Editor's note: Food for thought 

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, goes the old saying; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime—presuming the guy also learns how to clean and cook the things. The old saying is silent about what happens when you give a fish to a woman, and that may be for the best.

Frankly, I feel like a fish out of water when it comes to the feature topics in this issue of California Schools: parenting, physical disabilities, and CSBA’s president-elect. I can usually find a personal connection with the topics we cover, either from my background in teaching or in life. Not this time. I’m not a parent; the closest I ever came to dealing with disabilities was sitting next to a blind student in my sophomore Latin class, unable to crib any quiz answers from that mysterious Braille writer that cranked out such high scores for him; and my interview with CSBA President-elect Martha Fluor speaks for itself, because I was smart enough to let Martha do most of the talking.

In “Parenting 101: How Schools Are Reaching Out to Teach Their Students’ First Teachers,” California Schools staff writers Carol Brydolf and Kristi Garrett teamed up to report many fine examples of ways schools can help parents meet kids’ most pressing needs—and why they should.

“The best, most coherent K-12 academic program” in the world can’t work if students are ill or preoccupied with personal or family problems, Carpinteria Unified School District Superintendent Paul Cordeiro told our writers. “Schools can’t just deliver a conventional K-12 education. … We need to offer the whole range of services so we can prevent problems rather than reacting to them.”

It’s a tall order for already-overburdened schools, but Carol and Kristi address that.

“With schools grappling with the loss of billions of budget dollars over the last few years, they clearly can’t do this alone. Many [school] districts and county offices of education have formed effective partnerships with community groups and nonprofit organizations to keep programs going, and—in some cases—expand services,” Carol and Kristi wrote, going on to give concrete examples of many solid funding sources.

Admittedly, there aren’t as many funding sources or partners for collaboration as there are fish in the sea. But educators who seek out ways to teach parents to “fish” will reel in significant benefits for the children they serve. And what better metaphor could there be than fish? They’re celebrated as “brain food,” after all. Why? Because they spend so much time in schools!

That pun relies on two separate etymological tributaries that gave us the modern English word: Schools of fish derive from the middle Dutch “schole,” meaning a group of animals; and the Greek “skhole” originally referred to a lecture or discussion. But in a way the two concepts are similar. What’s a school, after all, than a group of animals—I mean people—navigating currents of thought together?

If it’s easier for all of our children to maneuver together now than it was 20 years ago—and it is—that’s due in large part to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which marked its 20th anniversary earlier this year. The movement to “mainstream” children with disabilities began before that, of course. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act preceded the ADA by 15 years, and the impetus to treat children with disabilities with the dignity they deserve can be traced back to Anne Sullivan’s work with Helen Keller nearly a century earlier, and even they stood on the shoulders of giants who’d gone before.

Those wellsprings nourish us all, as Pamela Richardson, an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at San Jose State University, told regular California Schools contributor Scott LaFee for his story, “Giving Good Intentions a Push: The Americans with Disabilities Act at 20."

“The social benefits of being part of the mainstream educational environment cannot be overestimated, both for children with and without disabilities,” Richardson, who’s extensively studied the experiences of disabled students in public schools, told Scott. “Children growing up with classmates who have physical disabilities learn to accept disability as part of the human condition. They also see firsthand the challenges experienced by children with disabilities and how one can adapt to challenges. Hopefully they also become more sensitized to the needs of others, and learn that people with disabilities are worthwhile and valuable members of the community. The children with physical disabilities become part of their school community, develop friendships and learn social skills.”

As I said, this issue’s other feature—“A Conversation with … Martha Fluor” largely speaks for itself. But let me quote one of several points CSBA’s next president made that didn’t fit into the published article; it’s about Martha’s gracious interest in acknowledging good work.

“Staff hasn’t always been recognized for their efforts, at CSBA or in the schools,” Martha noted before turning the tables on her interviewer and asking me, “You’ve gotten awards in the Communications Department, right? Was any announcement made?”

Well, yes to the first question, and no to the second. The writers, designers and I have earned several awards in the past few years from the National School Public Relations Association, the California School Public Relations Association and elsewhere. We display some of those plaques and trophies around the office or at home, but I never publicly announced them. I’ll rectify that here just to the extent of acknowledging that our monthly newsletter, California School News, earned a coveted national Award of Excellence from NSPRA this year, something the magazine did a couple of years back.

But we don’t do this for the awards. We do it for you, so thanks for reading! 

Brian Taylor ( btaylor@csba.org ) is the managing editor of California Schools.