Show us a turkey.
The Scoble photo is too easy; plus I'm too drunk to Google it.
Last week Ken Garcia, a "journalist" with the San Francisco Examiner, a paper known mostly for making their front cover a full page ad, published a completely irresponsible piece on my son's school; Sherman Elementary.
Like clockwork, the school uses its loud, amplified system in the yard at 7:45 a.m. to get students ready for the day — sometimes with an off-key song — which has incensed neighbors to the point where they pray for rain or holidays.
Not being content with writing a completely one-sided story, Mr. Garcia decided to throw in a cheap shot about their singing. That's classless, Ken.
My son is a student at Sherman Elementary. He's proud of his school and Principal Phyllis Matsuno is a large part of that. Since she got to Sherman she's energized the place and given the kids a sense of pride. Because of her they leave Sherman better prepared for the world.
That sense of pride starts with their morning assembly, which takes a grand total of about 10 minutes each morning. And I can assure you, because I've DONE this that if you stand on the other side of Franklin Street's four lanes of traffic you CANNOT hear it.
And yet, for all her trouble she's been repaid by policemen coming to the school threatening to arrest her. I was ashamed of our city at that moment. That we would use public funds and civil servants, who were clearly embarrassed by the task at hand by the way, to harass a public school principal is beyond the pale.
Meanwhile, against all odds, she's managed to upgrade the school, raise its grades and turn out a fantastic bunch of kids year after year. To present the struggle the school is up against in such ridiculous one-sided terms without giving her a chance to tell her side of the story is beyond irresponsible.
Elementary schools in SF are in some sad shape. We've got a good one here. The principal should be studied as a role model, not threatened with arrest. The mayor is beginning his second term and has stated that he wants to make education a priority. This seems like a fine place for him to start.
I guess they’re not teaching conflict resolution in the schools anymore.
No Ken, they don't teach conflict resolution in schools anymore. There's no funding for it. There's also no funding for paper, textbooks, teaching aides, art and music and a lot of other things. Perhaps you'd like to volunteer some of your time or I could email you a list of needed items.
In return, I'm sure I could get someone to come and teach a journalism ethics class at the Examiner.
I love all you guys.
What movie did you expect would be terrible, but was actually really good?
