BLOG: What Do You Do When Google Has The Wrong Answer or Why Does a School Board Want to Close an Elementary School?

What did we do before Google?  

Imagine life before we could ask a question and receive an immediate response.  Mind you, I have a love/hate relationship with Google.  Sometimes I just want to wonder about things - it's sort of a lost art.  I encourage my son to wonder about things more and more since instant knowledge is readily available.  When you exercise your 'wonder muscle', you can think, well, wonderful things!  I have been reading a lot about farming practices lately and yesterday wondered about 'potash', a term I encountered repeatedly and had to finally understand.  I was convinced it was a root vegetable I'd never heard of.  Google! "Salt used in fertilizers".

Google=understanding.

Today our school board votes on whether to close our community elementary school.  Usually on the day of an action of such importance, I feel inspired to create a last-ditch effort on the subject.  What was missed?  Is there a new angle that may open the eyes of the stakeholder?  Can I create new words - words presented in such a way that the entire matter will suddenly crystallize and be resolved favorably?

Google!  "Why does a school board want to close an elementary school?" I asked.  Google responds, "funding loss, declining enrollment, lack of parent involvement".   What?  This is it?  This is all you've got?  

None of these apply. I don't understand!

In fact, after months of painstaking research, collaboration with very smart, subject-matter experts, input from parents who know so much about the school district and care more than you could imagine, we are left to wonder.  Why does a school board want to close our elementary school?

Because they can.

I have to believe the positive energy generated by efforts to keep our school alive, done with integrity, honesty and kind hearts, will inspire the intuitive human nature of the board.  Despite technological advances of incredible magnitude, you still cannot capture spirit.  The contagious school spirit that embodies Mattison Avenue Elementary School defies studies, reports and analyses. 

I wonder what Google says about school spirit.  "School spirit is not something you can easily define; it can improve a student's commitment to education, create a positive learning environment and develop and foster relationships among people. It is creating the experiences that shape our memories about our school year."

Let's hope the collective school spirit in the room during the vote tonight convinces the board to keep our school open!