Blue is for the expanse of sky on the western horizon that hints of adventures not yet imagined. Green is for the rolling hills of early spring so abundant with hidden life. Purple-grey is for the sea, so powerful and mysterious in its opaque vastness.
Pink is for the letters of termination sent last week to some of the naturalists who’ve made those colors, and all they signify, their life’s work. Camp KEEP, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools’ 35-year old earth sciences education program based on the Central Coast, is in trouble. Things are so dire, I am compelled to attempt bad poetry.
Budget constraints are forcing Kern County school districts to reevaluate their priorities. The Kern Environmental Education Program, five days of intensive (and potentially life-changing) instruction that 6,000 local sixth-graders (and, at some schools, fifth-graders) experience each year, could be partially axed.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District board will have a big say in the matter. At their April 14 meeting, the board is tentatively scheduled to decide whether to fund Camp KEEP next year. If you value that portion of the sixth-grade curriculum — and believe the district should, too — tell them now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment