From the Neighborhood School feature in The Paper, March 1978. Original institutional statements and parents’ opinions are preserved as attributed contemporary accounts.
The Neighborhood School has given Joshua the opportunity to stay close to his talents and incorporate them in his curriculum. He has worked for several years with the same teachers, a real advantage in their knowing and helping him grow, having the time to assess his abilities and encourage them, to integrate his learning. The teachers have worked equally dilligently with Bill and me, identifying our areas of concern, where we stand with Joshua, and feeding back their perceptions.
We have a child who loves school, can’t wait to get there in the morning, and who loves our involvement with it.
I am a parent who has traded my fear of that “bad year with Miss X” for a basically full and eventful six hours a day, nine months a year, each year. If, for some reason, Joshua and I are discouraged about one of those days, I know that the staff will respond to our concern immediately — we won’t have to wait until the next year for a good experience.
I get tired of the money raising hassle that annually exists by the very nature of our school, but value the results and experiences far higher than the pain. Even the rummage sales have some hidden benefits in neighborly bitching and common cause feelings.
We three Kohns who have experienced the school since it’s inception can’t let it slide the way of most other alternative schools, either into Private Schooldom or bankruptcy — we feel its strength, representing so many aspects of the good and varied in this neighborhood that we will work to keep it viable for the fourth and final Kohn—Sophie—next year!
Pat Kohn
Originally published in The Paper, March 1978.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: The printed “dilligently” and “it’s inception” are retained.
Original source: SD_Times1978_03.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
