Friday, Jul. 18, 2008

Jack Lalley: From the chalkboard

If it doesn't bother you that $700 billion are leaving the U.S. every year, that hedge fund managers and CEOs are making 400 times the yearly salary of their average worker, or that our government can bail out Citi Corp, Bear Sterns and now it seems, Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac but turns thumbs down on the foreclosed home of John Q Public. If it doesn't bother you that gas is five bucks a gallon, with no hope in sight, or that we're borrowing $12 billion a month from communist China to support our military,then I'm sure your OK with the Los Banos Unified School district's plan to build a new high school and a new elementary school when school classrooms sit empty because of falling attendance.

Ask around, make some calls, talk to the principals of our city schools ask 'em why the "This school is overcrowded" sign still is tacked by the office door. Get some answers. Ask 'em why their multi-purpose rooms are so puny that they can't house the student body in this blistering heat or get them out of the rain, or warm them on cold days. Ask 'em. Watch for their lower jaw to drop and their eyes to look like a deer in headlights.

We need a new elementary school just about as badly as we need a new blank to fill in on some state mandated test. What we need are multi-purpose rooms big enough to serve the students not only those eating breakfast and lunch, but big enough to shoot hoops, spike volleyballs and improve the health of our endomorphic kids. These multi-purpose rooms could easily also educate our adult populations in the areas of literacy, parenting skills and technology. Operate them until 9 p.m. Get the gangbangers off the street, the taggers off the walls, and the couch potatoes up from the easy chair.

It took the citizens of our fair city over a decade to get their act together to pass a resolution to build a new high school. It began when gas was under a buck and a loaf of bread was fifty cents. Now that gas has gone through the roof, with no one in their right mind thinking that the 'good old days' are right around the corner. How much sense does it make to double the transportation budget, double the athletic budget, the book and supply budget?

Has our new superintendent and his board of trustees even considered that the new school could be built and focused on the needs of just juniors and seniors? Why not let Los Baños High house the underclassmen? The freshmen and sophomores' security would be improved, specialization would be encouraged and our budget, now filling faster than a hot air balloon, can deflate - cut in half to be exact.

Go to a board meeting. Speak up. Ask questions, better yet--get answers.

Jack Lalley is a teacher with the Los Baños school district. During his 30 years in education he has taught at all grade levels and was once superintendent of a small school district. He has a master's degree in educational administration/community leadership and holds two U.S. patents for educational games. Comments about Lalley's column can be e-mailed to publisher@losbanosenterprise.com