend quality time with her young daughter, followed by evenings of grading papers and preparing lesson plans.

But when Zent learned that a student with cancer needed someone to home school him, she made time in her schedule — and in her heart.

“When I learned what the family had been through, I just felt the need to be the one,” said Zent, who home-schooled Josh Chavez, 13, this past school year.

Josh was first diagnosed with bone cancer when he was a 10-year-old at Olive Drive Elementary. After rounds of chemotherapy and physical therapy, he was able to return to school for fifth and sixth grade.

Josh had only been in seventh grade one week when a tumor was found in his right leg in August of 2007.

“He had to put his new backpack away. It was really hard — he loves school,” recalled Josh’s mom, Janet.

Surgery was performed to remove the tumor, followed by intense rounds of chemotherapy. The inside of Josh’s leg is all metal below the hip.

Zent said part of what motivated her to home school Josh was the fact that her own mother, a former third-grade teacher, did the same for a sick student when Zent was a child.

“I was just a child, but I remember how fulfilled she was,” said Zent, who applied for the job and got it.

Janet said the family felt grateful and blessed when Zent took the position.

“Most people who work all day have other responsibilities or are just plain tired. Not only did Chelsea find the energy to home school Josh, but she was also willing to open up her heart to pain,” said Janet.

Zent tutored Josh in all subjects for at least an hour a day.

“He’s a joy to work with. He’s just an amazing kid,” said Zent.

Josh said Zent would fill him in on what was happening at school with his peers.

“She made me feel like I was there. It took my mind off medicine and doctors,” said Josh, who added that Zent would often bring he and his brother, Alex, cookies.

Zent said she’s been incredibly impressed by the courage of the whole Chavez family.

“The experience has changed my life. I learned things I never thought I would about cancer, family and love,” said Zent, who has continued to tutor Josh this summer.

“When we started, he was shorter than me. Now he’s taller. And his hair is growing back,” said Zent.

Josh continues to receive physical therapy three times a week, but he plans to return to school this fall — with a newfound confidence, thanks to Zent.

“She helped me believe in myself. I am really happy Ms. Zent was my home school teacher, and now she will always be my friend,” said Josh, who added his plans for the 2008-09 school year are simple.

“I want to learn a lot, do good in school, and just have fun — like a normal kid,” he said

Teacher of the Month: Chelsea Zent -- Winner!

I would like to nominate Ms. Chelsea Zent of Norris Middle School as the teacher of the the month because she has been a wonderful teacher who has helped me through my time of need. I was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the school year which meant I could no longer attend regular school. Ms. Zent stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be my home school teacher. This meant after teaching a full day at school she would drive to my home and spend another one or two hours teaching me. Ms.Zent brightens my day every time I see her! She is such a great teacher and learning with her is always lots of fun. She helped me believe in myself. Sometimes she would bring my brother Alex, and I cookies, that was cool!! I am really happy Ms. Zent was my home-school teacher and now she will always be my friend.

FLAG FUNDRASING EVENT A ROUSING SUCCESS!

BHS JROTC and Troop 47 posted American flags at at the headstones of more than 5,000 veterans at Union Cemetery in observation of Memorial Day. Due to the generosity of Fruitvale School District, patriotic students, citizens, organizations and businesses in Bakersfield, the BHS JROTC raised enough money in April to buy 3,800 new flags needed to honor all veterans at Union Cemetery. On Saturday May 24th, Boy Scout Troop 47 and BHS JROTC assisted Fran Rameriz and Ginny Risner in placing the flags at the headstones of every veteran in Union Cemetery. This was the first year that all veterans in the cemetery were honored with flags. What a beautiful and heartfelt tribute to the men and women who died so that we may be free! FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!