From Baby to Toddler...The Next Harvest: Planning the Education Community Cafe

San Diego Process Arts Network

Alannah, Jackie, Raffi, Jeannel
10.20.09

A more formal setting than before--the conference room at the Center for Studies for the Person. Each of us found our own place as we pulled up to the table. Some were ready to go, some were bruised, some were cautious. All were willing to engage, as we shared our feelings one-by-one at the start of the meeting.

The fragrance of freshly-peeled orange lifted the energy and we settled in to our time together, digging deeper into the purpose and intention of the upcoming community cafe on education.

Random Snippets

The baby's grown into a toddler!
Stone Salad--we've got the stone, you bring the fruit!
Planning (or "Planting") for the harvest of the future
Not just a reform movement, but a movement to rebuild the system
We need people with energy to take up the cause and make things happen - we need young people to get involved
Shared context, focused energy, leading to the next level
SanDijuana Education Summit
Appreciation and possibility-driven event, gratitude
Inclusivity
Education in the broadest sense
Food for thought...

Some Powerful Questions
What's the "so what"?
How much fire in the belly is there for after this event?
What if education were a co-hosted community experience?
What is the purpose of education?
What does it take to achieve that possible purpose?
What are we grateful for?
What is the current state of our educational system? What good can we harvest from our current education system?
What do we want our educational system to be? What else could it be?
What seeds do we want to harvest from the cafe?
What do we need to plant now to harvest its fruit in ten years?
How will we need to tend to our planting in order to see it bear fruit? What does it take/preparation to get there?
Reflect on times when change in education has worked. How did it work, and what was special about that? Why was it important?
What could we do with a community summit on education?
If Oaks and Acorns were a question, or the answer to a question, what would it be?


Ideas Begin to Bubble
What if the first cafe's purpose was to spark the fire for a larger event? Conservation...envisioning...preparation for a summit?
One possible outcome of the first cafe could be that it births an education coalition dedicated to championing the summit.

The next cafe could be the first annual summit on education for San Diego and Tijuana--Education Beyond Borders?
This cafe's purpose could be to co-create a "San Diego Plan to [Reinvent?] Education" and to promote continuing action towards implementing that plan:

• Future summits
• Community change coalitions
• Mentoring to make change
• etc.

This first cafe could bring more people, new ideas, new board members for Oaks & Acorns, and even someone coming in to raise the baby/take over the ship.

Insights on Charter Education
Charter schools evolved from dissatisfaction in the current educational system. Options were lacking, and charters gave parents and students the option to participate in schools or labs with interaction and feedback.

However.

This reform idea was absorbed by traditional education institutions so that it's power was diluted. Charters no longer were the stand-out alternative to public schools because public schools had adjusted/adapted/adopted the lingo. Also, charter schools were being restricted from being too different by various laws and regulations, so that all schools were standardized into a homogeneous group with the same requirements, tests, etc.

So.

How can that variety, creativity, and relationship be reintroduced into the educational process in meaningful, lasting, and sustainable ways?

Logistics Redux
Event Details--

• Date: 11.21.09
• Location: UU Church, Alannah confirming today
• Backup Location: United Way. Kroc Center was nixed due to price and lack of availability.

Invitees--

• Limit size of first cafe to 40-50 participants
• Teachers, parents, students, young people, local government officials, cross-border voices, Carroll's group, people who have or want to have a stake in the conversation and future summit
  
• Fruit for stone salad

Roles--

• Process logistics (for the cafe, open space, etc.) - Raffi and Jeannel
• Event logistics (for food, space coordination, etc.) - Alannah and Jackie

Invitation--

• Alannah will e-mail ideas and the old invitation to Jeannel
• Jeannel will draft invite, send to Raffi
• Raffi will post on Wet Paint and send invites for all to collaborate on invite product
• Target for invite being ready to go: End of this week

How "Inviting that Matters" looks for our event--

• Personal call (and e-mail?) saying: [what?]
• Printed invite via snail mail
• Invitees may register for event through Eventbright online service
• We follow up with invitees via personal call (and e-mail?) saying: [what?]

Next Meeting
Thursday, October 22, at the UU Church (address to be forwarded).
3-5pm