Cloak-and-Dagger approach to ASD Future?

 

State Organs Documentary: Medical Tourism Thriving More Live Bodies Needed

Smiley High School turned out to be a disaster. It was not this worker's first time at this place but if anything it was just as institutionally oriented as it has ever been. Now they are cramming 9th graders into this HS so it is 9-12th grades at the same place unless the parent opts out or moves across town.

The overwhelming themes at this place appear to be 1) Health Sciences specialization, 2) Law-and-Order, 3) Patriotism, 4) high academic achievement. But the sense of school spirit appears dampened by the fact that the students are virtually monitored, tracked, surveilled, and even analyzed via the SSH app that they are encouraged to download and use on their smart phones. Imagine that being able to go off campus for lunch is a reward for doing well on a test, or being given a special pink slip by homeroom teacher, or signing the orange form and being willing to use the app and be timed while off-campus.

There was a time when this educational worker was in high school in this area that any HS student could go off campus virtually any time, or at least that appeared to happen a lot, and there were minimal consequences. My wealthier peers with new cars for graduation would zoom off campus every single lunch time on their own and come back in time for class. They sure didn't have to "sign out." A whole bevy of students would go off campus across the street for donuts in the afternoon, and guys would stand around watching the low-riders pass by with their boom boxes. Security was lax back then.

Today there are security cameras at the traffic stops and at virtually every building corner. The campus security lock the gates so everyone is encouraged to leave by the south gate only and this gate of course have security personnel (black guards?) plus cameras. The students by the 12th grade have become acclimated to being treated as young adults but watched all the time. No wonder they behave so docile---it is nice, clean, safe, and everyone is used to the strange sorts of gaslighting that the teachers use.

With this kind of mind-control conditioning ingrained, what kind of passive-aggressive microaggressions and perverse doctrinaire philosophies will they enact in private? Of course, they don't read any rebel books---the homeroom teacher might be hanging coolish looking Black Panther banners, Che Guevara poster, MLK Jr. poster, and the like---all that is water under the bridge though. Today, he is actually running a snack-club and people who pay in get the best snacks, but people who do not pay had better sit along the edges of the classroom (so they don't have to smell the nice toasted nachos). He passes out the pink slips for rewarding those who have done well on tests to "go off campus for lunch." There is a sense of class consciousness in spite of all that touted "communist poster child stuff." Most likely none of those students can take that seriously and won't bother reading those kinds of forbidden books. If he were really up to date, why doesn't he display the Palestine flag or Cuban flag or local activism notices or free newspapers such as from the Community Alliance? It's all done for show or for...surveillance.

This is why for four days almost this worker was not given hardly any information about the severe autism/severe intelligence disabled student this worker was doing one-to-one work with. And when we requested this information, we experienced a backlash that pretty much resulted in a "perp walk off the campus"---except today's "perp walk" involves even contacting the police so they basically track and follow the worker by helicopter and by cop car. This is the high-mindedness of the VP, who is eager to show off her clout rather than share some educational insight and information with the substitute. 

Here is what a version of what we tried to express about the concerns.........

Dear Staff, 

....I have some concerns to report not because I am fond of reporting but for the benefit of the autism student that I was covering for.  Some of these concerns are also common to what I have observed in other school districts. 

1) The ad for the job number said para-professional substitute needed for  "moderate-severe" when it was really for severe.

2) The teachers at the high school did not furnish me an IEP or any goals worksheet for this student. Nor was I shown any HRES for all the other moderate-severe students in the class.

(They told me to wait outside at the bus bay every morning and I arrived early each morning, but this deprived me of meeting-instruction time with Mrs. S. on how I could better help the student and constructive criticism for what I could do better.)

3) On Day 4, I shared this concern with the Vice-Principal and she became rather stormy and busy about it as if wanting to throw her weight around about the matter. It put me in such a bad position that the other teachers retaliated against me.

4) The IEP for this student is "Severe Intellectual Disability and Severe Autism." If I had known this before Day 4, I would have been able to adjust my expectations accordingly and would not have had to share my concern with the Vice Principal which ended up making it too late for me to continue at this school. 

5) There were at least four other students on the HRES list with tendencies for seizures, tendency to run away, get lost, or other concerns that might require emergency services. In the classroom with Mr. L., Mrs. O., Mr. D., Mrs. S. there were several other severe category students but nearly none as severe as this student and another, V., that I also helped.

6) To my disappointment, there were aides who were either under-informing or mis-informing or assume too much responsibility. For instance, I offered my student a plush toy to help calm him but another aide L. told me that he was not allowed that. Yet I saw another aide J. offer this to help calm him and it was okay. The science teacher engaged in playing Kahoot.it with the students which seemed delightful; however the competition was supposed to be student to student, not involving the aides, yet I saw the aides competing among themselves on behalf of their student (who is not even capable of using a computer) and taking credit. It makes it unfair for the students in the class who are able to engage in Kahoot.it on their laptops completely alone. After seeing the aides actually playing the game while assuming credit for the student, I started following the example and my student was up to "4th place" but after this, seeing the other aide "win" top prize with her student, I felt ashamed. Mr. J. home room may have misdirected me when he told us that we could all go to the gym for Jr. meeting, when in fact, the SE students should have gone to the nearest SE class. This caused my student to have a "run away" episode.

7) The student I was assigned to is a big strapping good-looking Asian 16yo teenager but is still wearing diapers. He brings several in his backpack, and they did not allow me to work with him alone, which was just as well, in the bathroom. He cannot even wipe himself after bowel movements, and because I had not seen his IEP survival skills goals, I expressed my disappointment about this with Mr. D. on Tuesday AM before his arrival. What are his goals? Is he going to graduate and be like a walking vegetable? He cannot read stop or go; he has not been doing any sight words. He barely recognizes his name. He cannot write. They are not training him in even traffic signs, and it does not appear he uses or understands how to use his AAC. 

8) Mr. D. just focused on my use of the word vegetable and pretty much ignored the rest of what I mentioned. Mr. L. also complained that I told him not to stare at me so much during my lunch half hour at the staff work lounge. I am stating here that actually as an adult female, I know what is a good look or bad look. There was another student in the classroom, a teenaged boy C., who was also bothering me asking/sharing with me a lot of personal stuff, and I pretty much had to tell him repeatedly I was busy and did not want to talk about that. So it being that perhaps Mr. L. is a former vet, he would know that female military personnel have to know how to be assertive and I told him not to stare in a very polite succinct manner.

9) With a lack of adequate goal setting for some of these severe autism students, one is left to wonder how will they be taken advantage of when they graduate? There are massive sprawling and booming illegal trafficking networks around the world and in this country. Labor, drug, child, sex, organ-trafficking, and smuggling is taking hold. These networks often require front men, people who participate in grooming of, recruitment, and undermining of the system meant to protect youth and adults. 

10) If the students are not able to fend for themselves, they will easily be entrapped in these labor, sex, and organ-trafficking systems. They will not even be able to spot when they have become entrapped, because it will be too late. Some of these networks will even have live-harvesting of "donor" organs by medical doctors, which is very lucrative. If there is anything like this occurring on campus, enablers will be very pro-active against any educational workers and observers staying long enough in the classroom to notice that teaching may be secondary to producing a later ripe harvest. 

Since this was so late in the school year, I realize that perhaps the environment is very light and loose on Fridays, but the opposite on Tuesday after Memorial Day. Anyway this is my second significant experience at this school, and I had a good impression in general. It is still a campus that seems to heavily emphasize health sciences, law-and-order, patriotism, and high academic achievement. For instance, students are not allowed to go off-campus for lunch without "earning the lunch pass." They are to use the SSH app to check in and out. The female principals are generally reflective of a change in leadership that less emphasizes the "good old boy" and pro-marine and play-hard perspective of the past principal. This could be why when the VP called me in, I was escorted out with a helicopter circling around me overhead.

 

Please note that I tried my best and that Mr. G., Mr. H., Mr. M., Mrs. O., Mrs. S., Mrs. S., Mrs. J., Mr. J. would probably concur that I was also trying my best to help all the students and work conscientiously throughout the day including helping out during the Lunch time for the students and traveling back and forth between classrooms. This was a good learning experience and I will be working on learning more about severe ASD severe Intellectual Disability over the summer. 

..................

We were left with a lot to reflect on but it probably was better that the job was discontinued. Everyone is getting ready to graduate, but this student is in such a daily world of his own that he cannot tell what anything is about, so it is very likely that his parents or his relatives will have to continue to look after him, even though he is a very handsome looking kid. He might have been a Thai Marlon Brando, if he could at least talk a bit and read some lines. Now, best wishes that there will be advocates looking out for him, that he will not be molested by some LPN or such even before he graduates...

The fact that the SPED staff were doing so much to effectively impede any inclusion on my part tells me that their belief in Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (the DEI policy is still good in California despite the feds) is superficial at best. I could also plead the 5th amendment with regard to my rights to my not having to claim I have children. The gal, L., made a point of scoffing at me when I said I have relatives to take care of. "Oh! So no children! Too bad for you!" she stated with her clipped Chinese accent. I stated, "Well, I think I am lucky to have friends and relatives!" She didn't hear me say that of course. 

This suspicious character works two jobs and is very inordinately proud of that. LPN at the school and LPN at a local hospital, and her daughters, she pointed out proudly, are both MDs, and a third daughter is working to get into medicine, while her ex-husband works at the hospital also. How is that for "class conscious better-than-thou" attitude? I didn't ask her about anything personal or mention religious ambitions in life or whether she has time to do anything at home besides cook for her live-in daughters. 

But yes, it is very strange what people will do sometimes to support the American Dream of living in the right neighborhood, next to the Jones, in the right kind of house, with the right kind of networking and many shopping opportunities among the A-listers of Valley city. Is there any ulterior motive as well? What about perhaps some sinister lucrative connections to possible future organ donor victims? A pipeline of unwitting organ donors from classroom to hospital with lucrative contracts or payoffs....

That isn't purely speculative based on the State Organs documentary and the fact that organ donor and organ trafficking is pretty loosely regulated in the United States. You nab traffickers if they are trafficking labor, children, sex, drugs, but not directly for trafficking of organs...A connection to the robust China organ harvesting and medical tourism industry would be valuable for those on both continents. 

Whether it is the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Catholic Church, or concerned citizen watchdogs, people must be vigilant over how ASD/Disabled students are easily taken advantage of can can be hoodwinked into using drugs, becoming addicts, being exploited for labor or sex work, and as mentioned above, becoming organ trafficking victims, since our society from the top-down is becoming so very corrupt and there are so few consequences for the out-and-out crimes---especially crimes against humanity---that our nation's top leaders are committing daily.  

Teacher Appreciation Day at "A" School Elementary

LA Olympics 2028

Teacher Appreciation Day at "A" School Elementary

This is a suburban elementary school in SE Valley city located near the heart of old "Smiley" upper-middle income neighborhoods. 

Smiley High School is just across the street and there is no lack of inspiration for academic learning as "The Bears" will eventually transition into "The Tigers" or other mascot at the Middle School (also only a mile away). Nearby are nicer newer home neighborhoods where the suburban moms enjoy taking their dog out for a walk, jogging around the nearby park, and getting some fresh air. The appearance is generally that this is a peaceful, comfortable, ideal all-American neighborhood for rearing one's family. 

"A" School is cleverly laid out since it is a more recently built facility. There are modular octagonal layouts with internal hallways linking classrooms to major central nodes such as the Library or Study Area. Outside are the playgrounds with at least eight basketball options, 4-6 handball courts, courts for rubber ball, hopscotch, tetherball, and grassy field areas accentuated with solar-paneled picnic areas. There are bungalow rows for children in higher grades as well as for contained Special Education classrooms. 

At this school there are also pre-School, pre-K, transition-Kindergarten classrooms so that a child can experience a full early childhood development from K-6 amongst permanent teachers, helpers, staff, and administration with even an anticipation for which classroom and teacher he or she might expect in the coming years. The Pre-K have their own separate playground close to the entrance where the parents will be able to pick up or walk their stroller to school. 

The principal and other staff are outside greeting the students and throughout the day are periodically visibly helping coordinate orderliness along with their security staff.  

This sense of cohesion is very helpful for students and teachers because it supports building bridges between and among the learning communities including with parents and nonprofit organizations. In fact, on the school website are survey reports (eg. CCSPP) on how well the school appears to be reaching out to the neighborhood and communities. One way it has done this creatively, perhaps in conjunction with the high school across the street, for instance, is sponsor community resource fairs whereby community stakeholders can share their input and exchange ideas.

These kinds of community bridge-building are important for an area as diverse as SE Fresno with its minority populations of Hmong, Hispanic, and African-American as well as ethnic heritage of Armenians and Italians. Many are from the area's working farm families, who often try to pool their resources so they can support large growing families as other family members may migrate to another state for work.

In particular, many newer immigrants often are infused with high expectations and ambition of achieving the American Dream and for this reason had opted to settle in California. This is visible in their eagerness to do well in school and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.

On this date Observer "C" had come to fill in for a paraeducator, however, it appeared unknown exactly which classroom she worked in. This required "C" to be assigned at first to the pre-S-pre-K-T-K classroom called "ops." It was also nearby a Special Education classroom for early autism. A Mrs. M. was very helpful in trying to acclimate "C" as a newcomer and telling her about the classroom with Mrs. G., whose assistants T. and J. had arrived early. The reception area for the students is in front of the Pre-K playing area. 

Shortly thereafter, security staff  C. informed C. while in the cafeteria that the actual classroom for the day was a 3-4th grade Special Education classroom with Mr. V. and Ms. D. As they had taken the students to restroom as part of Circle Time, it was not difficult to locate them. They also held PE both inside and outside the class which allowed C to become familiar with the ten students, many of who are low to moderate ASD. For instance, although early in the day it was not visible, by afternoon, from restlessness, many of the boys became not just fidgety but self-stimulative engaging in rocking, body-contorting, distractive gazing, or verbal repetitions. 

The early morning exercise and strolling outside had a therapeutic effect, however, because they were able to sit through the next hour-and-a-half of English Language Acquisition, including working and completing their spelling and sentence packet, testing, self-correcting; and another session with reading comprehension, testing, and self-correcting. All the students, with the exception of one, were able to use pencil, paper, pen; and evidence of their Earth Day science project artwork is visible on the cabinets. 

Mr. V. and his assistants has rehearsed them well in the protocols of the classroom and for this number of ASD students, the level of orderliness was quite awesome. There is also a quiet pride in how the students go about their tasks, for instance, one child, C. is assigned the seat-stacking job; another R. is assigned the supply person job (handing out pencils); and actually each person in the room has an assigned "classroom job" whether it is "door holder," "caboose," "greeter," or "desk washing." C. actually unstacked chairs for the work center area where this para-educator was to sit, and he stacked all the chairs for the work centers up at the end of the day.

This was a very good opportunity to observe some optimal level ASD well-functioning and academic potential and skillful teaching methods at work. It confirms that there is no "set ASD" stereotype under which the students operate for certain. For instance, one child, E. who is a large amusing fellow who likes to wear a cowboy hat and handkerchief, can actually recite whole verses from Dr. Seuss and create his own similar rhyming poems. He can recite them so loudly that it would make an audience laugh. Also, after a half hour of review and practice of their latest spelling words, most of the students did surprisingly well; at least half of the class attained a "9" or "10" on their spelling test. They could not only spell but also recognize the word and understand its meaning, although most of them did not or were not able to compose a sentence with the spelling word.

One higher functioning ASD student did write out sentences with the spelling words, but only when he was provided sample sentences which he copied word for word. A mark of achievement for the students and staff is that many of the students are able to exhibit neat handwriting, keeping within the lines of the paper and recognizable letters. The higher functioning ones again are copying the word legibly and exactly as would appear in a 3rd to 4th grade level book.

As for reading comprehension, it is a bit lower for the ASD students and remarkably so if compared to grade-level. This relates to over half of them having verbal communication deficits. For instance, although one boy, G., can understand instructions and does relatively well in class, he cannot do speech communication and this probably influences or affects somewhat his reading and listening comprehension. Actually in this case he also does rather well in reading comprehension, but many do not. Even though the reading comprehension was accompanied by an engaging video including demonstrations of what the thematic memes and questions entail, then followed by Mr. V. reading the question and providing the worksheets for the students to circle the right answer, the students found the one-page six-question illustrated reading comprehension exercise confusing. 

Reading comprehension is admittedly challenging even for at-grade students because it requires the students making inferences, using analogy, and being able to trust their own judgment. When there is a sense of learned helplessness or an oppressive home environment, that kind of self-reliance can become hampered. But it can also be simply a trait of the ASD itself, and observing Mr. V. and his assistant, there is no evidence that they are being hampered or oppressed. On the contrary, Mr. V. and his assistant are doing everything they can to encourage the students to, within classroom order limits, do well and participate actively and without gossip, denigrating comments or casting judgment.

A good example of this was the neat Science-Math lesson that Mr. V taught after recess. After snack, C. had asked whether or not Mr. V. would do "Mac-and-Cheese" again. At first, this paraeducator thought this was a special game, however, it became apparent that indeed, Mr. V.'s science lesson is a demonstration on how to use fractionated portions to measure things out for cooking. The real cooking is done by the microwave oven, but even this, Mr. V. has a student pressing the right time and button. Everyone was excited about being chosen to measure something out (water, milk, salt, noodles, cooking time, cheese) and it appeared to be invigorating especially as other science videos were being shown "Gigi's House," "Laundry Day" etc. 

However the students attention span seemed to wane about midway through the cooking because it involved several cycles of heating and stirring of the noodles before adding ingredients, then after adding all the rest of the ingredients. Nevertheless they were all eager to try a bit of the microwaved cooked "Mac-and-Cheese." Interestingly, a characteristic of these type of students, probably connected to their muted ability to emotionally respond or communicate, very few of these students know how to say "Thank You." Maybe it had not been programmed in and evidently, the teachers do not take it personally, that nobody seems to know how to say thank you.

A critical routine that thankfully the pre-K and early grade Special Ed emphasizes at this school is "potty training" which is literally teaching the students how to bathroom. In other schools, this critical routine may not be mastered even at the second grade for ASD students. However C. noted while on break and lunch that Mrs. M. takes the student into the "Unisex" water-closet separately and literally instructs and times them on what to do and when. There is even a step-by-step laminated card chart showing pull-pants down, sitting on toilet, toilet paper, stand up, pull-pants up, wash hands, etc. The itemized steps show the students what they need to do even if they cannot read or write.

Special Ed teachers are famous for being able to create the kind of visual and nonverbal cues and hand-signs and one-word expressions that enable brief effective commands. Mr. V. did embed his teaching time with "teachable moments" for reprimanding students, reminding them, and emphasizing the importance of appropriate behaviors. Some students, such as D. or L., are minimally able to attend to classroom activities. Several others require frequent reminders. One outside lunchroom monitor, a sixth grader, stopped by during lunch and told Ms. D. that D. had pushed him or made aggressive moves towards him in the bathroom. As D. was lying face-down on the lunch bench, the sixth grader could not directly address him, and as D. is unable to verbalize much at all, nobody could really tell if it was D. who had actually done this or not.

In fact, partly because of these kinds of concerns, after lunch, Mr. V's class plays at the pre-K playground near the street. This would be to avoid any possible altercations or fits of upset by or among the ASD students and the rest of the grades. The students seem to not mind this kind of segregation as some of them leave as soon as lunch is over, since on Fridays they have a shorter-day or relaxed-day schedule. Sandwiched between the administrative building and K-3 building and street, this area also feels safe under the shade of two large oak trees which have been preserved from even before the school was constructed. Several boys like to try to climb the tree or scratch figures in the dirt below the tree. 

On this date, several district maintenance trucks were parked inside the school adjacent to the bungalows near the playground most of the day. One of the trucks had arrived mid-day and was parked outside. One fellow was working inside closet attached to the K-3 bungalow which was crowded with school equipment; however this is also adjacent to the inside restroom, so it is a minor concern if this restroom is adequately secure. The maintenance were there all morning and it was unknown why they had to park their trucks in the playground area. This worker did notice that the janitor was using his smartphone while Mr. V.'s class was in the lunchroom. It was a minor concern because the janitor held his camera in a near vertical position which would allow video or photographing of the students. 

This paraeducator also asked Mrs. D later is she wanted to take a picture of C's artwork scratching in the sand, but she declined. Apparently she enjoys her lunchtime recess quietly scrolling on her smartphone a little bit, but she does so holding the phone level on her lap, and is not inclined to take pictures of anyone or anything. 

Due to the high poverty rate and rising unemployment nationwide due to various economic and war-time and artificial intelligence factors, there is a probably a growing attraction toward internet crime, including the connections to human trafficking and pornography rings, which operate covertly, invasively, and collectively over time. This is why, accompanied by the fact that these schools mixed upper income neighborhoods, there may be specific interests in traffickers studying and identifying sensitive groups.

Overall, this was a very good day for observation and the educator is grateful for the opportunity to work and contribute in a very small way for the very nicely run school team. 

School L - Model Resources Classroom in Dual Immersion Neighborhood

 

An ongoing work in progress -- urban patch garden

Model Resources Classroom in Dual Immersion Neighborhood

I don't generally like to glom onto a school that I think is pretty good school, but this is another hidden gem of an elementary school in SE Valley City to brag about.

School "L" is a traditional school in the school district. The layout is pretty modular, but thanks to construction improvements and add-ons undertaken under city measures, there were additional bungalow style buildings added in 2000s. These don't feel like old-fashioned bungalows, separated as they were in the past. Instead, they are quite modernized with full HVAC units, higher ceilings, shielded florescent lighting, sturdy insulation and materials, and they nestle up to one another like schooners parked to protect different sections of the school: preschool-kindergarten; upper elementary grades; and younger to mid-grades. 

To compensate for recent cutbacks to security personnel, the VP and the janitor and other staff are all pulling double-duty sharing the recess monitor, lunch monitor, and after-school. There are additional traffic guards, but they generally are not on campus for very long. The traffic guards were friendly and helpful for visitors.

It is easy to reach this school by city or school bus, since it is off a major transportation corridor into downtown Valley City. Children know that they will likely transition into KC Jr. High School, and quite a few will have their siblings trot along to school with them while dropping off at the Jr. High or High School.

Mrs. M. was warm and eager to allow this substitute to assist today. There was no holding back on offering directions, and she is a very practical, collected, experienced teacher of special education. She did not describe her classroom as such though; rather, it is a "Resources" classroom for the middle-grades for those who need more assisted learning. It did not feel as if there were students who were confined to a "Special education" class all day long. Instead they are sent in for short periods by their teachers.

This freedom of movement and opportunity to spend the majority of time with age-grade level students definitely fosters more inclusion and less stigma for the students visiting the Resources room. They are offered small group instruction to nurture learning growth in reading, writing, and math. The independence of the students is visible in how responsible they are for transporting their learning devices (eg. such as laptops) from the home classroom to Resources. 

This observer was impressed with how assimilated and confident and well-functioning the students appeared. There was no fighting, quarreling, time-off-task power struggles taking place between teaching staff and students. They know that they are only there for an hour at a time and it is a welcome in-depth reinforcement. There might have been several borderline autistic students but they all appeared to have reasonably good self-management skills. One gal did seem to have a very hard time focusing on her tasks, but she was also cooperative when it came time to clean up, pack up, and other routine procedures including on her computer. 

Nobody exhibited any "tantrum" problems. The transition between classrooms did not appear to create any problems related to ditching class, truancy, or wandering around. The teacher even has a volunteer 5th grader H. who likes to help make phone calls to help remind students to come in for their class time. 

The extent to which Mrs. M. decorates the class speaks well for her teaching philosophy. There is room for five full centers in the Resources Room plus an extra table for work alone or possible extra center. Each center has at least four chairs meaning the classroom can accommodate up to 20 students or several different grades, primarily third and fourth grades. Learning centers emphasize practice in reading, phonetics, math, and writing. The walls display family and community, special project such as introduction, essays about goals for 2026, art project using crayola, and leadership essays from a fieldtrip to the Central Coast.

From her years in teaching, Mrs. M. has tons of books stored in her closet of scholastic materials that emphasize caring community, learning engagement, bilingual, and stories to stimulate the imagination for boys and girls or in-between. There are levels of at-grade progress learning in reading and math via paperback texts and workbooks. The variety of students visiting her class also have their IEP folders filed away in crates, plus Mrs. M.'s charts and progress planning on her laptop. All the instructional assistants are furnished similar progress learning laptops.

Today the students were required to undergo standardized testing, and this substitute plus another were required to fill out a form on non-disclosure. However all the students are now taking their standardized tests via laptop. At the end of the testing period, they can save and close their test. After one section of testing, Resources students were allowed to quietly snack and read books. The standardized test rules were posted on the board: no talking, focus, and raise hand for question. The principal came on the intercom and encouraged everyone to do their best. Even students came on and issued cheerful phrases.

Those who are not testing at least today were gathered into the Resources Counseling Assistant room with Mrs. I. As this substitute was there briefly, I was able to assist with some students who were struggling with their homework. The VP took the substitutes on a brief campus tour to locate the test non-disclosure forms. We visited the main office, or walked through the pre-K area where there were a number of assistants working in center tables encouraging their students to participate in phonetics practice.

During recess many of the students went out despite the windy cool day and played in one of the two large playground sets or practices kickball or played tag. This substitute was glad she got to visit Mrs. I's room as she was able to prevent one lad from being bullied by a couple of others. It was not serious, because the lad seemed to enjoy ground contact. This kind of physical contact and busyness is especially appealing to students with, for instance, learning disability or low ASD traits. 

Mrs. M. stated that this campus is a dual-immersion campus, so the students have the option to study and speak and learn in both Spanish and English. Since the predominant majority of students are Hispanic, and Cinco de May is tomorrow, there is a lot of local enthusiasm for learning about one's cultural heritage; in fact, the feeder campuses even have Folkloric training and prepare for  arts festivals events. These would include Mariachi band practice, Mexican-American folk dancing, photography, and video production.

It appears that because of the strong lines of communication and care fostered among the staff plus the fact that many children stay in this school from K-6, there is much opportunity to blend essential ingredients for holistic and civic type of growth. There is a sense of friendship and community care throughout the school and it feels like a "safe place" for staff, students, parents, even visitors. 

Mrs. M's experience, including attending Pacific University, even demonstrates her "pacific" approach to skillfully blending the CHAMPS or Five Pillars philosophies. However instead of rote learning and drilling about these principles, something which graduates from CSU might tend to do, emphasizing rule-learning and law-and-order, instead, she more invites this kind of positive conditioning and behavior. She creates the habitat for engagement, making a positive effort, measurable growth, and civil behaviors. This is evident from the curricula and books and toys chosen, to kinds of computer games that she allows. 

Much of this would also be due to being able to transit back to the main classroom, and dialoguing and similar philosophies shared by the Home Room teachers. For instance, they are not emphasizing outside commercialized types of non-productive or non-civic games (such as Minecraft or watching YouTube). No student appeared to have access to their phones while school is in session because nobody carried nor used their phone at any time. When the teacher asked the students to do typing, they obeyed. They also had other options of course such as drawing or reading a book after the main task was completed.

The school and indeed area-wide philosophy around the use of or incorporating artificial-intelligence is being developed at the school board level. Since this paraeducator is mostly working in the lower-grades it is difficult to tell how it will be incorporated. However one thing is clear, that at least at this school, all students, even those attending the Resources classrooms know how to use pencil, paper, crayon at least to some extent. The essays displayed were impressive and indicated much thoughtfulness and originality. 

Perhaps the teacher offered the structure for these essays and they had done some brainstorming together, nevertheless, reading the essays, especially the leadership essays from the fieldtrip to the coast, it as evident that these students are writing with their own voice, unimpeded by mandates to "succeed" "excel" "compete" or other afflictions of being reared in an oppressive environment. The pacific philosophy allows correction but very gently, such as conducted by Ms. Q or other assistants, and not emphasizing "red marks." 

In fact, the mark of originality appears to allow for sounding out unknown words and phonetic "sounding out" type of misspellings. AI would not allow this, were it to be heavily incorporated, and the children would even be typing rather than handwriting their essays. Being able to view their handwriting also provides observers especially teaching staff, possible clues about their state of mind, thinking processes, interests, any kind of language dysphoria, or organizational challenges. Again, the question is would AI allow humans to actually develop and create their own essays or would we only be able to offer the computer ideas to create our essays for us, thus limiting our authentic cognitive growth. How would this affect overall human development and artistic creativity? Will it reduce and breakdown the bonds between teaching staff and learners? 

It is evident that School "L" is productively emphasizing and engaging in all types of learning modalities and involving a wide variety of staff, community, parents, and helpers, which is inspiring.