Our workers are protected under union rights and replacing them it seems not an option, any new process we implement, they would need to be trained. Fair enough, but we are talking about spending precious funds to RETEACH the employees that are currently employed what they should already know. Education for continued job growth is one thing but to spend a generous donation or precious district funds for something we already pay for doesn’t make sense. Especially when our district leaders say that government funding is a continual issue. We shouldn’t be soliciting or using donations for something our district ALREADY pays for.

I find it frustrating that this is a topic at all. What do we get for the price we pay them? How did such poor quality and quantity of food get this far to begin with? Why was the Union allowed to provide employees that can’t provide healthy meals? Why is our district leadership allowing this to happen? Why does it take a dedicated community of parents to bring to the attention something the district leaders should have safeguarded for our children to begin with, hot, healthy and nutritious lunches? Isn’t that known to be one of the keys to better learning? Their website on the lead page of Nutrition Services says that “good nutrition and learning go hand in hand”.

While I applaud and am proud of Noah for his demonstration of maturity, integrity and grit for bringing such an important issue to the forefront of our community, our district should be ashamed. Our leaders and educators should be nurturing the independent, critical thinking skills as Wendy Meyer points out.

Our newest district leader has demonstrated that it is difficult for her to grasp “out-of –the-box thinking”. Not only have attempts been made to ignore statistical data that supports findings that our parent community finds important to embrace, they are attempting to restrict the First Amendment Rights of Noah Rosen. They are also demonstrating that they do not want to support their very active PTA, when they walk away from an opportunity to be a leader in the nation with creative and proven successful ideas such as healthy lunches, outdoor classrooms and teaching gardens and supporting the learning differences between boys and girls.

Our Superintendent walked out of the recent Coffee Break that presented scientific evidence on how boys and girls learn differently because she “had significant concerns about the accuracy of Mr. Gurion’s comments”. She left prior to the completion of his presentation, which supported his findings with scientific evidence.

The same district leaders have opposed all efforts to build an Outdoor Garden and Teaching Classroom at Thurston that would provide such exceptional educational opportunities on so many levels including health, and healthy nutrition, science, solar energy and mathematics just to name a few. This garden had already received half the funding necessary and even School Power has agreed to consider funding efforts “if and only if the district supported it”. At the last PTA meeting, this garden project was announced “dead” and that the District would not support it during these unknown financial times even though the likelihood of getting it fully funded and supported through educational curriculum and our community support would help develop it and sustain it. It would take “out-of-the-box” thinking to implement curriculum that would benefit our student population in a vast array of learning opportunities but it seems that it is not a priority.

Our district clearly does not have a great record of recent years of taking on new projects to implement the very ideals that the community of Laguna Beach was founded on.

While it is very clear that they still don’t agree with Noah’s findings even though he has quantitative results, will they walk out on this topic because they have “significant concerns about the accuracy of his findings”? They did the first time.

It is time that our district steps up to continue to create a district that drives our kids education by being “out-of-the-box thinkers”. They can tout the fact that we have music, arts and technology in our district but this is no longer “out-of-the-box thinking” it is part of the fiber of the Laguna Beach Community and our schools. Our community supports the arts, music and literature obviously. Now with groups such as Transition Laguna, and the numerous healthy and organic eating establishments, businesses and builders focusing on green products, developments etc. it is clear that Laguna Beach continues to be an “out-of-the-box” community of thinkers and doers. Shouldn’t our school district and it’s leaders reflect the same ideals as our community? Doesn’t our property tax contribute to the salaries of the district? Shouldn’t they be more responsive to what the district families want? Shouldn’t our school community be outraged?

We need leaders moving forward in these continued financially challenging times for our state’s budget and it’s student population, that will harness the talent, energy and funding that our community has demonstrated. Our District should focus on efforts to tackle and launch those new ideas that would enrich our kids lives across the board, including creating healthy lunches and creative learning environments that all kids can thrive in. Healthy eating and learning go hand in hand as we all know and our school district touts on the website.

Perhaps if they spent more time on those thoughts, all our kids would continue thrive in new directions for a new future because they are being taught in ways that speak to them, male or female, that learn visually or verbally and with new ideas for a bright future such as a sustainable gardens that feed a community, solar power that generates energy for lighting, watering etc. healthy eating to maintain a healthy life, (that reduces medical needs – a whole other issue) new advances in science etc. We need district leaders that are willing to demonstrate good leadership with actions that speak louder than words. If our current District leadership can’t do that, they should find a new job.

Humbly from a mother of four brown baggers in our district.

Sheri Morgan

For the past two years, Laguna Beach parents have been asking the School District to improve the quality of the food it serves.  What good does a nutrition class do, if the school that teaches healthy eating in its own classroom, doesn’t even follow its own student instruction? It is now common knowledge that poor food choices affects the study habits of kids at school.  It seems that our School District is concerned about maintaining its image as a grouping of Distinguished Schools, yet fails to address one of the easiest ways to improve students overall performance, by selling nutritional snacks and lunches. 

Our School District has failed its parents and children by ignoring the wishes of the Nutrition Committee to bring healthy food to our students, as well as dismissing the Thurston Outdoor Classroom and Teaching Garden. This was an all-volunteer and donor-funded project that was designed to give students the ability to work alongside their peers, parents and teachers, while learning to grow their own foods, appreciate nature’s bounty and discover that food doesn’t have to only come from a drive through window.
 
Maybe more parents should follow the lead of someone less than one third their age…someone like young Noah Rosen, who asked pertinent questions and wasn’t afraid to voice his own opinion.

The sum total of the reaction of school leadership, was especially disheartening, as it flies in the face of what quality educators ought to nuture, which is independent, critical thinking. Noah Rosen demonstrated earnest self initiative and was shamefully chastised for it.

Food for Thought….

Wendy Proudlock Meyer

Try to remember that we can not always believe everything we read and try to look into things on your own if you are concerned. Also, there are 2 sides to every story.