May
24
Written by:
Mr. Harbaugh
5/24/2010 11:39 AM
The new indoor waterpark a few miles down the road got the author thinking about living life in "almost" paradise.
This year my big spring break trip was to Kalamazoo, to the new indoor water park off Ninth Street. A place called Pirates Island, where I got to wear my bathing suit for a couple of hours and pretend like I was someplace tropical. They did have a few potted plants that looked like palm trees, and scenes of pirate paradise painted on the walls, a little grass hut that sold pizza slices, and a couple of hot tubs. I could have done much worse.
We went with a number of other families from town who have kids in the school here, friends of our families, friends of our kids, who were also looking get out of the house for an afternoon of spring break. And despite my saggy, pale swimsuit physique, and some ten year old kid I didn't know who kept shooting me with a water gun, and a noticeable shortage of margaritas and steel drum bands, I had fun. The kids had a blast, and it was all about them, anyhow.
There was a period of time at the park when I walked around watching all the kids in our group (and there were like twenty). I was on dad patrol, watching from a distance, making sure the kids were having fun, but not too much fun: you know, crazy fun, or stupid fun, or dangerous fun.
I got to thinking as I walked around the water park that as a teacher I get to watch each of these kids grow up over the next decade. I get to be part of their formative years, when they become the young men and young women their parents are raising them to be, having fun in our middle school and high school, (but not too much fun). I get to be part of important moments in their teen lives, watching from a distance, when they finally get an idea in the classroom they can take with them to college years later, or when they hit a winning shot, paint a homecoming float, or get up the nerve to ask that certain someone to dance.
I told one of the other mothers what I had been thinking about. She smiled. "That's why we love it here," she said. "We know our kids are going to be taken care of. It makes such a difference."
One of the other mothers, a woman who moved to town with her husband and young family, commented to my wife that they moved to Gobles because they had heard such great things about our school district, about its school spirit and the close-knit atmosphere. This woman could have bought property in any community in SW Michigan to raise her family, could send her kids to any school, and she and her husband chose ours.
Some years ago when I was serving the district as a principal, I attended a seminar of educators from across SW Michigan. Early in the session the presenter asked us all to turn and introduce ourselves to the people seated near us. I introduced myself to a school counselor from a large district in the area, and when I told her I was from Gobles she said "oh yeah, Gobles. I've heard you guys will take anybody." She didn't mean it as a compliment; but what was intended to be a slight was an opportunity for me to brag about our approach to children. I told her we know we can have success with any child, it's a point of pride in our district, so I told her to feel free to send us any kid or family her school couldn't handle. Because we believe in Quality Schools, we believe good relationships are the key to success.
People come to our town because over the years we have built an amazing school district with a great reputation across the area. People stay here because good relationships matter, how their kids are raised matters, and whose watching out for them matters, too.
Like every school district in the state, our district is struggling with funding challenges, and reform challenges, and identity challenges as school officials think about who we are as a district and where we are going. It's important that the young families in this district who want the best for their children involve themselves with the health and vitality of our school district. It's important that we work hard to keep our district the one we chose, by volunteering, by supporting the school, by contacting state legislators to ask them to provide the funding our school needs to do its important work. By demanding the district does things the right way.
Hey, I'm not saying Gobles is paradise, any more than any building around here with painted beach scenes, but for Southwest Michigan, I am not alone in believing it's about as close as it gets. We need to keep it that way. Think of the kids: it's still all about them, anyhow.
Copyright ©2010 Corey Harbaugh