Lower Lake

This morning I had to get up a lot earlier than usual and drive 3 and a half hours to get to Lower Lake, California. I drove through some wonderful scenery, and even saw a hot air balloon! I was going to write a funny blog today, about strange names of cities ... like Lower Lake being near Lakeport and down the road from Upper Lake. But, I was touched by an incident that happened at the school I visited.

This was an alternative high school. I have been to many alternative high schools around California. Some alternative high schools have the students attend every day, and some the students are given independent study and take the work home and come in once a week to get it corrected. This school had the students attend. I came in and met the principal, who was great! He told me the school has about 100 students and then took me to the library. The library didn't have many books, which I have seen before, but then I realized the library had a DRUM SET in it. During the break the students came in and played the drums, played the piano, and played ping pong in the library. I was skeptical at the scholastic aptitude of these students. I brought in the group of students I was to work with and looked at the scores. I was amazed, out of the 10 kids I was working with 3 of them got a 65 on the test, where I go to many schools that over 50 people take the test and many times only 3 of them get over a 65. All of the kids were very well behaved and had a good attitude about school. None of the kids was blaming anyone for their problems and no one teased another about their scores. This school was a pleasure to work with.

After my class two of the girls went in to see the principal. I went in also. I talked with the principal for about ten minutes, while the two girls were quietly, patiently, and courteously waiting for our conversation to finish. I should have let them talk to the principal because I'm sure they weren't going to take much time and they needed to get back to class. As I finished one of the teachers came in and started yelling at one of the girls because she had told him she needed to get something real quick and would be right back to class. He told her that she should have come back to class quicker and then come back later. I felt bad, I felt that I was responsible for her getting in trouble. I was very very impressed with the girl, she apologized to her teacher and quickly went back to class. In many schools I go to the student would have exploded and been angry at me. This girl was great, she was courteous to me, and to the teacher. I would do anything I could to help a student like that. In fact, I will go back to help that girl study for the test which she will take again, I will ensure she gets the grade she wants!