Saturday, April 24, 2004
Monrovia School Link ~ Number 79 ~ April 25, 2004
I have a friend who is trying to make the Pasadena Unified School District a better place for children and other living things - to paraphrase an old bumper sticker. I got to talking to him about what he and the rest of his crew are up, and some of it is rather interesting. I don't know if what they're doing is something we should do in Monrovia - you tell me - but I thought it was worth setting before you.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
My friend's name is Mark Goodstein and he's a busy-busy man, but even busy-busy men need to take a break once in a while, so I dragged him out to Starbucks last week to ask about the Pasadena schools project.
He said he and his wife and eight or nine other couples have formed a group called PEN (Pasadena Education Network). So what is a PEN?
Mark starts off with what it's not: "We're not boosters; we're not part of the district. It isn't an advocacy group or a Political Action Committee," he said. "It's purpose is to provide unbiased information to parents about the Pasadena Unified School District," or, as the official mission statement says, its purpose is to "To promote public education for a stronger community by connecting families, encouraging dialogue and providing meaningful information about PUSD."
Kristin Maschka, also with PEN, added later by email that the group's focus is to provide information about the schoools for pre-kindergarten parents (I guess those are the parents deciding whether to send their kids to public schools), and to get them connected to each other and to parents with children already in the district. For example, she said that PEN's focus this spring has been on education events for parents, scheduling tours of schools for parents of pre-kindergarten children, and sending email updates to the group.
Mark said the PEN folks meet for dinner - he said they order pizza, though he didn't specify the toppings - about once a month at a home, or more recently, at a child care facility in Pasadena. At their meetings - which they have just recently opened to the public - they may listen to a speaker, such as the superintendent of schools, a board member, or recently a regional expert on educational testing.
That in itself sounds worthwhile, but this is what particularly interests me: The group also sends its members around to review each of the Pasadena schools.
How's that work? I ask.
Well, he said, one or more PEN members make an appointment with the principal to visit a school. They bring along a paper form with spaces to fill in all kinds of information.
And what if you can't persuade the principal to schedule a visit?
Hold on; we'll get to that.
The form has basic questions, such as the principal's name, location of the school, enrollment, test scores, class size, and what not, but also evaluation questions that might cause a bit of unease on the part of school administrators, such as: "Does the principal seem confident and interested in interacting with students," "How are teaching assistants utilized?" "What is the annual figure for teacher turnover?" "How well are the facilities maintained? Are bathrooms clean and well supplied, and do the grounds look safe and inviting?" "Do classrooms look cheerful? Is student work displayed, and does it seem appropriate for the grade level?"
Ouch! I can imagine a bit of hesitancy on the part of the principal about having such a visit, which brings me back to my question. What happens if the principal - or whomever - is unresponsive to the request to visit? Well, Mark said, that goes in the report too, under: "Comment on how difficult or easy it was to arrange for a school visit." Hmmm, Yes, I can see that this would provide a bit of leverage.
After the form has been completed, Mark said, the principal is asked to correct any mistaken facts. But just the facts. If the principal doesn't like the opinions, well he or she can't change those.
Kristin added that while these review forms exist, PEN's emphasis is not on them. She wrote that the group's purpose is "as much, if not more, about the connecting and dialogue as the information piece. Honestly, we aren't focused very much on the reviews right now. What we're finding is that the most powerful thing for parents is to connect with one another, to tour schools, and to connect with parents of existing students. Our reviews are evolving into a checklist that parents can use as they tour schools that provides a lot of the factual information about the school and then gives them a list of questions to ask."
As for the principals, Kristin wrote. "We went to a prinicipal's meeting and shared with them who we were and what we were doing. We basically said, 'We took a look around and discovered that you are doing some amazing things and that the perception of our schools really doesn't match the reality. We told them our goal was to help people get the real story. And yes, we promised we wouldn't publish anything about a school without circling back to the principal. Most principals have been very supportive because we were so up front with them and because the superintendent is supportive and because they know that the public doesn't know enough about all the good things happening on their schools. We also meet once a month with the PreK liasion from PUSD to give her feedback and stay in touch."
Okay, well even if the forms are not the main focus of the group, let's finish going through the process. How do you get the information from the forms out to the public?
Well, Mark said, PEN is just getting started and is still figuring out the best way to do that.
As both Mark and Kristin said, PEN is new and how its activities will eventually gell is not entirely clear. However, a few things strike me as interesting. The idea of getting pre-kindergarten parents together to meet one another and to meet parents of children already in the district seems, as Kristin says, pretty powerful. It's always good to be able to compare notes with other people who are facing the same questions. Also, it might be neat to have occasional gatherings at which educators - from both inside and outside the district - are guest speakers. The idea of evaluation forms sounds interesting, though I sense that PEN hasn't quite decided how to use them and Monrovia is a smaller district and probably people here have a bit better idea about what is good and bad about the various schools. But still, it's something to think about.
If anybody wants to learn more about what PEN is doing (just in case some civic-minded person might want to imitate all or part of what PEN is doing), Mark suggested writing to pasadenaednetwork AT earthlink.net, or calling (866) 216-7334. However, I've been warned that these are all volunteers and the response may not be speedy.
HIT UP ~ By the way, on a different topic, a friend of mine at work hit me up to sponsor each lap his son ran in a race to raise money for the La Canada-Flintridge Educational Foundation. He raised more than $300! Just at our office! And that's for La Canada-Flintridge! I mean, why would anybody outside of LCF give money to the schools there? Personally, my heartstrings are not easily tugged upon by the crying needs of the poverty-stricken children of La Canada-Flintridge. Also, why should I give money for some kid to run around a track? I'd much rather pay to have the kids paint a wall or pull some weeds or do something useful. So, I refused to give a dime, right? Wrong. I paid up. But a couple thoughts occured to me. First, that it was ridiculously easy for him to raise that money, even for LCF. And second, that I'd have been a lot happier giving money to sponsor kids pulling weeds at the Monrovia schools. I don't recall that ever happening, though. All I remember is cookie dough and wrapping paper fundraisers. Maybe it has happened and I just don't know about it, or maybe it hasn't but should. Anybody know?
ON THE WEB ~ Monrovia School Link, and its back issues, are also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com.
I have a friend who is trying to make the Pasadena Unified School District a better place for children and other living things - to paraphrase an old bumper sticker. I got to talking to him about what he and the rest of his crew are up, and some of it is rather interesting. I don't know if what they're doing is something we should do in Monrovia - you tell me - but I thought it was worth setting before you.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
My friend's name is Mark Goodstein and he's a busy-busy man, but even busy-busy men need to take a break once in a while, so I dragged him out to Starbucks last week to ask about the Pasadena schools project.
He said he and his wife and eight or nine other couples have formed a group called PEN (Pasadena Education Network). So what is a PEN?
Mark starts off with what it's not: "We're not boosters; we're not part of the district. It isn't an advocacy group or a Political Action Committee," he said. "It's purpose is to provide unbiased information to parents about the Pasadena Unified School District," or, as the official mission statement says, its purpose is to "To promote public education for a stronger community by connecting families, encouraging dialogue and providing meaningful information about PUSD."
Kristin Maschka, also with PEN, added later by email that the group's focus is to provide information about the schoools for pre-kindergarten parents (I guess those are the parents deciding whether to send their kids to public schools), and to get them connected to each other and to parents with children already in the district. For example, she said that PEN's focus this spring has been on education events for parents, scheduling tours of schools for parents of pre-kindergarten children, and sending email updates to the group.
Mark said the PEN folks meet for dinner - he said they order pizza, though he didn't specify the toppings - about once a month at a home, or more recently, at a child care facility in Pasadena. At their meetings - which they have just recently opened to the public - they may listen to a speaker, such as the superintendent of schools, a board member, or recently a regional expert on educational testing.
That in itself sounds worthwhile, but this is what particularly interests me: The group also sends its members around to review each of the Pasadena schools.
How's that work? I ask.
Well, he said, one or more PEN members make an appointment with the principal to visit a school. They bring along a paper form with spaces to fill in all kinds of information.
And what if you can't persuade the principal to schedule a visit?
Hold on; we'll get to that.
The form has basic questions, such as the principal's name, location of the school, enrollment, test scores, class size, and what not, but also evaluation questions that might cause a bit of unease on the part of school administrators, such as: "Does the principal seem confident and interested in interacting with students," "How are teaching assistants utilized?" "What is the annual figure for teacher turnover?" "How well are the facilities maintained? Are bathrooms clean and well supplied, and do the grounds look safe and inviting?" "Do classrooms look cheerful? Is student work displayed, and does it seem appropriate for the grade level?"
Ouch! I can imagine a bit of hesitancy on the part of the principal about having such a visit, which brings me back to my question. What happens if the principal - or whomever - is unresponsive to the request to visit? Well, Mark said, that goes in the report too, under: "Comment on how difficult or easy it was to arrange for a school visit." Hmmm, Yes, I can see that this would provide a bit of leverage.
After the form has been completed, Mark said, the principal is asked to correct any mistaken facts. But just the facts. If the principal doesn't like the opinions, well he or she can't change those.
Kristin added that while these review forms exist, PEN's emphasis is not on them. She wrote that the group's purpose is "as much, if not more, about the connecting and dialogue as the information piece. Honestly, we aren't focused very much on the reviews right now. What we're finding is that the most powerful thing for parents is to connect with one another, to tour schools, and to connect with parents of existing students. Our reviews are evolving into a checklist that parents can use as they tour schools that provides a lot of the factual information about the school and then gives them a list of questions to ask."
As for the principals, Kristin wrote. "We went to a prinicipal's meeting and shared with them who we were and what we were doing. We basically said, 'We took a look around and discovered that you are doing some amazing things and that the perception of our schools really doesn't match the reality. We told them our goal was to help people get the real story. And yes, we promised we wouldn't publish anything about a school without circling back to the principal. Most principals have been very supportive because we were so up front with them and because the superintendent is supportive and because they know that the public doesn't know enough about all the good things happening on their schools. We also meet once a month with the PreK liasion from PUSD to give her feedback and stay in touch."
Okay, well even if the forms are not the main focus of the group, let's finish going through the process. How do you get the information from the forms out to the public?
Well, Mark said, PEN is just getting started and is still figuring out the best way to do that.
As both Mark and Kristin said, PEN is new and how its activities will eventually gell is not entirely clear. However, a few things strike me as interesting. The idea of getting pre-kindergarten parents together to meet one another and to meet parents of children already in the district seems, as Kristin says, pretty powerful. It's always good to be able to compare notes with other people who are facing the same questions. Also, it might be neat to have occasional gatherings at which educators - from both inside and outside the district - are guest speakers. The idea of evaluation forms sounds interesting, though I sense that PEN hasn't quite decided how to use them and Monrovia is a smaller district and probably people here have a bit better idea about what is good and bad about the various schools. But still, it's something to think about.
If anybody wants to learn more about what PEN is doing (just in case some civic-minded person might want to imitate all or part of what PEN is doing), Mark suggested writing to pasadenaednetwork AT earthlink.net, or calling (866) 216-7334. However, I've been warned that these are all volunteers and the response may not be speedy.
HIT UP ~ By the way, on a different topic, a friend of mine at work hit me up to sponsor each lap his son ran in a race to raise money for the La Canada-Flintridge Educational Foundation. He raised more than $300! Just at our office! And that's for La Canada-Flintridge! I mean, why would anybody outside of LCF give money to the schools there? Personally, my heartstrings are not easily tugged upon by the crying needs of the poverty-stricken children of La Canada-Flintridge. Also, why should I give money for some kid to run around a track? I'd much rather pay to have the kids paint a wall or pull some weeds or do something useful. So, I refused to give a dime, right? Wrong. I paid up. But a couple thoughts occured to me. First, that it was ridiculously easy for him to raise that money, even for LCF. And second, that I'd have been a lot happier giving money to sponsor kids pulling weeds at the Monrovia schools. I don't recall that ever happening, though. All I remember is cookie dough and wrapping paper fundraisers. Maybe it has happened and I just don't know about it, or maybe it hasn't but should. Anybody know?
ON THE WEB ~ Monrovia School Link, and its back issues, are also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com.
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