[Winona Online Democracy]
Scott Lowery and Jim Galewski both make excellent points.
Those of us who are concerned about the Superintendent's and School Board's
surprise decisions should be careful to focus our concerns on how they seem
to already have their decisions made before their well scripted "study"
sessions and the decisions to move forward with multi-million dollar
decisions before all the pieces of their large plans are in place.
We should not criticize the ALC program or it's staff. We have great staff
over there doing great things. They do need a different space. They have
for a long time. That is not being argued. The problem is how the
Superintendent and School Board are making their decisions and what they
are deciding.
Jim's points about how much students are working these days is a very
important one. I could share some other scary stories about how much
students work but that may be best left for another discussion thread.
Lastly, my uncle once called those groups of people huddled in their "smoker
corners" as Andersville (or something like that). That was the name of the
last leper colony in America.
I don't mean to equate smokers with lepers, it was just a funny image. No
offense intended.
:->
Dwayne Voegeli
Jan. 26, 2006
============
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Galewski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Scott Lowery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 4:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Winona] Re: WALC
[Winona Online Democracy]
Scott:
Your first post and defense of the ALC put a breath of fresh air on my
perception of the school. Thank you for working with these students.
I too observe the loitering and smoking, but no more than at the high
school. The south wall of the high school and the softball field dugouts
hold a lot of smokers. What kind of playground equipment do you buy for
high
school students?
The same scene can be found around many businesses - just adults not
students. Many smoke-free buildings have a legion of smokers taking their
breaks just outside the door making entry to the building a test of lung
power. Worse yet, every time the door is opened it sucks the bad air into
the building.
The ALC probably has a higher percentage of smokers. I'd also guess its
students have different priorities. One of your students - a former boy
scout in my troop (C.N.) - is working 35 hours this week at his job. How
is
a 16 year-old supposed to do well in school when he (and his parents)
choose
to let him work that much.
I'm pleased to learn you are at the ALC, Scott. I'm not pleased that
enrollment is growing and I think an old bar is a terrible place for a
school.
On the other hand... I'm not "smoking" the same stuff Bob is by defending
the surprise the school district pulled on us by announcing a new facility
for the ALC.
Becoming more informed will enlighten us all. I challenge anyone to find
school board minutes that discuss the "new ALC." Surprise decisions and
"surprise" agenda items by the school board should worry us just as much
as
the growing enrollment at the ALC.
Jim Galewski
From: Scott Lowery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:06:31 -0600
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Winona] Re: WALC
[Winona Online Democracy]
Although I agree with much of Craig Brooks' observations, I have to
correct some misinformation. The ALC most emphatically does not
"allow the students to smoke" and I'm kind of shocked that Craig
would say that we do, even conjecturing that we have some faulty
rationale for doing so. As with other school programs with an
adolescent population, some students smoke off-grounds before and
after school. This year, our students have been good about observing
our rule that they stay at least a block away from the school if
smoking before and after school. We do have a half hour of open
campus at lunch, so some of our students can be seen at that time,
smoking outside the nearby Kwik Trip or elsewhere in the surrounding
neighborhood. Maybe that's where the misconception comes from. We
most certainly do not allow any smoking on school grounds. Actually,
given the small size of our building, students are much less likely
to escape detection if they decide to try to sneak a smoke in school,
compared to regular high school programs.
We do have a lot of students who are smokers, and it seems that many
of them have grown up in households where that's the norm. Staff have
many conversations every day with kids about smoking, reminding them
of the effects on their lungs and their billfolds, and often we're
able to offer encouragement for those trying to quit. We've also had
smoking cessation guest speakers, and our teen support counselor
provides one-on-one advice and goal-setting around tobacco use and
many other issues. Please know that we are working every bit as hard
as other education and human service providers to help teens make
better decisions with regard to smoking.
The more I think about Craig's comment, I find myself discouraged by
the way rumors and negative perspectives can be spread in this
community. On the other hand, maybe I should look at this as a good
opportunity to clear up a misunderstanding.
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:41:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Craig Brooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Winona] alc
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I thought I heard a WAPS admin. person say that the majority of
PSEO use was for the VoTech College. I have not idea how to access
that info. except contacting WAPS. I wish more school admin. and
Board members were on this listserv.
I am on the Comm. Educ. Advisory Committee and I have been hearing
about the plan to move much of their operation into the old Big O,
where the ALC is, for a long time. So, I wasn't surprised by the
news they were going to move and that ALC was going to move. I know
some school people did not want the ALC near small kids programs and
seemed to want it out of sight because of the bad PR with the kids
standing around on the street smoking, etc. So, some of the
possibilities considered were rejected for those reasons is my guess.
The place planned is by and near one the landlord already leases to
the school -- it is called the Greenhouse Program for spec. educ. EBD
high school kids. (Greenhouse simply refers to what the property
used to be.) In my opinion all the school programs should be smoke
free. Kids at ALC and Greenhouse are allowed to smoke and I sispect
staff think banning it will cause problems. I have heard that
argument regarding adult psych. wards in hospitals and the results of
smoking bans has not resulted in problems. ould also be addressed?
--
------------
sent by:
Scott Lowery
461 Sunnyview Drive, Rollingstone MN 55969
home phone: (507)689-4532
school phone: (507)454-9587 (Winona Area Learning Center)
home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
school email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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