Ringing the bell on middle school
Where’s the place where teachers are most likely to be
assaulted, where physical disputes among students are statistically
most common?
It’s not some lockdown for troubled adolescents. It’s not some
troubled inner city haven.
It’s the average American middle school.
Ringing the bell on middle school
Where’s the place where teachers are most likely to be assaulted, where physical disputes among students are statistically most common?
It’s not some lockdown for troubled adolescents. It’s not some troubled inner city haven.
It’s the average American middle school.
When the raging hormones of the onset of puberty collide with crowds, rules and school bells, things sometimes get ugly.
Last week, a feature story in The Pinnacle explored the success of rural schools. When measured in standardized tests, San Benito County’s country schools perennially lead the pack.
Southside School Principal Eric Johnson cited small class sizes, a dedicated faculty and an involved parent community as the reasons.
But another reason may be hidden within the school itself.
Southside, like other rural schools, is a kindergarten through eighth grade school.
Older students have the opportunity to serve as mentors to younger students, and while it’s not often said, the younger students do some mentoring of their own.
Every single one of San Benito County’s top performing schools is a K-8 school, and that cannot be a coincidence.
The very presence of younger brothers and sisters has a moderating effect on some of the drama that’s often found at middle schools.
Communities around the nation are experimenting with the abandonment of middle schools in favor of an all-elementary approach, with the predictable result that kids are doing better in school with a sharp reduction in violence and drama.
Nobody wants a little brother to tell Mom what he did wrong at recess, after all.
Why we love it here
Nearly the entire staff of The Pinnacle – both of us – met Thursday at the county Agricultural Commissioner’s office. On hand was a county supervisor, the county’s chief administrative officer, the ag commissioner, the brass from the health department and a consultant.
The topic: mosquitoes.
You’ve got to love living in a county that’s still so bound to its rural roots that mosquito control brings out the big guns.
But it’s a serious issue. Mosquitoes have been gaining notoriety as vectors for West Nile virus in recent years, but they carry a host of diseases that can infect humans and a variety of animals.
While neighboring counties have well-established mosquito control programs, cash-poor San Benito has no mosquito control district. A recent grant got things going, but the funds are exhausted.
With the general fund committed to niceties such as law enforcement, the board of supervisors elected to go to the voters with a mail ballot for a special district.
For less than $10 per year per household, mosquito control becomes a year in, year out mission.
The ballots are in the mail next month. The program calls for environmentally friendly controls that make good economic and public health sense.
Vote early and vote often. Most of all, vote yes to mosquito control, and stop scratching those bites.
