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February 8, 2007

Vote came before discussion at Nathan Bishop meeting; 80k+ animal sounds online; 'Sopranos' viral marketing

ESPEC, the East Side Public Education Coalition, drew more than 100 people last night to a meeting in the Martin Luther King elementary school cafeteria about reopening Nathan Bishop Middle School. On a frigid February weeknight, this was a near-miracle.

Advertised as lasting from 7 to 8:30, the meeting unfortunately didn't get around to the discussion we came for until after that ending time. Unfortunately, the agenda of the meeting seemed backwards.

The meeting began late, opened with congratulations to committees for work most of us had yet to see. Mayor Cicilline spoke, but we were reminded several times that questions to him could not be about Nathan Bishop, only about the citywide school initiative.

A speech followed that seemed to summarize a handout pamphlet, noting that a new Bishop would open with only a sixth grade the first year. Then a shorter speech reported that the committee had rejected several plans in favor of a traditional middle school in which advanced courses would be available to all students.

At 8:15. when people with babysitters were beginning to leave, Bill Bryan of Gilbane Construction showed slides of schools in New Haven, Boston, Lincoln, Westerly and elsewhere that the committee had visited, and liked, suggesting what Bishop might become.

As Bryan began what he described as a 50-slide presentation, it was clear this was running too late, people were tired. Although the handout suggested that it would be possible to open Bishop in the fall of 2008, Bryan said design and construction would take 2 1/2 to 3 years. At 8:35 we learned that our child, now in fourth grade at King, would be too old to go to Bishop if its sixth grade opened in fall 2009.

As seats began emptying and an organizer noted they were losing their audience, a call came for a hasty vote on whether to renovate Bishop or build a new school, before there had been time for questions and discussions about Bishop itself. Some posed questions about time and cost of each option during the show of hands.

The Journal's Linda Borg covered the event (Residents urge city to build new school), leaving herself just one hour to write before deadline in order to catch the discussion about Nathan Bishop that we actually came for, now taking place among a much smaller group close to 9 p.m.

This is my second time around for education meetings. Back in the '80s, when my daughter was in public schools, these meetings were packed with veterans of civil rights and antiwar organizations, and someone would have risen and pointed out that these working people had come at the end of a long day, leaving babysitters or older children to watch the little ones who might benefit someday from a new middle school. Let's get the discussion going so all can participate.

This didn't happen last night, as a polite group, mostly white despite the racially mixed population that uses the neighborhood's public schools, and entirely adult -- not a single child came or was dragged along -- sat it out until they slipped out.

Maybe it's years of blogging, the "bottom-up" ethic, the egalitarianism of the Web, but I didn't want to be a passive audience for speakers enlisting our support for their decisions. I would have preferred that the slides came first, interlaced with discussion about Nathan Bishop, about its best use, about renovation vs. new construction -- our concerns explored and questions answered.

The Mayor might have spoken at 8, explaining the budget considerations and the principles behind his push to improve all schools. There would have been no need for speeches by organizers -- they would have slipped their points into their answers to questions from parents and residents early on.

Those who had to leave would have left with nearly as much information as those who were still there at 9.

There will be more ESPEC meetings, and more meetings citywide on these school proposals. I hope organizers will be more respectful of the time of the working parents, busy people who carved out this time in their packed lives to come out on behalf of their children and their neighborhoods.

Don't waste their time with speeches. They came for answers. And to do that, they need to ask their questions early, without restrictions.

Community organizing is a conversation, a discussion, not a lecture.

Links:

Sounds library now open to public online

For decades, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has shared the remarkable sounds of birds and other animals with the public through audio guides featuring recordings hand-picked from the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds' vast collection. Now anyone can explore the archive's holdings on his or her own. For the first time, more than 65,000 sound clips and some 18,000 video clips of birds and other animals are accessible for no charge at the Macaulay Library's Web site.

...Visitors to the Web site can listen to the "Best of Collection," such as a western diamondback rattlesnake responding to a potential threat or a satin bowerbird courting mates. They can also search the collection for any animal, whether it is a backyard bird, a killer whale from Antarctica or an insect from Malaysia. Video footage is available for some species.

Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll: The first one without the legendary Robert Christgau, fired from the Voice last August "for taste."

Get the Boston Police Department on the Case: Photos of a 2005 viral marketing campaign for The Sopranos that might have caused an overreaction in Beantown.

Colorful ( & Poisonous) Frogs. Beautiful photos.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:18 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Jo Lee on February 9, 2007 12:34 AM

Posted by: Sam Zurier on February 9, 2007 5:50 AM

Posted by: Sheila Lennon on February 13, 2007 7:31 AM