Skip to main content

Field Trip!


 

It was  pretty exciting to see HCPSS Board members visiting the new school sites yesterday. A tip of the hat to Board Chair Vicky Cutroneo for using social media to include community members in their tours by way of live video. Other board members have also posted comments and photos from the visits. This one from Dr. Chao Wu made me think:

Took a school bus for the first time and visited our schools under construction. I am glad to see things moving steadily as planned.

I had to stop for a minute to process this. Dr. Wu had never before ridden a school bus. Why did that surprise me? I don’t know. Until I moved from Cleveland Heights, Ohio to Stamford, Connecticut, I had never ridden on a school bus. Wait, that’s not true. Our school system used them for field trips. At any rate, I reminded myself, not everyone rides school buses. 

Why is this bugging me so much?

I think it leapt out at me because there was so much acrimony during the last redistricting process about how certain decisions would lengthen student bus rides, and how this would create unnecessary hardship. I think if we are going to ask Board Members to make these kind of decisions, we should at least make sure they have had the experience of riding a school bus. 

Am I saying that people who haven’t ever ridden a school bus aren’t qualified to be BOE members? No, not at all. But I do think we should make sure they are provided with this life experience early on in their tenure. This should not be that difficult to accomplish. As long as Dr. Martirano files the right paperwork with the Field Trip Office and all the Board Members return their signed permission slips on time, it should all be a piece of cake. As long as it’s cleared by the Risk Assessment people, that is.

That last bit might be tricky.

If you agree with me that a school bus trip would be an educational experience for board members, where do you think we should send them? I’m wandering a bit from a serious suggestion to…okay, perhaps I’m open to having a little fun with this. Should they ride school bus routes? Should they tag along with school kids to see what it’s really like? 

Or should they stick together instead? Who knows? Maybe they’d even sing a few rounds of  “Ten Green Bottles” or “The Other Day I Met a Bear.”

Are there any other real-life experiences you think we should provide to the Board of Education? It would be impossible to require participation in every single aspect of the school system. But perhaps a few significant ones would be helpful. Next to riding the bus, the next one on my list would be getting through the lunch line and actually eating during the time allotted. That might be truly educational.

Do you have any other suggestions?

This is not a criticism of Dr. Wu or anyone on the Board. It’s simply an opportunity to think. Being on the Board is full of long meetings, analyzing budgets, making tough decisions. I wonder if what they do strays too far from basic things our students live every day: like riding a bus. Or getting through the lunch line.

What do you think? 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more