Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, California. Route 65, north of I-80 towards Lake Tahoe from Sacramento. Please visit it. Terri and I went in with $30.00 and left, after buying lunch for the two of us and Terri's sister and Julie's husband, with $440.00!
After spending a wonderful evening wedding reception in the bustling metropolis of Loma Rica, California and a long weekend in the area surrounding the megalopolis of Soulsbyville, California, it's time to get back to the real world, which is very active in OUR community.
I was given advice to take a look at another blog. This blog, "The Under Dog For Kids" looks to be very well written and does take students and kids in OUR community as being very important.
I am going to place a recent post from that blog on this blog because I feel it is important to learn what others are thinking and how others feel quite strongly about OUR students.
The blog is: www.theunderdogforkids.blogspot.com
Weighing In On Angel’s Gate as A High School; The Question We Should Really Be Asking Ourselves is Not Why…We Should Be Asking Why Not? A Prominent Educational Facility Could Be Built Here; It Just Needs Wings To Fly & the Residents to Tell the School District How to Do It
By Diana L. Chapman
I watched four high school students bravely get up and talk about the torturous learning environment they are currently living in at San Pedro High School.
Despite the hoards of resident’s complaints against the proposed building of a new high school at Angel’s Gate, the students stepped forward asking desperately for the 800 to 1,200 seat high school to proceed on the 28 acre site.
“Yes, we need to save the foxes and work on the noise pollution,” one 12th grade girl told the crowd in regards to their complaints. “But we really need more room. It’s like we are playing football everyday. It’s so crowded, it’s hard to get to class on time.
”Classes are so overbooked at their current school, the students said, some kids stand during the entire class or are crammed right up to the teacher’s desk. Going into the hallways is like heading onto the freeway at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to face a gushing onslaught of traffic. And education is spiraling downward because the teachers can’t teach in classrooms that are jammed like sardine cans with students.
This explains right away to me why we have a 50 percent dropout rate in Los Angeles Unified. The kids begged for help, but some of the residents failed to use their ears. One man told the students to climb aboard and join the real world. Los Angeles, he said, is overcrowded “so get use to it.” Residents clapped at that. It seems nowhere in San Pedro will our community accept the building of a desperately needed new high school. That must speak loudly to our kids about how our community feels toward them. The students who spoke at the Los Angeles Unified School meeting held at Dana Middle School March 13 won’t stand to gain anything; the school won’t be built until 2012.
They are thinking about the future.
Perhaps we should too.
I would ask you now to take the time to pause, step out of your box and imagine the tremendous educational opportunities that could be at Angel’s Gate. For just a moment, stop worrying about the traffic, the den of foxes, the concern a high school would mar the tranquility of the site -- a location which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is constantly beaten by pulsating winds. Think instead for a moment at what a remarkable educational facility Angels’ Gate could become – which will only happen if residents force the issue.
Currently, Angel’s Gate hosts a plethora of underused possibilities – all of which should absolutely be integrated into the proposed high school’s regime. If a high school becomes the inner-hub of the area, think of the potential. Students could study marine biology at the Mammal Marine Care Center and help feed fish to the rescued sea lions. They can learn firsthand about World War II and what it meant to California at the Fort MacArthur Museum and visit the underground bunkers that still exist there today. They can learn from a slew of amazing artists at the Cultural Arts Center. Students can learn how to save birds and study the impact oil has when its washed into the sea at the International Bird Rescue Center.Everyone of these facilities is located at the site.
In short, this could be one of the best, hands-on academic facilities in all of Los Angeles. An educator told me once that it was a shame we tried to do everything in a classroom; the real learning, he said, happens out in the field. Here is a place where all kinds of study and research could be adopted. Students also could volunteer at many of these remarkable resources and keep them alive and running for generations to come. We can complain about the den of foxes at Angel’s Gate being in danger because of the construction and the marine mammals ears popping due to jackhammers and the traffic that could pour into the campus. These are critical issues that need to be addressed.
Yes, the district needs to protect the foxes and might have to build a preserve for them on the site, which would provide students with yet another educational opportunity.The residents’ contend that vehicles should not be allowed to access the school using Alma Street -- an argument that should be adhered to due to the already existing number of accidents on the narrow residential street. The residents know them all. They've been counting.Community members want more than the proposed 113 parking spaces. That too makes sense, because the neighbors don’t want – and should not have to deal with -- an overflow of cars parking on their streets.
Another man feared juvenile destruction that can sometimes accompany neighborhoods set near schools. The district needs to find away to provide the security the neighbors seek.LAUSD School Board Member Richard Vladovic told the crowd that he would pull together a team of educators to design this school. I propose that he not just use educators, but include residents and community leaders who understand what Angel’s Gate can provide for students, but also buff down the severe impact a high school could have if its not built keeping the neighborhood in mind.
All I am asking right now is that residents think about it. Think about the potential and the much greater chance we – as a community will have – to churn out kids who will care about their environment, protect and rescue wildlife, understand the atrocities of World War II and the way it played out here in California and explore the arts with true artists working right next door.Here, we will be molding well-rounded, future citizens. If we do not do this, as Richard Vladovic has indicated, our high school – San Pedro High – will go year round.
Then think about this; This means 1,000 kids will be streaming through our streets – without adult guidance because many parents will be working -- all day long. They will receive a lesser education, according to the school board member, because studies have shown year round schooling is not nearly as successful as traditional year round.
And then think about this: What will all that mean for the future of all of San Pedro? Rather than send the kids packing with shoes to the streets, I'd much rather give the kids wings they need to learn to soar the sky at Angel's Gate. Then perhaps, we will truly be making good citizens.
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I can certainly agree with much of what Ms. Chapman writes. I do think however, that most folks in OUR community, including Ms. Chapman don't see what may actually become the jewel of educational experiences at the site.
If and when the Point Fermin Outdoor Education is redeveloped, and it could be as early as Summer, 2009, it and nothing else would become the largest, most popular, best used, and by far, the greatest educational experience that the most number of LAUSD students could attend.
Ms. Chapman is very correct in her observations about the great qualities the site has to offer. Having the Marine Mammal Rescue Center and the International Bird Rescue Center within a short stroll of the classrooms and dormitories of the Outdoor Educational Center can only enhance the experiences of the 5Th graders attending either the 3-night or 4-night programs of the Outdoor Education Center that are planned to give every 5Th grader in the LAUSD system a chance to learn, explore, create, gather, educate, share, and live a great outdoor experience on the hills overlooking their blue Pacific Ocean.
Friends, I am a fan of the Point Fermin Outdoor Education Center. I think we will all receive the biggest bang for our education dollars by allowing students from all over the district a chance to learn about what so many of us still take for granted.
I continue to strongly feel that placing a large new campus directly next to the Outdoor Education Center will cause environmental difficulties for the students, faculty, and staff at the Outdoor Education Center.
If it comes time, on a cloudless night, for 5Th graders to take a peek at the constellations, what might they truly see if lights from athletic fields offer glare over views?
When listening for the sounds made by peafowl or other birds, will attendees hear more tones and noises coming from a high school campus?
If an experience scouring an open field is sought, might it be blocked by a fence surrounding classrooms?
I contend that the "Big Elephant in the Room" is not nearby neighbors decrying having a large school in their backyards, it is a much more joyful giant education center that will bring so many students into the area and provide for them an experience that may last throughout their entire education process.
Sure, there are negative reasons I feel a new campus should not be built at "Angel's Gate". But it is the one overriding positive set of possibilities that also make me believe that South Region High School No.15 (SRHS 15) does not belong right next to the Point Fermin Education Center.
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So, let's think about alternatives to building SRHS 15 at Angel's Gate.
It's time to really think, "outside the box" on this one because so many people will consider only limited alternatives and not wish to expand their ideas past what "bureaucrats" think are only possible.
For your consideration: How about a new building at S.P.H.S.? O.K, O.K. I know you are going to squeal that the campus is already overcrowded. That MAY be true, but may not be true, either.
I have an idea to build more classrooms or multi-purpose rooms, or whatever can be used, in a multi-purpose, multi-story building that will not displace one single building at S.P.H.S., right now!
With this new building, seen above, new lockers can span hallways on several floors. There could be giant open areas on any floor, or classrooms of various sizes.The new building would not be too close to the new gymnasium and could even support a covered bridge to the existing Administration Building. The new building takes up ZERO on-campus parking spaces and could be built for a fraction of the cost of building a whole entire new campus.
Students could use part of one floor as a large study-hall/lunchroom/meeting facility. There could be added storage on the lowest floor which would be partially placed within the hillside that is currently there.
The hallways could be large enough to allow many students to pass through. It would keep all classes, faculty, administration, nurses, and others on one campus, rather than having them travel to any satellite campus.
A new building in connection with changes in the daily schedules of students would allow for no year-round need and provide safety and shelter for more students.
This alternative is just one of many, members of OUR community can envision. We are a talented and intelligent community. We are creative and we can solve problems. We can be the heroes our students seek. All we have to do is dream.
Let's keep the discussions going. Let's openly share ideas. Let's question "authority" and come up with novel ways to support our students.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Planning Department comes up with a reasonable, realistic, responsible, and respectful plan for Ponte Vista.
Let's fun Clean San Pedro!
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