Meet our Superintendent and Principal, |
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Bob
Chrisman,
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The more you read about Mayan civilization the more impressed you become with the science, engineering, and art of this people. They didn’t use metal or the wheel. They have left us to speculate as to how a culture that could build literally thousands of cities and political sites of such magnitude could literally vanish. Let me suggest a scenario for the Mayan culture and an application for Lakeside. Perhaps they didn’t take care of the grounds. When you visit a restored site it is obvious that the rain forest has reclaimed the buildings. Dirt and debris has been excavated dozens of feet deep to reach some ruins. Did the Mayans run in to some problems that kept them from keeping the lawns and shrubs trimmed? Perhaps they didn’t make good use of their resources. The system of governance involved kings and priests. A lot of energy went in to maintaining the city-states and meeting the needs of the rulers. Did the Mayans devote too much money to keeping up the trappings of the ceremonial centers and not enough time and energy renewing their resources? Perhaps they didn’t invest sufficient time and energy in preparing young people to be confident, capable life-long learners. This seems hard to believe when you think that some city-states took hundreds of years to build, involving multiple generations. But what happens to a society if the children don’t learn the skills needed to meet new circumstances. Or perhaps it was disease or invaders from outer space that led to the decline of Mayan culture. So, what is the point of my little tale? Lakeside School is probably about the best example of a small, single site School District in Santa Clara County. We are a unique and rich culture nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains; we want to continue to do good things forever. We take care of our grounds and facility. Even though we have only one staff member charged with the maintenance and daily operation of the physical plant, we have a clean and attractive campus. We are careful how we use human resources. We have only two full time people in the office. The administrator shares the roll of principal and superintendent; the administrative assistant shares the role of chief business official and office manager. Outside of the maintenance and operations person, the only other full-time employees are six credentialed teachers. We use combination classes to keep our teacher-student ratio at an optimal and economically sound level. For all other needs, as funds allow, we use part time people. We pour our time and energy in developing life long learners. In fact, I will go as far as to say that the six years your student spends at lakeside will prepare them for whatever learning they encounter in the future. Learning is not just our purpose, it is our passion. Contact Chrisman at bchrisman@lakesidelosgatos.org |
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