Entry #1: First stop in the search for
positive middle-school communities
Madison, Wisconsin -- After 2200 miles, six campgrounds and countless
games of traveling "20 Questions," we arrived in Madison, Wisconsin,
the first stop in our search for positive middle-school communities. We
pulled our van, nicknamed Eeyore (license plate 889 EYR -- big, slow, blue
-- it seemed to fit), and our trailer, Tigger (has stripes, bounces around
a lot, and has a tail shaped like a bike rack), into the Madison KOA to
set up for our stay.
Right away, we found out that Madison, like so many metropolitan cities,
is made up of several communities, spread out over a large area. We are
stationed 15 miles north of downtown in a suburb called DeForest. Moving
through the city for the first time, we were struck by the beauty of the
area, including several lakes and a magnificent capital building (the tallest
state building in the country).
In our subsequent explorations, we determined that one of the reasons the
city has been cited as " the best place to raise a family" is
the numerous parks throughout the entire area. If we weren't passing by
a park, we could see one coming up. There are over 44 city and county parks,
well maintained and adjusted to the needs of the community. In winter, the
city creates seasonal ice rinks for public use in 10 of the parks.
My initial contact here in Madison is Kathy Price, Coordinator of Community
Partnerships for the Madison Metropolitan School District. I am amazed at
how many people she knows at all levels of agencies and government. She
gave me lots to read and set up opportunities to meet key people involved
with young teens. This district features 11 middle schools and four comprehensive
and award-winning high schools. In fact, the first local paper I bought
carried a front page story highlighting the recently released national ACT
scores. Wisconsin's seniors scored #1 in the nation and Madison's individual
schools were all well above average. It is clear that the community is proud
of their youth.
School doesn't start for another week, so I decided to explore the organizations
that provide recreation. There are a lot of kids here, and they seem to
be keeping busy. Most of this is due to the district's school-community
recreation program. This multi-million dollar arm of the district is responsible
for coordinating hundreds of programs held year-round at neighborhood centers
and the middle schools. During the school year, all of the middle schools
have a recreation counselor who coordinates the clubs and sports programs.
Black Hawk Middle School for example, has 41 different activities, from
Tae Bo to talent shows, and from fishing to high adventure climbing. These
activities are open to ALL middle school students in Madison at the one
time fee of $8. Yes, that is $8 for the WHOLE year and ANY activity.
What really has impressed me the most is the joint efforts by the City of
Madison, the local county (Dane), and the school district towards improvement.
They just finished a report on the status of recreation for middle schoolers,
and it includes recommendations on how to reach the kids not participating
(almost 40%). In addition, the city has increased spending for youth centers
over the last 10 years five-fold. These youth centers are spread throughout
the city -- primarily in low income areas -- to provide a place for teens
after school, on weekends and during summer.
One program that I want to mention is called the M.A.D.Youth Volunteer Camp.
Students in these two-week, seven-hour-per-day camps spend half their time
in community service around Madison and the other half in activities like
Karate and swimming. They accommodated 120 middle schoolers this summer
and had to turn a lot away.
Finally, I need to close with some advice about parenting teens. My wife,
Corinne and I have shifted from building in time with our kids to building
in time WITHOUT them. We tried one technique in South Dakota after too much
time hearing them complain. Find a safe stretch of road in the direction
you are going and drop them off. Pull ahead a mile or so and wait. By the
time they get there, you've had 15-20 minutes of quiet!!
Next week, more from Madison as school is in session.
Excerpt from Corrine Lee's e-mail diary:
We made it to Madison, and we are all alive and still talking to one another.
We are surrounded by soybean fields and corn fields. It's interesting how
when you drive through the different states you can see each has its own
signature. We travelled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota,
Wyoming, Minnesota and then into Wisconsin. We had a little "episode"
in Montana. We'd driven for 10 hours (479 miles). At one point it was so
hot that the vapors in the gas tank expanded and had no where else to go
but in the van. I was getting sick and told Darrell to pull over. The passengers
regained composure and we traveled on. We've learned that when driving in
hot weather you drive both tanks down a quarter-tank.
Eeyore (the van) has done great and Tigger has bounced right along behind
him. The boys have had the job each day of mapping out our trip -- complete
with written driving directions. At one point I asked Darrell if actually
checked the boys' work. As we bounced to and fro down a back road, he admitted
that he hadn't.
Read next week's diary entry >>>
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