The Oxford Observer
  • Home
  • Channel
  • Videos
  • Technology
  • Blog
    • Creativity >
      • Amazing Art
      • Magnificent Music
      • Peerless Poetry
  • Study Help
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Channel
  • Videos
  • Technology
  • Blog
    • Creativity >
      • Amazing Art
      • Magnificent Music
      • Peerless Poetry
  • Study Help
  • Contact
The Oxford Observer

Marvelous Madison Music - Mary McManus

5/9/2014

0 Comments

 
I asked my Aunt Mary, active music education advocate and singer in the Madison-based band Rosewood, to do some research on a local music booster group of which she has been a member for many years: the Madison Music Association. Oddly enough, her name also lends well to my attempts at alliteration...

A few summers ago I was out in my backyard planting flowers when I heard a curious hammering sound. It sounded like construction but too specific and metered. (My husband and his brother spend their lives on building sites: I know what construction sounds like.) For the next few weeks I heard this sound from time to time and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. I cannot remember how I finally became enlightened to the fact (or who told me), but it turned out to be a woodblock metronome belonging to the marching band, the newest part of the music program at Madison High School. I was very excited to have them practicing so close to my house, mainly because I was in marching band in high school and have many fond memories of those days of practice and football games. However, I could not believe that our high school (that I knew was filled with so many talented teens) did not have a marching band before this summer.
Picture
I had been a member of the Madison Music Association (MMA), a non-profit corporation, for many years, since my oldest was in first grade. In fact, I was the MMA liaison between the elementary school and the high school. I had only attended a few meetings, so it made sense that I had no idea we didn’t have a marching band. By the time the year was over, that new marching band leader took those kids from beginners to award-winning marchers. It was amazing to see what a little passion, and a lot of hard work, had created. 

The MMA was established sometime in the 1970s primarily to supplement the music program. I have seen it transform over the last 10 years and in particular the last 3 years it has become a phenomenal force in the Madison public school system. The goal in the by-laws of the MMA is to create a meaningful relationship between the parents, students, music and arts faculty, and the public. It supports the students, faculty and all the visual and performing arts programs of the Madison Public Schools, kindergarten through twelfth grade. The organization constantly provides assistance and encouragement, along with financial assistance to applicants of the summer music program and aid in defraying administrative expenses associated with arts education.

We sponsor many fundraising events such as the ever-popular “Dessert and Jazz.” This yearly event combines dessert in the cafeteria with coffeehouse-style entertainment from auditioned high school students, followed by an energetic jazz band concert in the auditorium. “Arts Matter,” a concert put on by the music teachers, is another successful event as the students enjoy watching all of their skillful music teachers turn into talented performers. Two more favorites are the “District Strings Festival” and “Bandapalooza,” which pull all orchestra and band students in grades 6-12 together to make music.

We have also granted a number of extremely useful items to the Madison public schools. Band shells, sound systems, posture chairs, piccolos, ukuleles and a marimba are just some of the fun and exciting additions to our band rooms and stage. This fall the Madison Junior School did not have the funding it needed to present a fall play, so the MMA stepped in and granted money to reinstate the Fall drama (which my daughter was in) and the play was a wonderful success.

Picture
The MMA officers are a group of parents of Madison K-12 students currently participating in any of the music or art programs. The officers include a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer with 1-year terms. The past few years, the MMA has been working on getting itself more well-known. It has been low-profile for a long time but through hard work and advertising with posters, banners, websites it has come a long way.

It's just $20 to support arts education in Madison schools and become a member of MMA.

Let me tell you, I have been the membership coordinator for over 7 years and have watched membership go from paper to electronic. I spent many a summer stapling and stamping to get those membership packets out in time for the August mailing before school starts. Now you can get the membership form online (see below), print it out and send in your dues!
mma_membership_2013-2014_form.pdf
File Size: 119 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

Reece's Rainbow - Jenny Scrupps Pohl

3/16/2014

0 Comments

 
This post is from a family friend who used to work with my mum and dad at Elks Camp Moore! Born in Lincolnshire, England, Jenny worked for many years with children and young adults with disabilities in a variety of settings, including residential schools with children with cerebral palsy; group homes and summer programs with deaf/blind clients; nanny to children with cerebral palsy; a school for teenagers with challenging behavior; and a summer camp for children with a variety of special needs. She married her husband Randall, and moved to South Dakota, in 1997. For the past 13 years Jenny has been self employed, running an inclusive daycare, and raising their now 10 year old son (who is quite the soccer star!).
A few years ago I read an article in People magazine, about an organization called Reece's Rainbow who, in a nutshell, advocate and find adoptive families for orphans with Down Syndrome and other special needs. Children who would otherwise spend their lives in orphanages and mental institutes, hidden from the world. They raise adoption grants and promote awareness. Since 2006, over 1000 children have been adopted internationally through Reece's Rainbow.

The first children to catch my eye were “Heath” and “Brady”(their RR pseudonyms, real names are not listed in order to protect privacy). They were living in a mental institution in the middle of nowhere, in an Eastern European country. An adoptive mom who had been at the same institute, adopting her son with arthrogryposis , wrote about Heath and Brady in her blog, and my heart just about broke.

At the time, I just couldn't get the two boys – two little boys with Down Syndrome – out of my mind. Thankfully, Brady was adopted pretty quickly – but Heath wasn't so fortunate. I wasn't in a position to adopt, so what could I do ? I started to advocate for Heath and the other children listed for adoption on Reece's Rainbow. I shouted for them on Facebook, I donated when I could, and I cheered when families stepped up to adopt. 
At the time, the older children listed (over the age of 6) had a collective grant – when a family stepped forward for an older child, they received the whole grant, which was then reset to zero. Thankfully, this soon changed, so that each child had their own, individual grant, meaning you could donate to a particular child. Unfortunately, this also meant that over 100 children suddenly had a grant with ZERO in it. I couldn't just sit back and let that be – seeing a zero on a child's profile was like a kick in the face to me – every child is worth SO much more than that, and I wanted to show that, by donating to a child and zapping that zero, that someone, somewhere, cared about that child.

So began my blog, and my advocating for the least of the least – those children with zero in their grants, the older children who had been passed over again and again. My Zero The Zeros blog (www.zerothezeros.blogspot.com) doesn't have a huge readership, but it is a work of love, and is ongoing. We DID manage to get all of those zeros zapped back in 2011 – but, as more and more children are listed for adoption, then more and more children start with zero. It is an uphill battle, but, to me, it is so worth it. To see those grants grow, and to see those children adopted, is just priceless!!

Why advocate for these children ? Why not leave them where they belong, in their own country ? The sad fact is, that in many countries around the world, children born with disabilities are seen as broken, as unworthy. There is no education available for them, no therapies, no help for families, and little medical care. They are mostly abandoned at the hospital at birth, or given up at an older age when families realize they are not “perfect”. These children live in “baby houses” for the first few years of their life, and then are transferred, as early as four years of age – to mental institutions. Those that can walk fare slightly better – those unable to walk spend their lives laying in a crib, doing nothing. The orphanages and institutions are usually extremely short staffed, so the children receive minimal care – resulting in malnutrition, sickness, and often death at an early age. 

Children that in the USA would receive the best of medical care, and therapies, and education, are left to waste away and die. Children that in the USA can grow up to be productive members of society – living and working a normal life – are deemed unworthy, and cast away. THIS is why I advocate. THIS is why I shout.

I shout for those who cannot shout for themselves.

Remember Heath ? I wasn't the only one to see him. Many people around the country – and the world – shouted for Heath and so many other children – and within a couple of years, Heath was “fully funded” - meaning, if an adoptive family stepped forward for him, their costs would be fully paid for !! Yet still he waited. And waited. Until, finally, just about a year ago, a family saw him and said “YES” !!! They claimed him as their son, and, after working through the adoption process, they were able to bring him home around Thanksgiving 2013. His new name is Boden, and he is absolutely thriving – the love of a family has no bounds !!
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Innovation Initiator - Brian Keough

2/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Brian Keough is the Lead Instructional Coordinator for Charleston County School District. Brian came to education as a second career after working in healthcare research and communications. He then taught elementary school with a focus on literacy instruction, became an interim principal, taught at the college level, and now works in the Charleston County School District to integrate literacy instruction and intervention to meet the district's literacy goals.
Community Center Schoolshttp://familylocator.info/wp-content/uploads/kids-school.jpg
Schools have always been 'in' the center of communities, but in recent years, with the many additional demands and expectations placed on them, some schools have shifted their focus to in fact become 'community centers' in their own right.

Elementary schools in particular have partnered with doctors, mental health, Children and Family Services, child-care providers, and local service organizations to provide the many needs and enrichment opportunities that often go unanswered for today's children.

In my own experience, I saw the impact of what bringing pediatricians and mental health/social workers into the school on a regular basis did for our students and their families. In a rural setting in a rural county, a trip to the pediatrician from "my neck of the woods" was often a 40-50 mile round trip, and to see a specialist in the next county over could be over 100 miles. By partnering with the local pediatrics group, our students could be seen by a physician's assistant right at the school, and prescriptions were called into the local pharmacy in the next town over. We used the same system for mental health workers/social workers from the county's Human Services division. Parents were much more comfortable in the school setting where they were comfortable to tackle issues of abuse, homelessness, custody with a partner on their side.  Our school also hosted a food-bank and clothes closet supported by local churches and service organizations that families were free to "shop" at without having to travel directly to these organizations. GED classes, adult education courses, and family fitness activities were also offered at the school after school hours. In effect, we became the 'one-stop-shop' for families in our isolated community.

Picture
Harlem Children's Zone
Models for using schools as community centers has been successful in urban settings as well, with the Harlem Children's Zone being nationally-recognized for its long-term impact on the 'whole-child' using schools as community center for students and parents' needs.

Charleston County School District in Charleston, SC is piloting a similar program in four of their elementary schools. Called the "Charleston Promise Neighborhood," these schools are changing the way they do business in every way to ensure students of poverty get the support they need to be successful. Early in its development, these schools may be a model for other poor urban schools and districts to embrace the whole child and become 'community centers' in their own right. If it takes a village to raise a child, we should bring the village to the child to weave a support network that children cannot fall through -- school is where they spend most of their waking hours -- let's make school, through the use of community partnerships, the place where families turn to when raising their children takes more than one pair of hands.

Picture
Charleston Promise Neighborhood
0 Comments
    Picture
    Have an idea for an article? Send it to us!

    Categories

    All
    Bandwidth
    Creativity
    Guest Contributor
    Innovation
    Life At Oxford
    Music
    Special Education
    Sports
    Systems
    Travels
    Videos

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

The Oxford Observer - Copyright 2016