Meet Your Neighbor - Kate Livson

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Kate Livson and I teach here at San Leandro High School. I teach a class call Forensic Biology. This is my tenth year, it is an incredible class. I teach students how to solve crimes using science. It's exciting, it's a great way to learn life science, to learn Biology. You can see around the room the children have made their own mug shots. There is Goergie the skeleton. We do a lot of labs, it's very hands on.

I am also the coordinator for the Season of Service period of peace program at the school this year, this is our 7th year. We celebrate season of Service between Martin Luther King's Birthday and Caesar Chavez birthday. During those 10 weeks groups, clubs and classes around the school get together to create some projects that has to do with non violence, peace and educating our community. Bringing non violence and peace to this school, this community .

This year more than 1000 students participated at San Leandro high School. We have now included both middle schools, John Muir and Bancroft and Jefferson Elementary. We have commitment from these students to learn about non violence, to learn about peace and to bring what they have leant out into their schools and communities.

Wednesday at 7pm San Leandro High School Performing Arts Center the students will perform and present all that they have done (FREE and open to the public)

What do you love about San Leandro?

This is my 10th year and I wouldn't teach at any other high School, I love this place, it's my home. The students are open and inquisitive, they are smart, competent. There is a certain spirit to San Leandro High School that I have never seen in any other school. These students are open to looking further, to questioning more, standing up and telling the truth.

I am the adviser to Club Rainbow (Gay straight alliance) and over the years I have has as many at 50 to 60 students in this classroom looking at changing the culture. We have alliance with the football team. My students have gone into classrooms to talk about gender and bullying. It's an incredible safe and welcoming place, and when it isn't these students always look deeper and wonder how can we educate this person. It's an honor to work here.

Your role with Season of Service, period of peace and with Rainbow seem to have some similarities, can be brought together in part?

In part. It was an opportunity to coordinate it (Season of service). I was able to teach, coordinate Season of Service and be the adviser for the Club Rainbow. As teacher we are often isolated in our own classrooms. We seen 150 students every day over 5 periods, it's like tides, students come in and they go out. There are days I don't speak to another adult all day long, but as coordinator I have got to know all the advisers and I get out a little more.

What have you learnt most from the experience?

Students learn best from each other, things are changing. It used to be that we could write about what we wanted the children to understand, or we would talk about it the way adults talk about things. The way I understand social justice issues, issues of community and of non violence. It's really different the way they process these very important issues. When I say to the club "Why don't we make a Flyer and explain to the students?", "no Ms Livson that's not how we teach this".

I have learnt so much about how to communicate.

It's a new generation with teenagers use of technology.

It's extraordinary, we are invited to use computers in our classrooms. Every teacher has access to computers for every student. It's a challenge because students are on their phone, their screen time is 24/7. It's hard for me,  an old woman, to give them more screen time, but what they have taught me is that they don't learn best with words, we don't want all this language. There are other ways of communicating.  Just look at the Club Rainbow season of service video 

Most of my curriculum is hands on but I recognize that there is another road in learning.

We are all about project based learning and getting students to learn skills and collaboration, working through problems, how to learn and what to learn. This is easy for me as my students solve crimes all day. Here is the evidence, here are the clues, use your science and determine (who did it).

As a district we are moving towards project based learning.

Final quote or words of wisdom?

Don't be afraid of this place (San Leandro High School).These students are extraordinary people, they are our future. This place is full of wonderful, smart, competent, intelligent people. I think people think about high school is hooligan, they have concerns. I would invite folks in San Leandro to come here and experience what we are doing. They should come and experience it on Wednesday.

Meet Your Neighbor - Leah Hall

Who are you are what do you do?

My name is Leah Hall and I am a community activist.

Excellent.  What do you love about San Leandro?

I love the location of San Leandro and the size of it.  I think it’s in a great place for working people.  Ummm, it’s situated between Silicon Valley and San Francisco and other areas.  It has a great climate and great people.

Very good.  You are part of the Durant Task Force.  Can you tell us a little bit more about that and what you guys are trying to do?

Yes, the Durant Avenue Task Force was the brain child of a guy that I work with, Gus Roldan who noticed commercial trucks going down his street and other people had a hard time believing that was happening since it was such a thin road.  I think people saw all of the traffic going on there but he was the first to actually document the trucks, put stuff on YouTube, got some local news media involved and we were able to work together positively with the city to actually……. we had some real data in our hands…… and start to improve the street and by getting real with what was going on there.

Right.

We learned that there are about 6000 cars travelling there a day, if I’ve got the number right, which it doesn’t make any sense but if you also can take a walk on Durant you’ll see that it doesn’t make any sense from that perspective either and along with those commercial trucks.  So, things that we have done, we learned that it is border of Oakland and San Leandro.  The line is drawn right down the middle of the street so this creates some coordination problems, to say the least, with Oakland and San Leandro.  But we did get the cities to work together to approve some new speed bumps to slow down the traffic.  It hasn’t gone away but it has slowed down a bit.  We also had a joint neighborhood block party last year that we are really proud of.  We had city workers from both sides, police departments, elected officials, and everyone had a really great time.

I saw some of the photos – that looked like a lot of fun.

It was.

You were part of the Leadership San Leandro program a few years ago and you actually presented this year at one of the classes.  What was your experience with that?

Leah presenting at Leadership San Leandro

I was drawn to Leadership San Leandro.  My background is in architecture and urban planning and I really wanted to use some of the skills I was using in neighboring cities here in my own community and Leadership San Leandro gave me a way, um, when I was very new to the community to meet, um, learn more about the government here, how it works, and also meet people working in and out of government, business owners.  When we were there, the project I worked on with my classmates was putting a library table in the courtyard of the then, newly remodeled main library, which me and my daughter who was about two at the time, would just thoroughly enjoy.  So we wanted to give something back to the library.  It was very exciting to have a team and do something nice for the library.

That was very nice.  Your latest project where you are trying to get a parklet.  Can you explain what a parket is and how you think that would be great for San Leandro?

Yes.  We are really lucky.  In San Francisco, though parklets are new, I’d say about 2010 they were granted.  There were only about five in the city.  Now they have exploded all over San Francisco!

Right!

So we are seeing lots of examples of what is a good and bad parklet.  Basically a parklet is considered street furniture.  It’s a cheaper, faster way to build public space into a neighborhood that is starving for public space.  It provides some beautifying and a greening element that an area wouldn’t otherwise have.  But it is a public space so it is interesting… a private business, like a coffee shop, has to make sure that it is clean and taken care of.  It still gets a sign on it that says that this is a public space so that anybody can come and enjoy it.

Very cool. You ran for city council.  How was that experience?

It was great!  I mean I was kind of drawing on my love of getting into being a youth advisor at San Leandro High School as a YMCA Youth in government advisor.  I did that with this guy over here for one year (points to Derek Lee).  (Laughs)

Hi Derek!

So I did that.  I’ve been on the Human Services Commission for four years and I just really wanted to put my money where my mouth was, you know, public speaking, and really building a platform for things you are passionate about.  What I was passionate about was livable neighborhoods and I really still see that as a city planning element that the community can really help each other by enhancing public space and enhancing health and wellness by getting people out of their cars and, you know, enjoying the beauty of their city.

If someone wants to help you with you project on parklets, how do they contact you?

A great way to contact me is by e-mail which is llahhael@yahoo.com or search for me or Durant Avenue Task Force on Facebook . Any of those ways are fine.

Very good.  Do you have any final quotes or words or wisdom?

I think that it is really important in this day and age to think of partnerships.  You know, the government really is us.  Government is of the people.  So if we want change, in today’s world, at the local level, get involved, get engaged, and surround yourself with your tribe!

That is brilliant! Leah, thank you so much!

Thank you Paul.

Thank you for being part of the community.

(thanks to Patricia Minnis for transcribing the interview)

Meet Your Neighbor - Teacher Dale (Dale Gregory)

I caught up with the wonderful teacher Dale at Bike SL

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Dale Gregory, but everybody know me as Teacher Dale. I am co-director of Broadmoor Parent Cooperative Preschool (Web | Facebook)

What do you love about San Leandro?

I love that San Leandro is a fairly good size city, but it feels a lot like a small town. As it's such a community oriented city you feel like you get to know your own community and its got that wonderful feeling of people being involved (in the city).

With Broadmoor being cooperative, you often see the Broadmoor parents that you have "Trained" in the community. Tell us a little about that?

(Laughs) The Nature of a co-op is you are heavy involved, I think gives people a lot of great volunteer experience, it gives them confidence to go out into their communities and get involved in their schools and community fund raising. I don't think it's anything we do, but we encourage them that modeling involvement to their children is great. Their children grow up feeling like giving back to the community is something important.

Having been at various schools in San Leandro there is always a Broadmoor Alumni Parent somewhere heavily  involved?

We are very proud to claim that our Mayor is a Broadmoor parent graduate, one of the people who started the largest fundraising for our schools SLED (San Leandro Education Foundation) was a Broadmoor parent, you were a Broadmoor parent.  They are all over, they are in PTA's, Dad's Clubs, City Council, on the school board, they are out there.  For me and my partner Colleen it is so exciting to see that.

If somebody wants to get their child into Broadmoor when do they need to start?

Every March we have an open house, so if you are new to Broadmoor , in other words you didn't have a sibling go through which would put you on a legacy list. You can come by and see us in action, pick up registration for the following year. Keep your eyes open, if it is something you are interested in come on in and put your name on the wait list. People move, change and in the beginning of the year space often opens up.

And there is Tot time?

Tot time is a wonderful program run through the San Leandro Adult School. That happens at Broadmoor on Mondays, It's a parent assist program where you bring your little one, your 18 month to just under 3 year old. You get your first experience but with the help of an adult.

It's the parent that is actually registered?

Yes, because we are run through an adult school program we consider out parents to be the students, we focus not just on the children, we focus on you (the parent), we want to give you all the tools you need to be a very savvy K through 12 and beyond parent.

You do a wonderful job.

Thank you, I am so blessed, my teaching partner feels blessed. We think we have the best job in the world.

Final quote or Words of Wisdom?

Parenting is the toughest job you will ever do because its letting go of something that you would give your life to protect.

Thank you so much, thanks for being part of the community and being you

Broadmoor PreSchool