Page 67 - Martin Westley Speaking 33-1/3

Saying Yes
Thrower Starr
In January 2010, I taught a short term class called The Songs of Bruce
Springsteen. I had a co-teacher this time around, Taylor Smith, a former student of
mine, Paideia class of 2003, with whom I shared then and now a love of Springsteen’s
music. After the second day of class, waiting until the kids filed out, he turned and with a pleased look of delight said, “These kids are great–so smart. I’m surprised. They’re really getting it!”
I wasn’t surprised at all. I have spent my entire adult life in the presence of the
young. Taylor was seeing the Paideia student–which he once was, only eight years
ago–from a whole new perspective.
In my thirty-third year of working with kids, I see little miracles of carbon,
water, and light. I say yes to these shining beings. I say yes all the time. Love comes
in different ways from different people. From some it comes through ribbing and
jokes, from some through the wisdom and discipline of the material, from some
by information and knowledge; some push precision, some say no or almost, some
create order, some acceptance, gentleness, a hug. I love by saying yes.
Evolution is slow and long, but it is happening right now, every day in our school and in our lives. Our ancestors cheer us on, our descendants plead.
We human beings, each of us, need to be seen, to be held in the attention of
others, to be beheld, to have that sense that we carry something worthwhile, that
we are useful to the tribe. My three children when young gave voice to this need,
crying over and over, “Watch, Daddy, look at me! Watch!”
Like a work of literature, we all have our themes. Each life has one or two. This
process is quiet, but it stays with you your whole life, working through you. It is the
particular key you carry, looking for doors to unlock. Your cells vibrate to this tune,
this fork struck at your soul’s birth.
My theme is love. My goal in life is to love more. My lack of love hurts. My fist- sized heart sometimes closes and doesn’t open; it stays closed and can pummel and hurt. When it seizes up like that, I wince. I notice when I’m less than kind. The love is there, like gold, and I mine for it, in me and in others. Love is the animating force of the cosmos, from the whirring song in my cells and how they organize and chorus to create an ongoing living being, to all of us working together, and whirling maybe even into the galaxies themselves.
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FALL 1969 Susan Brachman and Bette Turlington discuss the idea of starting a school in Druid Hills. They visit with Elliott Galloway whose school has just opened.
JUNE
Impromptu graduation ceremony with one senior, Robin Brooks, held on driveway next to the Red Brick Building.
JULY
Paul Hayward named high school coordinator.
MARCH
First mention in newsletter of Paideia Mississloppy boat race. SPRING
First junior high musical, Oliver!, directed by Jane Harmon, performed at AMUC Theater at Emory. SPRING
Paideia seniors are admitted to colleges. One student accepted at Yale; does not go.
MAY
Auction nets $4,000.
SUMMER
First summer camp. Classes offered in art, cooking and reading.
JUNE 3
7 students graduate at Unitarian
Church. Pat Conroy’s speech is titled, “A Bug on the Windshield of Life.”
SEPTEMBER
Enrollment 366 students.
Friends of Music organized. OCTOBER
First Fall Barbecue and Square Dance. MARCH 22
Plans to build Multi-Purpose Building, additional elementary and high school classrooms. Some neighbors object. SPRING
Mosiac, first high school yearbook. Cost: $7.00
JANUARY
High school students perform dance musical, Dante’s Inferno, written
by students and Steve Sigur. MARCH
First high school dramatic production, Dark of the Moon, directed by Frank Chew. SEPTEMBER
Python Hall opens.
FALL
High school students participate in Model UN at Georgia State University coached by Tom Pearce.
AUGUST 28
Board votes to sell yogurt machine for $600. Purchase price was $5,980. SEPTEMBER
Enrollment 400 students.
Elementary music room opens. Fran Millians begins as director of admissions. NOVEMBER
First computer, Apple II, arrives with Paul Hayward in charge.
Mrs. Carol Cooper becomes crossing guard. She serves for over 25 years.
MARCH 17
Incorporation papers filed
with State of Georgia.
MARCH 25
First board meeting with parents interested in the new school. JUNE 7
Discussion with Paul Bianchi and Barbara Dunbar who are teaching at Galloway School, but not interested in leaving. JULY 23
First open meeting to advertise the school to parents.
LATE JULY
Plans to open K-6th grade school in Jackson Hill Baptist Church are vetoed by vote of congregation. Board regroups for 1971. NOVEMBER
Board asks Paul to be head of school. This time he accepts.
JANUARY-AUGUST
Three dozen prospective parent meetings held with Paul and teachers to talk about plans for school.
Meetings held in board members homes and at the Quaker House. MARCH 21
First mention at board meeting of possible property on corner of Fairview Rd. and S. Ponce de Leon Avenue. APRIL 26
Paul asks board for commitment
to diversity and financial aid. SPRING-SUMMER
Admissions process opens.
JULY 16
102 applicants are accepted. No
record of how many are not accepted. JULY 18
Having secured a building permit
for the renovation of 1509 Ponce
de Leon Ave., school announces location to enrolled families. AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
Parents, teachers, students and contractors renovate the 1509 Building.
Tuition:
Half Day: $530 Elementary: $1,000
$1,100 $8,800
JANUARY 31
Board development committee reports gifts totaling $7,288 for the first year. SEPTEMBER 12
Enrollment 192 students. School adds an elementary class and oldest class expands to 39 students in grades 7-9. Paul Hayward and Judy
Schwarz join the faculty.
SEPTEMBER 25
Paideia beats Galloway in a
soccer game that marks the first season of the athletic program. FALL
Board authorizes high school feasibility study committee. WINTER-SPRING
Parents raise $40,000 for the down payment on Red Brick Building to house expanded junior high and new high school. First capital campaign.
JANUARY 10-14
Ice storm closes Paideia for four days.
JANUARY 23
Board approves a high school
to begin in September 1973. SPRING
Red Brick Building is purchased for $95,000. 1509 Building is purchased at same time for $111,000.
MAY 22
Spring fair and auction clear $5,000 for financial aid. SEPTEMBER
70 students begin high school program. Half are new to Paideia. NOVEMBER 1
Nancy Isom becomes business manager.
Junior High:
Full time teacher salary:
AUGUST 16
Board votes for two full-day scholarship tuitions and one preschool tuition. AUGUST 18
Enrollment 126 students.
SEPTEMBER 8
First day of school for ground
floor classrooms.
SEPTEMBER 15
Second and third floors open
(once fire escape is completed). SEPTEMBER 19
Enrollment 142 students, ages 3-14 NOVEMBER
First Thanksgiving Feast in
first floor classroom.
DECEMBER 17
Holiday party at Barbara and Paul’s house.
Snakes, Tacos, Mustaches, and
A six-year-old boy marches purposefully into the library. He looks like he is
on a mission. “Where’s the snake section?” he asks. I walk with him to the shelves,
asking if he wants information about a particular kind of snake. “No,” he replies, “I
just need to know how snakes mate.”
As Paideia’s elementary librarian for the past fifteen years, I have had the opportunity to help children who have a burning need to know. I help them seek answers to questions that are wacky, trivial, or monumental but always sincere. “Do you have any books about moustaches?” asked an eight-year-old boy. “Because I’m going to grow a moustache when I’m older, and I want to decide what style it will be.” One boy asked me for a book about prank phone calls because, he declared, “I really like to make prank calls,” and a young girl left a note in the suggestion box requesting a book All About Tacos–a book which doesn’t exist, and she decidedly didn’t want a cook book.
Of course, I don’t always have the answers. One student I was unable to help
was doing a science fair project comparing nutritional properties of breast milk and
infant formula. I knew how to find all kinds of information, but his question was “I already have the baby formula. I just wanna know where I can get some breast milk.” One February, a favorite junior high student came into the library. This was a boy who had spent his elementary years reading everything we had about animals. I asked him if I could help with his project, which was for Black History Month, and he replied, “No, I’m doing the black panthers so I don’t need help. I know where they live, I know what they like to eat, and I know how fast they run.”
Let me share one very different and unforgettable moment: a six-year-old boy
was sitting at a table, immersed in A Child’s Atlas of the Human Body. I slid up
next to him and commented, “I see you are enjoying learning about the human
body.” He answered, “Yes, I need to learn all about it so that I can grow up and be
a doctor and help my dad get well.” I swallowed hard, patted him on the shoulder,
and smiled encouragingly.
Paideia in its fortieth year has just opened a sparkling new elementary library.
Why do we need it? School libraries in this networked era are more essential than
Empathy in the Library
Natalie Bernstein
101
School Stories
PAIDEIA AT 40
Arlington Charcoal COMP FPO
PAIDEIA AT 40