Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 11/30/17> Inquiring minds and Creativity… let’s have a look

“Hear Ye, Hear Ye, calling all youngsters with inquiring minds and creativity.”, that sounds like something that may have been shouted out at the Texas Renfest we visited a couple weeks ago. I never heard it there that day, but today’s daily dose is about inquiring minds and creativity.

So, what if that “Hear Ye, Hear Ye,” call did go out and no one answered? What would that say about our current society and how we are raising the future leaders? Who will end up trying to keep this world running? A better question would be; how will they, with no inquiring minds or creativity?

I ask these questions of myself, and you, because we may have already reached that point; and we aren’t even cognizant enough to even realize it. Let me explain how I came about asking the question in the first place.

A couple weeks back I was in San Antonio, like I am now, and I had to meet a client over at their office. On my way to the meeting I was on a street that I hadn’t ever traveled this one particular stretch of, while stopped at a traffic light I noticed a building off to my left that had a sign with white background and black block lettering.

Plenty of buildings have signs, most aren’t as plain and simple as this one, and that was very odd to me, the sign read, “San Antonio School For Inquiry and Creativity”. I didn’t have much time for that to sink in, the light turned green and I was on my way. Later that evening I made myself a mental note that the next time I was in San Antonio I needed to go by and explore just what that school had going on there.

Being that my mind is somewhat sharp, I recalled that mental note on Wednesday. Since I found myself about three miles from there I decided to drop in and give the give the school the “once over”. You know, check it out, and maybe even enroll if they have online classes. I may not be very creative but I have never lacked in curiosity, which in my mind and vocabulary could just as easily be termed “inquiry”.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the school on San Pedro Avenue, I was full of anticipation as to what was taking place inside. My hope was that they would even let me in the door, so I could ask some questions and maybe even snap a couple photos, so I could make a Daily Dose column about the school. I had it pictured in my mind that this type of school would just have to be the perfect school for kids, free to think and created. I had never heard of this type of school and now was my chance to see it, and share it with you.

The parking lot wasn’t empty; there were about a dozen cars and a couple small pickup trucks in the parking lot, but none were up near the front of the building. As I approached the building something just didn’t seem right, it was shortly after noon, and either the doors had real dark tint or there weren’t any lights on inside. As I got closer I noticed a phone book lying in front of the door in a plastic bag, and then I knew, the school was closed up. I could see the piece of metal in the lock mechanism holding the doors firmly in place.

I walked back to my truck and sat there for a couple minutes, just thinking to myself. Why would a school that, from the name, could offer so much be closed?

Back that evening at my hotel room I decided to see if I could get some answers to the questions in my mind. I googled “San Antonio School For Inquiry and Creativity” and a few things popped up in the search results. The first result was a link the school’s website, that’s a good place to start, so I went and had a look.

The website had some photos of students in their classroom environments and look like any other normal class room setting from what I can remember when our kids were in the public education system. Below that were 3 official looking documents front and center of the page, one from the school’s board of managers and a two page document from the TEA (Texas Education Association). The board managers’ one page document was an “Agenda” for a meeting that was to take place on 8/17/17. The action items listed had three things.
1.) Accept the resignation of suspended Superintendent
2.) Designate signatories for financial transactions
3.) Approve time line for disposition of assets
Not a good meeting to have to have, so what prompted this meeting? I was guessing that the two page letter from the TEA would have something to do with it, and I was right.

It seems that the TEA, Texas Education Agency (aka: big brother watchdog) wasn’t happy with the charter schools performance and had decided that they knew how to run the school better than the administration that was in place. Anytime these charter schools accept money from the state, they have to play by the rules the state puts out. So the TEA sent a letter in July of this year informing the current leadership that they were out and TEA would be appointing a conservator to run the operation.

On August 4th the charter school directors requested a formal review of the “lowered accreditation status” only to be rejected by the head honcho of the TEA, Mike Morath. When big brother speaks, you don’t question, you just take your stuff and get out of town.

Apparently, that is what the now- former leadership did, they packed the place up and took off; the only problem is they evidently didn’t own what they took. From what I could gather from the schools facebook page, (I hate going to facebook for anything) the $60K in computers and other property were purchased with federal and state money and had stipulations attached to the property.

It appears now that local police, FBI and other agencies are now trying to determine what charges can be brought against the former directors. I will probably not follow the rest to find out what happens.

But, I still have questions.

From what I saw on the FB page, the parents and students were satisfied with the education that was being provided. The only people who seemed to have a problem were the state folks, TEA.

Could it be that the TEA felt threatened, maybe these students were really learning things? Maybe because the teaching wasn’t conventional it posed a problem for the agency? Could it be that this style of education is what is really needed, not the memorizing of facts and number equations that the “normal” schools are providing and calling “education?” Would the success of these students expose the failure of the main stream system?

I don’t know the answer. But, the devil’s advocate in me has questions as well.

Could it be that the people running the school really had a good idea and intentions, but didn’t know how to teach it, because they were in fact, taught by the same system that was closing them down? It would be hard to foster creativity if you had never experienced it yourself would be my guess.

I believe young minds should be turned loose to create and explore items of interest to them. Yes, they need reading, writing and math but after that, the rest is debatable. The history that is taught isn’t accurate, some are blatant lies, civics (how we should interact in a community) isn’t taught, and it was replaced by American government, which teaches kids to conform, don’t question / just conform.

If the current public education system is so good, why do such a large percentage of Texas public high school graduates need remedial courses when they go to enroll in college? That should be a major red flag, go look at that Mr. Mike Morath, Mr. TEA and get back to me with an answer.

The more I sit here and type, the more I think that the plain white sign with black letters was intended to send a message, maybe subliminal; maybe not, but to me it says.”This is a basic part of life to be expanded upon” in black and white, plain and simple.

Now the building is vacant, and the only sign of life are the belongings of some homeless folks that must sleep at night on the concrete benches at the front of the main building.

So, the answer to the “Hear Ye, Hear ye, question about no one answering the call seems to be nothing to worry about, the young minds are eager and willing, the adults just can’t seem to get it together, at least not in San Antonio.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

#theunmentionables

all photos are property of @sultnpapper