The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, the
Whos of Whoville, creatures from the Jungle of Nool, and many other
Dr. Seuss characters are on a visit to Gilroy.
Dear Editor,
The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, the Whos of Whoville, creatures from the Jungle of Nool, and many other Dr. Seuss characters are on a visit to Gilroy. Odyssey Theatre Company’s summer production of the Broadway smash hit Seussical is currently playing at the Gilroy High School Theatre. Students, teachers, and administrators from 10 of our public schools and community members are involved in this fantastical, magical musical extravaganza based on many favorite Dr. Seuss tales.
In keeping with Odyssey’s mission of educational theatre, there is a lobby exhibit featuring the works of Theodor Geisel.
I encourage families and community members to attend one of the four remaining productions. By doing so, you will not only have a great time at the theatre but will also be supporting performing arts in the Gilroy Unified School District.
Here’s why. Teachers, students and parents indicated in their responses to recent survey questions that there are not enough opportunities in art at our schools. There is a clear understanding amongst the people in the trenches that a well-educated student is one who has had the rich learning experiences offered in quality arts experiences.
Unfortunately, this view is not the guiding one in the political reality we live in, and school districts all over the country are having to make some tough, painful decisions regarding arts programs with every budget cut handed them. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that in Gilroy several organizations and foundations understand the need and are responding to it. Odyssey Theatre Company is one of these organizations. A non-profit educational theatre company affiliated with the Gilroy Unified School District Educational Foundation, it provides theatre training and performance opportunities to the students in the school district and the greater community. Over the years, Odyssey has donated thousands of dollars and volunteer time into the development of quality performing arts experiences in Gilroy schools.
I have never been more excited about the future of theatres arts education in the Gilroy Unified School District as I am today.
Dr. Catherine Booth, a Gilroy High School graduate who is directing Odyssey’s current production of Seussical, is returning to GUSD where she will be teaching and developing theatre programs at both the new Christopher High School and Brownell Middle School. Mr. Ethan Stocks, another GHS graduate and former head of the Gilroy High School Theatre Department, designed the Seussical set and is returning to GHS after completing a master’s program.
Both of these talented individuals know from experience that a thriving theatre arts program has to start at the ground up with quality programs for our younger students.
Odyssey’s major funding source is ticket sales to its productions. Without support for its productions, theatre arts education will not be able to flourish as it should in our school district, and we will all be the poorer for it.
Rhoda Bress, Board of Directors, Odyssey Theatre Company; Trustee, GUSD Board of Education
P.S. – The Seussical performances are Thursday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, Aug. 21 and 22 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 23 at 2 pm. For tickets visit www.odysseytheatre.org
Local mother ready to walk to help suicide prevention organization
Dear Editor,
I will be joining with thousands of people nationwide this fall to walk in AFSP’s 2009 Out of the Darkness Community Walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I will be walking at Crissy Field in San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 26.
We lost our 33-year-old son to suicide on Aug. 27, 2003. It’s been almost six years, but it feels like yesterday. From that day on our lives changed forever, nothing is ever going to be the same. We miss Dustin so badly that words can not describe the loss our family feels.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is at the forefront of research, education and prevention initiatives designed to reduce loss of life from suicide. With more than 32,000 lives lost each year in the U.S. and more than one million worldwide, the importance of AFSP’s mission has never been greater, nor our work more urgent. I hope you will consider supporting my participation in this event. Any contribution will help the work of AFSP, and all donations are 100% tax deductible.
If you have any questions about the Out of the Darkness Community Walks or AFSP do not hesitate to visit www.afsp.org and if you would like to join me on the walk in San Francisco please visit www.afsp.org to sign up.
Trudy Parks, Morgan Hill
An answer to question regarding why school starts on a Thursday
Dear Editor,
I noticed in Editor Mark Derry’s recent column that he wondered why we start school on a Thursday. Since I’ve been on the calendar committee for about nine years, I think I can shed some light.
First, by starting on a Thursday, it allows us to end school on a Friday in June. This way graduation, end of the year, etc. allows families to come on a weekend for graduation and not the middle of the week. By starting on a Thursday, we can get the Wednesday off before Thanksgiving which is a very popular day off for families. We lose a lot of Average Daily Attendance money from the state when students take that day off for the holiday. Believe me, I’ve spent hours looking at all combinations and it’s much more difficult than anyone thinks.
We must have 180 teaching days, but teachers works 186 days. We return to work on a Monday, Aug. 17. By beginning school on a Thursday, we also only have the students for two days and we can get an idea about our students. They get back in the habit of starting school, and when we see them on Monday, we can actually start our 5-day week with our curriculum and we’ve gone through the rules, procedures, etc. on the Thursday and Friday before.
By having the weekend, we can make adjustments, etc. You wouldn’t believe how unstable the first two days are with students signing up late for school, students moving without telling us, and then having new students come who we don’t know. The weekend allows us to adjust.
There are too many little details about organizing a classroom that I won’t go into, but the first two days are very hectic. We also have multiple contracts of different working groups that must be accommodated – teachers, custodians, maintenance, secretaries and district office personnel. The calendar can’t break these contracts, so we are constantly working around that as well. We also have to look at Easter and where it falls because of state testing.
Every time we ask people about Easter vacation, parents and workers, they always want that holiday built around the holiday so we try to accommodate that as well. I hope this helps you understand what makes us start on a Thursday. If we start on a Monday, we’ll end on a Tuesday which would be very difficult and more disruptive for all people involved.
Gregg Chisolm, Gilroy
Moronic supporters of Obama’s health care plan should pack up and move to Canada or Britain
Dear Editor,
Chuck Flagg and Marc Perkel (letters, Aug. 13) need to move to Canada or Britain and experience their government-run medical system first hand. Any such person who supports government interference in the health care system deserves permanent deportation.
Chuck: Where do Canadians who can afford medical treatment go to avoid the lines? (Here.)
Marc: Why have Obama’s approval ratings plunged 12 percentage points since he started this stupidity? Why is he losing support from his own party with your precious socialized medicine?
Any fool who would even consider having the government run health care needs only look at the Department of Motor Vehicles for the incompetence and long lines and at what they’ve done to Social Security for the example of their financial practices.
There is one good side to this: 2010 will be another 1994 for the Democrat Party.
I look forward to Sarah Palin’s subsequent election in 2012. She is exactly right about government-run health care being a “death panel.”
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
