‘Morning Grumble’ volunteers honored at school board meeting
Anticipation about a “Safe Haven” vote packed the seats at the Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The public session began with the declaration that there were no actions taken during a previous closed session and there were no public comments to address. This allowed for a quick turn to the first agenda item, which included students from the Fitch Mountain Campus speaking about the Great Kindness Challenge and Toolbox Masters and students from Healdsburg Junior High School talking about the Season of Giving.
Community volunteer Ross McGowan then came up to the podium with the principal of Healdsburg Elementary, Stephanie Feith, to present certificates of appreciation to the volunteers who make the Morning Grumble possible. The Morning Grumble is a morning snack program delivered to students in the elementary school to make sure that no student goes hungry in the morning.
McGowan explained that he started this program after reading an article about how many children in elementary schools do not have breakfast, and start the day without food in their stomach. He worked with Feith to start the program in 2010, and it’s been made possible because of the dedicated volunteers who deliver nutritious snacks to every child throughout the school each morning.
After this, a clear set of instructions was given about time limits on public comments for the next action item – recognizing the Healdsburg School District as a Safe Haven. This distinction for the school, “reaffirms focus on promoting and elevating tolerance, inclusiveness, individualism, equity, unity and diversity by resolving to work closely with the city, county and other state and local municipalities and community organizations to ensure our students and families are offered a protected space.”
District Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel presented the item in both English and Spanish, recommending that it be passed. He wanted to make sure that it was known that this was, “not brought forward as a political statement, but as a way for us to stand with our students.”
Members of the public stepped forward to voice their concerns, as well as their support for this item. The first member of the public to speak about the Safe Haven distinction for the school brought up his concern that it should be inclusive for all students, and not just those who were undocumented or of Latino descent. He said that his son is being bullied, called a Nazi and physically shoved. He was worried that the Safe Haven distinction would signal acceptance of this behavior.
The next six speakers were women, all of whom voiced support for the Safe Haven resolution for the district, one who worked within the school district and made the comment that, “I tell my children that they don’t have to worry about ICE. If I know the ICE man is coming, they have two hours to get ready and get out.”
Another man stepped to the podium to voice his support for the Safe Haven distinction, while also saying, “safe haven should not just apply to immigrants, but everyone.”
The four remaining commenters were in support of the Safe Haven distinction, with Ariel Kelley, a board member and attorney with the newly formed Corazón Healdsburg, stating that it was an important step for the school district to make as “…we have a very tumultuous landscape in our country right now.”
After all members of the public voiced their comments, it was approved by the Board of Trustees. Besides making students feel safe in campus, the board affirms that, “[they] shall not allow ICE agents on school sites, facilities or material property without prior written approval from the Superintendent.”
Next up on the agenda was the ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee) with DELAC (District English Learner Committee) and Erin Fender, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction. Blended learning was presented as a way of helping students work with both in-class instruction and online learning.
The agenda went on with Healdsburg High School Vice Principal Michael Waters presenting writing benchmark test scores, using a slide show of pies to show the difference between a frozen pre-made made pie or one made from scratch and asked which the audience thought would come out better. This was how he drew the correlation between teaching kids with care for the “ingredients” as opposed to formulaic learning. He noted that he was pleased with how scores had improved when attention was put on working with students in order to foster a love for writing because he saw that “…every student has a voice and that voice can lead to a great career.”
Rounding out a meeting that had gone into overtime with little to no disagreements throughout was the proposed school district schedule for the 2017-2018 school year which is slated to start later in August by a day. Trustee Judy Velasquez commented that she did not like the number of four-day weeks that were scheduled for staff development days, with other trustees noting that these training days were necessary.
Before the meeting ended, Lori Ray from CSEA (California School Employees Association) came to the podium to announce that while the local chapter of CSEA had been absent from meetings thus far, they were dedicated to having a presence in the monthly meetings moving forward.
Harrison Williams, the student representative to the school board, came forward to let everyone know that the next play at Healdsburg High School was scheduled for Feb. 24, with the title of “All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Dating a Zombie” at 8:15 p.m.
As a side note, the Healdsburg varsity basketball team was having a game that night, and scores were being bandied about throughout the evening.
The Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Healdsburg City Hall Council Chambers at 401 Grove St., Healdsburg.
