Next up was a man I determined must be the new Director of the school. He said their theme for the year is "coherence." That made a lot of sense to me, as some of the 9th grade academics have seem discombobulated and it turns out it's not just my ignorance with the system.
One of the topics the Director raised briefly was AH1N1 flu. He noted that a school committee was diligently working to raise awareness of symptoms and actions to take (applause for the committee). For example, this information was on the bulletin board in a stairwell (click on the photo to enlarge it - "gripe" is "flu"):
We also heard from a faculty member about the curriculum related to drugs, sex, and alcohol, and from another about the Ecuadorian Enterprise Partnership Project, which has paired a telecommunications company with the school to provide technical assistance in management aspects such as human resources and finance. The Finance & Administration Director got up next and pleaded with the parents to pay their monthly tuition and transportation fees within the allotted 10 days at the beginning of each month. Shortly thereafter, we were directed to proceed to our child's homeroom for more information specific to each grade.Here is a photo of Caleb's classroom with its 22 desks for the 22 students. The side walls are totally blank except for a small bulletin board, and the homeroom teacher informed us that the 9th graders had a plan to paint them in mural fashion. First, she said, they are collecting money to pay for the paint. She assured the parents that the mural would be about something positive and useful, like values the kids want to promote.
At the back of the classroom is a set of lockers, some of which have padlocks. Apparently, the class's supplies they've collected thus far - like the stapler that Caleb brought in? - are in one of the lockers and its padlock key is entrusted to a different 9th grader each week.
At the back of the classroom there's also a boombox. What you see out through the window is the sun setting behind Pichincha Mountain. Maybe you can also detect the denseness of the city at its base.
Here the homeroom teacher Paulina is writing on the whiteboard the name of each class, who teaches it, and what his/her office hours are. The parents diligently copied it all down.
One of the parents' complaints was that the kids were told today to procure supplies for science class tomorrow, which is too little time, especially given the obscurity of the items and the lack of suggestion from the science teacher as to where to procure them. The list for each student included a microscope (??), a dissection needle, an apron, and toilet paper. Most of the rest of the items Jens is currently looking up in online Spanish-English dictionaries, and he seems to be having little success translating them. The homeroom teacher said she would talk to the science teacher about providing more time and more guidance. Overall, she was very open, warm, and encouraging of communication, which I liked.After the session, I went up to ask Paulina several questions I had. One of them was about when there would be school holidays. She said, "Oh, don't worry, we'll give you LOTS of warning. Let's see... the next one is October 9th." (That's the Friday after next.) A couple of moms who were still hanging around were a bit amused by my request and they joined the conversation, helping the teacher figure out the rest of the holidays this calendar year, which are, I learned, November 2-3 and December 25-31. I asked about Quito Day (December 6th) and they noted it falls on a weekend this year. However, Paulina assured me they would celebrate properly during the school days around the weekend. That will be a fun experience for Caleb, I'm sure.
-Spee
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