The opportunity to report has presented itself sooner than anticipated, with two naps occurring at the same time--my good fortune!

Yesterday (Mar. 23) the Hudson Cliffs school administration & staff hosted an open house to which "all were welcome." The amount of publicity for this event was questioned by several people, as was the actual purpose of the event. It turned out to be essentially a school tour of all grades followed by a meeting in the library that allowed parents to ask questions of the two assistant principals. For those of you who may have wished to attend but couldn't make that time, or those who hadn't sufficient notice, I'll try to recall what I can and give my personal impressions. There were about eighteen people in the group that I joined (late) and another earlier group toured separately, consisting of about 10-15 people (as far as I could tell). Our tour started in the lower grades and moved up to the upper school, more or less in order of grade. We saw two kindergarten classes in action, a first grade class, second grade (I think?), sixth grade math/laptop class, seventh grade Social Studies class, and I believe also a seventh grade English or Language Arts class. There may have been more; it was a little hard to digest all the different classrooms in the short time. Then we met up with the other group and convened in the library for a talk with the administrators. A couple of 187 parents were also there.

I found the tour enlightening. Even brief (and perhaps planned) encounters with the actual classrooms of 187 give you a sense of how the school runs and what the focus is. For me the kindergarten teachers seemed very relaxed, competent, and confident in their teaching. The classrooms looked comfortable if a bit busily decorated. The other class which impressed me strongly was the sixth grade math class. There is no mistaking that the teacher had a no-nonsense approach; nevertheless she was clear and articulate and spoke to the kids on a very mature level. The project sounded fairly sophisticated--not at all a rote-learning work and notable for its interdisciplinary scope. The kids were writing creative accounts of their time-travel projects as we stood there; they all had laptops and were not particularly distracted by us. I checked. They were really writing. There is no doubt the school emphasizes basic skills in language--spelling, grammar, style. The essays posted throughout the halls are all clearly prized for a "finished" effect. The social studies class I visited also gave me a good feeling. The teacher was serious and straightforward toward the kids but he emanated a strong undercurrent of warmth; he had the kids smiling and interested in their work.

I find that my sense, during this period of getting to know my neighborhood school, is one I've maintained toward education all along. Every classroom is its own domain. There are teachers who one will like and others one will like less. 187 has a full range of personalities and types, as does any school. And what can you tell in an eight-minute encounter? Maybe not that much. But perhaps instinct serves you well in any school visit.

The school is very conscious of safety and security. The administrators support their staff and take full responsibility for their school-wide policies, which they are comfortable explaining. As expected, many parents questioned the policies on lunch--the silent eating, classical-music paradigm. The AP, Ms. Schafran gives a very clear and logical explanation of it. Parents have a right to quesion every policy a school adopts, particularly if they have strong feelings about disciplinary rules or learning methodologies. This administration is more than willing to discuss those codes as they exist at 187.

For me, the most jarring part of the experience of this visit was the sense of disjuncture that exists between the world within the school and the streets outside it. I do not know if others share my view but while walking into the school there is no sense of what is going on inside. As a neighborhood school, the building as such projects no sense of the neighborhood. This is a confined community in many ways. One's sense--my sense, that is, of the school has been that its activities go on more or less independent of the streets and buildings and parks and playgrounds that surround it. It is only when I walked into the building, recognized teachers, saw my neighbor's children singing in the kindergarten classroom, waved to the little boy who lives next door to my parents, that I had a true sense of what the school is, was, or could be.

Neighborhood schooling is not a panacea. This community, believe it or not, is almost as large as some small towns I've lived in. Parents need choice in all aspects of education--and the more we get in our own district the better off we will be. By the way, 187 probably couldn't accomodate all the children of this community if they all chose to attend. My advice to parents living in the zone is to make a visit and cross the barrier that seems to exist between school and neighborhood. I hope the school continues to step up its role in the community. I hope they do another open house, too.

-- R.Lilienstein (mg143@aol.com), March 24, 2001