An Open Letter to Roeper

Her first day in Michele &Patti's class.

For the three years we lived in Michigan, Janan attended the most amazing school.  Founded by George & Annemarie Roeper after they fled Nazi Germany, The Roeper School was founded to create a learning environment where children would learn critical thinking skills and "the inherent dignity of every person", thus never creating an environment conducive to that in Nazi Germany again.  

The "Parade of Costumes"
in the "Big Dome".

Ready to play soccer
GO REPTARS!

Over time, Roeper became designated as a school for gifted children.  The education is liberal, while highly challenging.  Everyone from the students to the Head of School go by their first name.  George and Annemarie believed this created an equality where open dialogue between the teachers and students was welcomed.  The children are placed in dual-grade classes (K & 1, 2 & 3, 4 & 5) until Jr. High.  Within these classes they are then "leveled" in areas such as reading & math so they can learn with others at their same level and be challenged by a specialty teacher.  Science, Math, Music, Art and French are all taught by speciality teachers.  

Singing in the choir!

Education is viewed as holistic, meaning no lesson is taught without showing how it connects to not only the other lessons the children have been learning, but the world at large.  It challenges the students to think beyond themselves to create a better world.

Getting ready for her first
Roeper Dance Review!

Janan grew and flourished at Roeper.  Had I been able to afford it after the divorce, Janan would have graduated from Roeper before I ever left Michigan.  I believe every child should receive this type of education, but wish it were available without the nearly $20,000 price tag (over $20K once they reach Jr. High & High School).  Unfortunately, our society's unwillingness to let go of an educational system so outdated it is excluding (yes, "leaving behind") more children than it's teaching, requires this type of education be relegated to "private" schools where they don't have to meet the atrocious "state requirements".  

Listening to a presentation about
Native American beliefs from our
dear friend, Tahnea.

Since leaving Roeper, I have struggled to find the right educational environment for Janan.  Our society touts the importance of education, but works toward the opposite - bringing children to a sub-standard level of conformity which creates frustration and a hatred of learning.  I refuse to accept this for my daughter.  So, when I get frustrated, I reach out to those who understand best - other Roeper families.  

Stage III
"Clap Out"

Last week, during one of my cries for help a wonderful Roeper Mama by the name of Marcia requested I write an open letter to the school letting everyone know how difficult it is to find such an amazing education.  Writing that letter was more cathartic than I ever imagined.  I hope it reaffirms for those who read it that they are making the right choice not only for their child(ren) but for all of our futures.


These children, and others like them, will change the world for the better.  


I wanted to simply link the letter to this blog posting, but it appears I can't do that without converting it to html.  It's so late, I'm just going to copy/paste.


Dear Emery,

I hope this letter finds you well!  Please feel free to share part or all of the following “epiphanies” I’ve had since leaving the Roeper community.  We were in Michigan just three short years, but Janan’s time at Roeper is something I know she will carry with her for the rest of her life. 

Before we moved to Michigan, Janan attended kindergarten at The Sycamore School.  A private school in Indiana designed to meet the needs of gifted children and, I would later learn, mirrored after a school I had never heard of before, The Roeper School.  I remember, when preparing to leave IN, sitting down with Janan’s teacher at Sycamore and asking, “If I just found the best public…” and before I had finished “…school in Michigan.” she was emphatically shaking her head.  Her response was, “Some children here could absolutely do well in a public school setting, but Janan is one of those students who doesn’t accept what a teacher says just because he or she is a teacher.  Janan questions everything.  If I say something as simple as ‘The sky is blue.’ Janan will get out of her chair and go to the window to confirm it.”  Fortunately, Janan’s teacher was saying all of this with a huge smile on her face and said, “I LOVE that about Janan, but many public school teachers would not.”

Maybe I was still struggling with what ‘gifted’ meant.  I’m certainly not gifted and didn’t yet grasp what that meant for Janan (or me, for that matter!).  So, immediately upon arriving in Michigan, what did I do?  Yep, I started touring the local public schools.  Many of them designated as “Blue Ribbon” schools (it sounded impressive at the time).   After the first two schools I contacted, I quickly learned not to begin my calls with, “Hello!  My daughter will be starting first grade in the fall.  She’s been attending a private school for gifted children here in Indiana...” because it was ALWAYS followed with, “I’m sorry.  Our programs for gifted and talented have been cut.  We cannot meet your daughter’s needs.” 

So, I switched gears and adhered to the KISS rule - Keep It Simple, Sweetheart.  When calling I would just say, “Yes, we’re relocating to Michigan and my daughter will be starting first grade in the fall, may we schedule a time to visit your school?”  We toured eleven schools in all.  Ten of which, upon learning Janan’s academic levels would repeat the comment I had now heard so often I was starting to think I was stuck in the movie Groundhog’s Day – “I’m sorry, our gifted and talented budget has been cut.  We can’t meet your daughter’s needs.”  Only at one school (a ‘choice school’) did the Principal (with a straight face) say to me, “We’ll start your daughter here in the morning for circle time and then we’ll bus her to the junior high, if necessary.”  I think I ran from that school the fastest.  As the mother of a six-year-old, I could think of nothing more horrifying than her on a bus with a bunch of hormone-crazed junior high students.  Also, I believed (and still do) that first and foremost she was a CHILD who deserved recess, play time and other children her age that wanted to play with fairies and pretend to be mermaids.

As I got angrier and angrier (I mean, really, my tax dollars WOULD be going to pay the salaries of these public school employees, right?), I remembered something Janan’s teacher at Sycamore had said, “We’re actually mirrored after a school in Michigan called, Roeper.  You should check it out.”

The rest is fairly well known to anyone who even peripherally knew us.  Janan started Roeper in Michele & Patti’s class for Stage II (year 2) and from there went on to both Stage III years with Mary & Matresa.  Don’t get me wrong, it certainly wasn’t all rainbows and lollypops (when IS growing up or parenting?), but it WAS the right school for Janan AND me.   Here are just a few of the reasons:

•           Janan was finally with other kids her age who also challenged what they were being taught AND with teachers who embraced (dare I say, WELCOMED) those challenges.

 

•          I was surrounded by other parents of children, so like my own, who understood that being ‘gifted’ didn’t make life easier. 

 

•         Janan discovered (to her great shock) there were kids in the world who were WAY smarter than she was.

 

•          I learned why my daughter had screamed like a banshee from the time she was an infant when socks were placed on her feet (sensory integration). 

 

•         Janan learned math didn’t seem so ‘stupid’ when it was couched in one of Dianne’s amazing science lessons about graphing the types of trees in the Roeper Woods. 

 

•          I learned what it means to have a ‘divergent thinking’ child and why not knowing that before had nearly driven this NON-divergent-thinking Mama legally insane.

 

•         Janan learned how to challenge what she was being taught in a productive, positive way.

 

•         I learned it was neither rude nor shameful to say, “I have a gifted child.”

Oh, there is so much more, but now I want to fast forward to the past year.  After leaving Michigan, we relocated to Arizona.  Sadly, Arizona is not known for it’s outstanding public education system.  Interestingly, there are also VERY few private schools in the Tucson area (where we live).  What I found is that Arizona does lead the way in what are called “Charter” schools.  By my definition these are public schools with private school flair.   

Having apparently not learned my lesson the first time, I again started with the public schools (will I ever learn?) only to discover that Arizona’s answer for gifted student’s is to offer a “pull out” program, where either one hour a day or one day a week they are pulled from their classroom and sent to a “Gifted Resource Room”.  SIGH…as if kids these days don’t have enough ways they are told they are different or don’t fit in.  Maybe this option works for some, but I knew it wasn’t right for Janan. 

Next, I focused on the Charter Schools.  Literally, there is a Charter School on almost every corner in Tucson.  There are alternative charter schools, Waldorf-based, Montessori-based, Math and/or Science-based Charter Schools, to name a few.  We checked out them all.  Janan’s first choice was a science-based school (Dianne & Michele won’t be shocked by that one!), but they have a 2-4 year waiting list.  So, after much research, school visits and serious conversation Janan and I decided on a Waldorf-based Charter School which touted the Waldorf belief that children should be children first but also claimed they believed children should be allowed to learn at their level and challenged (sound familiar?).  It sounded so “Roeper-like” we thought we’d found the second best school in the world. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to their promises.  We’ll just leave it at - Janan had a rough year. 

Back to square one. 

After more research and school visits, we went back to a school we had looked at originally but which didn’t start until 5^th grade – BASIS Tucson.  Founded by Michael and Olga Block, BASIS is a 5-12 school dedicated to advanced (AP) curriculum.  Olga, an immigrant from the Czech Republic and college educator and Michael, an Economics professor from the US, found the US curriculum ‘lacking’ when they placed their daughter in the 6^th grade.  So, together they created BASIS and set the bar high requiring AP level courses beginning in the 6^th grade.  Additionally, they focus their fundraising on what they call “The Master Teacher Program”, so despite only having the same level of funding as other public schools (and dealing with the same cuts) they can pay teachers at a level commensurate with their education level (most of the teachers hold Masters and or Doctoral degrees).

U.S. New & World Report ranks BASIS is as one of America’s Best High Schools and Newsweek places them in the top 10.  There is even a documentary, Two Million Minutes (http://www.2Mminutes.com), which drew national attention and premiered here in Tucson that extols the virtues of this “21^st Century School”.   

Yes, it sounds impressive.  But, what I’ve found is that none of the BASIS schools (there are currently 3 – Scottsdale, Tucson and Oro Valley with three more in the works for the next year) has a playground.  The Block’s believe play is an unnecessary part of education.  Even going so far as to make the one required P.E. class a Karate class, because it teaches “strict discipline”.   Additionally, the first day of school, Janan came home with nearly six hours of homework!   And we’ve discovered that wasn’t a fluke, but rather the expected norm. Where’s the BALANCE? 

Interestingly, Janan loves it so far.  Deb can probably attest to the fact she always hated gym class, but she is really enjoying the Karate.  She even says it’s hard to pick her favorite class, because she loves Physical Geography, Latin (thank you, Mary!), Classics and Science so much. 

So, this Mama is going to work with what she has, while wistfully looking back to a school that not only offered her the mental challenges she so craved, but honored the sacredness of her childhood.