1. CMYK•CMYK•
SCHOOL
SARA ANNE CORRIGAN
CORRESPONDENT
saraannec@aol.com
P
ublic school education isn’t free.
Just ask a family with three
or four children in the Evansville
Vanderburgh School Corp.: There is
clothing and school supplies to be
procured, book and computer rental
fees to be paid, back-to-school haircuts,
physicals, immunizations and other rou-
tine health matters to cover.
It adds up quickly and, in this troubled
economy, “we are seeing more and more
families needing help,” said Cathlin Gray, as-
sistant superintendent for family, school and
community partnerships with the EVSC. Its
offices are at 123 Main St. in Evansville.
“Families we have never seen before
are calling us because they have lost their
health insurance … or their jobs.”
The good news is help is available,
and not just at the beginning of the school
year, Gray said, explaining that her
department serves as a kind of conduit
between families in need and the variety of
EVANSVILLE COURIER & PRESS | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2009 | COURIERPRESS.COMD1
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Features editor: Ryan Reynolds (812) 464-7686 Inside: Crossword, Sudoku
EVANSVILLE VANDERBURGH
SCHOOL CORP.
Aug. 10-11: Teacher meetings
Aug. 12: First day of school
Sept. 7: No school – Labor Day
Oct. 9: No school
Nov. 11: No school – Veterans’ Day
Nov. 26-27: No school – Thanksgiving
Dec. 18: End of first semester
Dec. 21-Jan. 1: Winter recess
Jan. 18: No school – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 15: No school – Presidents Day
March 22-26: Spring recess
April 2: No school – Good Friday
April 23: No school – possible make-up day
April 26: No school – possible make-up day
May 7: No school – possible make-up day
May 26: End of second semester
May 27: Teacher work day – possible make-up day
May 29: Senior graduations
The world is a different
place than it was a year ago,
which is no big surprise since
the last 10 years have been a
whirlwind. Each month seem-
ingly brings something new to
life, whether it’s swine flu or the
Segway or the latest “American
Idol.”
I got a sense of this back at
the start of this decade when
I visited my old high school in
Boonville, Ind., and found it to
be nearly unrecognizable from
when I’d been there in the 1990s.
There were new faces at
the front of the classrooms.
New hallways led to remodeled
areas. Wall-mounted televisions
were in every room. Computers
were everywhere.
It was dizzying. It was disap-
pointing, too. I was jealous of
the opportunities (not to men-
tion all the gizmos) that I’d just
barely missed out on.
Now I have two children
of my own — one of them a
second-grader in the Evansville
Vanderburgh School Corpo-
ration, and I’ve read in this
newspaper that within a few
years, they’re going to try to
swap out all of his textbooks for
a computer not even the size of
a phone book.
I’m as big a tech geek as
you’ll find, but even I find it
hard to wrap my head around
the idea of a school without
textbooks. My junior year in
high school, I had a murderer’s
row of classes to start my day.
There was physics, followed
by American literature, with
precalculus after that. Three
gigantic textbooks strained my
back as much as they strained
my mind.
The classes, thank heavens,
were within 50 feet of each
other. My locker was on the
other side of the building, so it’s
not like I had to pull an Atlas
and tote a world of knowledge
around for long distances all
day. In the EVSC, that’ll all be
gone soon, replaced with one
little piece of technology. Again,
I’m jealous.
What won’t change is the
need for dedicated, inspiring
teachers who can do what great
instructors always have done:
take whatever materials are
available in whatever form, and
use them to turn out better-edu-
cated children.
I can remember those three
high school classes — the ones
with the heavy textbooks — be-
cause I remember the teachers
so well. Physics was taught
by Miss Seckinger, an accom-
plished violin player who passed
away a few years ago from
cancer. American literature was
Mr. Stilwell’s domain. He wore
a shirt and tie almost every day
he taught, and he made being
smart seem like a good time.
He’s retired from high school
teaching now. Mr. Ewin taught
precalculus (and calculus) to
thousands of Boonville stu-
dents. He made the math make
sense, and he had this subtle
little sense of humor that made
even the toughest problems feel
a little lighter. My hope for my
son is that he finds the teach-
ers who inspire him, who make
him remember the material and,
even after more than a decade
has gone by, make him remem-
ber their names.
Because even in a fast-paced
world that seems to change
every second, no piece of tech-
nology ever will replace a great
teacher.
Contact Ryan Reynolds at (812)
464-7686 or reynoldsr@courier
press.com.
Tools may
change, but they
won’t replace
a good teacher
Ryan
Reynolds
Features
Editor
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