The news on events happening at Lincoln High is something that takes a bit of effort to discover, and in the day of the Internet, it's a little easier. Promotion of events and activities that could serve to better inform the alumni of what today's Lincoln High is about that might enlighten th current environment and activities.
There are still many around who remember when LHS always had two separate senior classes on campus, with at least a mild rivalry between them, at any given time. The "Senior 'Ayes' " and the "Senior 'Bees'" was what I remember how the daily bulletin would write it them up; A student was in a grade with an "A" or "B" designation to represent the first or last semester in the grade before advancing to the next level. The A-10 class, for example was a semester ahead of the B-10 tenth graders, and up the ladder you progressed, to be in the B-11 next semester.
A graduation at the end of every semester gave us those Winter and Summer classes for each year. That's what those notations mean on the class plaques in cement by the entrance to the Andrus Theater (formerly the auditorium).
I see there a lot of information, at least a lot of linked pages, and heard the "Daily Announcment" for Tuesday that's an MP3 recording of what goes out over the P.A. system, like it or not. Today brings Mentor Day, connected to Gear Up. That's was a complete mystery to me, and there wasn't a quick description of that. The quick web search might have the answer, using Occidental College in Eagle Rock for the rest of the information on the program. See "There Goes the Neighborhood; Occidental students participating in the Neighborhood Partnership Program reach out to youth in the surrounding community and serve as mentors through academic obstacles." by Kelsey Longmuir, Issue date: 10/15/08. And after that partnering program discussion, I see it was founded in 1997-1998, and LAUSD became a partner in 1999, with 2002 bringing a grant from LAUSD for the program. More details in this article.
I still don't know what's happening today at Lincoln on Mentor Day, but I figure it's part of the progam described in the Oxy newpaper that lists Lincoln as one of the participating schools, administered by the LAUSD. While I was at Lincoln on the faculty side, I have to say, this was not widely publicized and I tend to look for things and did not hear of this until seeing a student painted poster on the wall announcing the event this week. This was noticed as I came by for the alumni meeting or it still would be an unknown item.
Another poster I saw and heard about on the recorded "Announcements" for Tuesday was the Shakey's Night, for a fundraiser for one of the school groups. Lots of what happens in schools could be better if maybe a little publicity was condidered. A Shakey's Night usually involves getting more people to go to the facility and turn in a reciept or mark something for credit to go to LHS, a percentage of the bill. More people doing this means more money generated. Woudn't more promotion bring more people out?
The lack of promotion and cryptic descriptions in the web site really don't facilitate all that these events can produce, and it doesn't take much to do. Alumni and parents could use an easily usable resource for such things and the MP3 recording is a task to hear; printing out a transcript could be a time-saver for staff and students who want to read what was spoken. And by the way, when I was at Lincoln, the printed Bulletin had a canned statement included that urged groups and teachers to make announcements in the written bulletin, and not rely on the P.A. as some rooms had no speakers. Well, all mine did, and there was no volume control to bring down the sound to an EPA-safe volume level. Ouch.
There's lots more that looks to be happening, but as to details, I have to assume it's internal to the school. Still, you would get a better idea of what's going on if access was not turned into an adventure in search skills. If you say, "Well, parents will be informed by notices they get.' OK, that's one way and one audience, but it's the minimal effort- why not use more avenues of information to do that and generate some image of Lincoln as actually doing something for the benefit of the students and community? It could only help and maybe get a better picture that the general LAUSD drop out reputation that loses over half of a 9th grade class of students before graduation.
Yesterday was another Professional Development Day, and your children were out early, and I hope you notice. Some say that's not trusting students when you check up on them, but it's also considered neglecting your parental responsibility to have no idea where your children are or what they are doing. The better practice is to try to stay in touch with activities of your students, and a benefit of that is that it shows THEM that you CARE what they are doing.
A lot of caring is missing in today's environment with some negative consequences a result.
Posts
