I didn't mention this the other day during the Monterey trip, but the evidence of a weak economy was present even in the toniest area we visited during our trip - Pebble Beach. If you take the 17 Mile Drive which winds through the Del Monte Forest and along the rocky coast you pass a great number of really amazing homes. Some are just breathtakingly huge and beautiful, with spectacular views of the California coast.
And a whole lot of them are for sale. We've taken that drive every year since 2005, and a couple of times in years before that. In all those trips I've never seen as many for sale signs as I saw on this trip. Dozens of them.
Every one of those homes costs in the millions of dollars - one even goes for as much as $34 million. I wouldn't say there are bargains to be had, because these are still homes that only a small percentage of people could afford, but never before have I seen so much high dollar inventory for sale.
Some of the rich and famous aren't as rich as they used to be, and they're selling their mansions.
Showing posts with label Monterey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monterey. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
A Few More Monterey Shots
Our anniversary lunch today was at a favorite spot - the Old Fisherman's Grotto on Fisherman's Wharf:
You already saw the dessert they gave us for our anniversary, but the meal was just as good. If you're ever in Monterey, go there. 
Here's a little more scenery from near the hotel:
Finally, an artsy shot looking straight up into a towering Monterey Cypress.
You already saw the dessert they gave us for our anniversary, but the meal was just as good. If you're ever in Monterey, go there. Of course, it's not easy to eat when there's a whole beach full of nude sunbathers nearby.
Here's a little more scenery from near the hotel:
Finally, an artsy shot looking straight up into a towering Monterey Cypress.
Monterey Jazz Festival - Next Generation
The reason for the trip up here was to see our son perform with the Mission Viejo High School Jazz Band at the Monterey Jazz Festival - Next Generation. They did a great 25 minute stand on the main stage. Here are some shots from the performance:
That's my boy in the middle of the shot below.
I tried a bunch of different things to get some random shots of the kids.
That's my boy in the middle of the shot below.
I tried a bunch of different things to get some random shots of the kids.
There's Nothing Like a Small Town Parade
We had several events today, so I'm going to split them up into separate posts. It happens that this weekend was the Good Old Days Fair in Pacific Grove, complete with a parade. I got some shots from the parade of some of the good old vehicles and some other interesting entries.
The parade started with a color guard followed by representative units from the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. I was glad to hear the paradegoers applauding and cheering for the military members. In Northern California you never know what reaction you might get to a uniform.
I'm a sucker for old emergency vehicles, and they had an old Pacific Grove firetruck and two great old police cars with the grinder sirens that make it sound like a tornado is coming.
These are the "Tap Bananas", a local tap dancing club. My wife saw them and immediately wanted to move here and join up.
This guys is the admiral of a drill team from a church in Pleasanton. There were about 30 of these guys doing various marching maneuvers, each armed with a mop (except for the admiral who had a plunger).
The parade was full of great old cars, more than I have time to show here. This Chevy was one of my favorites.
This one of my least favorites - an old VW Rabbit that had been converted into a solar electric car. If this is what Obama wants us all to drive, forget it.
The only real float in the parade was from the Artichoke Festival. They take their vegetables seriously around here.
They also take recycling seriously, so we were treated to a giant walking collection of plastic grocery bags.
Lots of fun.
The parade started with a color guard followed by representative units from the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. I was glad to hear the paradegoers applauding and cheering for the military members. In Northern California you never know what reaction you might get to a uniform.
I'm a sucker for old emergency vehicles, and they had an old Pacific Grove firetruck and two great old police cars with the grinder sirens that make it sound like a tornado is coming.
These are the "Tap Bananas", a local tap dancing club. My wife saw them and immediately wanted to move here and join up.
This guys is the admiral of a drill team from a church in Pleasanton. There were about 30 of these guys doing various marching maneuvers, each armed with a mop (except for the admiral who had a plunger).
The parade was full of great old cars, more than I have time to show here. This Chevy was one of my favorites.
This one of my least favorites - an old VW Rabbit that had been converted into a solar electric car. If this is what Obama wants us all to drive, forget it.
The only real float in the parade was from the Artichoke Festival. They take their vegetables seriously around here.
They also take recycling seriously, so we were treated to a giant walking collection of plastic grocery bags.
Lots of fun.
Dessert
Got to run out again, but I thought I'd give you a quick shot of the dessert the restaurant gave us in honor of our anniversary:
So far today we've gone to an arts and crafts fair, watched a small town parade, watched the Mission Viejo High School Jazz Band perform, and ate ourselves silly at a big anniversary lunch (no big dinner tonight). More on all that later.
So far today we've gone to an arts and crafts fair, watched a small town parade, watched the Mission Viejo High School Jazz Band perform, and ate ourselves silly at a big anniversary lunch (no big dinner tonight). More on all that later.
Friday, April 03, 2009
First Batch of Monterey Photos
The new camera got a workout today, shooting 81 pictures in and around Monterey. Here's a few of my favorites.
We started out by walking down to Cannery Row to get some lunch. The area looks a lot better than the last two years because the brand new The Clement Hotel has been completed and all the construction junk is out of the way.
We took a drive out through Pacific Grove and stopped in several spots along the way. Here are a couple of Rodent-Americans who reside on some pretty pricey real estate right on the shoreline.
Since we got there fairly early and my son had a few hours to kill, we decided to take the 17 Mile Drive. He'd never been out there around the Del Monte forest and coastal areas. He took this shot of his parents at the Lone Cypress.
We stopped at The Lodge at Pebble Beach which where the annual AT&T is hosted, and where the 2010 U.S. Open will be held.
As you walk into The Lodge you come up to this amazing panoramic view of the golf course and coastal bay.
Here's a foursome preparing to tee off on the famous 18th hole, a long dogleg to the left that skirts the rocky shoreline. Back in 1973 I was following my uncle around as he played Pebble and his tee shot ended up on some rocks along the shore. He took out his "rock wedge" and blasted the ball off the rock and right up near the green. I'd like to see Tiger hit that shot.
Here's the boy and I standing near the 18th green. (He's not really taller than me - I was standing in a hole.)
Along the way I took a number of shots of the angry sea. The wind was really howling, blowing straight into the shore. Whitecaps were everywhere and all around us were crashing displays of Mother Nature as the big waves hit the rocks.
I was able to convince a sea gull to fly into two of my shots.
We're getting ready to walk back down to Cannery Row for dinner. I'll try to get in some more serious blogging later tonight.
We started out by walking down to Cannery Row to get some lunch. The area looks a lot better than the last two years because the brand new The Clement Hotel has been completed and all the construction junk is out of the way.
We took a drive out through Pacific Grove and stopped in several spots along the way. Here are a couple of Rodent-Americans who reside on some pretty pricey real estate right on the shoreline.
Since we got there fairly early and my son had a few hours to kill, we decided to take the 17 Mile Drive. He'd never been out there around the Del Monte forest and coastal areas. He took this shot of his parents at the Lone Cypress.
We stopped at The Lodge at Pebble Beach which where the annual AT&T is hosted, and where the 2010 U.S. Open will be held.
As you walk into The Lodge you come up to this amazing panoramic view of the golf course and coastal bay.
Here's a foursome preparing to tee off on the famous 18th hole, a long dogleg to the left that skirts the rocky shoreline. Back in 1973 I was following my uncle around as he played Pebble and his tee shot ended up on some rocks along the shore. He took out his "rock wedge" and blasted the ball off the rock and right up near the green. I'd like to see Tiger hit that shot.
Here's the boy and I standing near the 18th green. (He's not really taller than me - I was standing in a hole.)
Along the way I took a number of shots of the angry sea. The wind was really howling, blowing straight into the shore. Whitecaps were everywhere and all around us were crashing displays of Mother Nature as the big waves hit the rocks.
I was able to convince a sea gull to fly into two of my shots.
We're getting ready to walk back down to Cannery Row for dinner. I'll try to get in some more serious blogging later tonight.We've Made it to Monterey
We're here and I'll have some photos up later. We're getting ready to head out to get some good coastal shots in the windy, cool weather.
Ate lunch at our usual pizza place on Cannery Row (we'll save the seafood for dinner) and watched the cops and paramedics tend to someone who was hit by a car outside. A little later there was a bad accident up the street from the hotel. Not a good day for tourists around here.
More later.
Ate lunch at our usual pizza place on Cannery Row (we'll save the seafood for dinner) and watched the cops and paramedics tend to someone who was hit by a car outside. A little later there was a bad accident up the street from the hotel. Not a good day for tourists around here.
More later.
Monterey
If you're reading this sometime Friday morning, as you read I'm probably on the highway somewhere between home and Monterey, CA. We'll be up there for a three day visit to the Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Event. This is the fourth time in five years we've attended this event where our son will be playing with the Mission Viejo High School Jazz Band.
We came up here the first time in 2005 when he was still in Junior High and the Festival had decided to add a few Junior High bands to the program.
Next post will probably be from Monterey.
We came up here the first time in 2005 when he was still in Junior High and the Festival had decided to add a few Junior High bands to the program.
Monterey is a favorite destination of ours. We always stay in a hotel right down on Cannery Row, so we'll spend a lot of time walking around and taking in the scenery. The new camera will get a workout and I'll probably be posting a bunch of pictures in the next couple of days (I took the shot at left last year - the coastal beauty of the area is amazing).
We'll see the band perform on Saturday afternoon, and then will be celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary Saturday night with dinner at our favorite Fisherman's Wharf restaurant.
Lots of driving on Friday and Sunday, but hopefully I'll be able to get online at the hotel and keep things going around here. It's got to be better than last year. On this trip in 2008 my old laptop crashed forevermore. I don't want to do that again.
Here's a couple of bonus shots I took on the first trip - the 18th green at Pebble Beach and the Lone Cypress:
Next post will probably be from Monterey.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Splitting California in Two
For years there have been various movements to split California. Most of the time that involved separating Northern from Southern, but a former State legislator wants to split coastal from everything else:
Can we split Orange County south of Santa Ana and have it go with San Diego County and the rest of "red" California? I don't want to get stuck with all the illegals and lefties in L.A. and San Francisco.
When his final term as a California assemblyman came to an end at the start of the year, Bill Maze could have quietly headed off to do other things.
But in the past couple of days at the World Ag Expo, Maze, of Visalia, has been busy shaking hands, talking to people and passing out pamphlets, much like a politician seeking votes.
This time he's not seeking them for himself but for a cause: Splitting 13 counties along the California coast into a separate state.
They are: Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angles counties.
"We need to talk to people up and down California," Maze said, trying to drum up support for a group called Citizens for Saving California Farming Industries.
He formed the nonprofit with three men who approached him in mid-January with the idea of splitting the state.
They were Don Curlee, an agricultural journalist who writes a weekly column for the Times-Delta; Joe L. Neyer III, publisher of California Farm Equipment magazine; and Virgil Rogers, a retired farmer operating a small cattle ranch in Springville.
They have an ambitious goal, but one Maze insists can be done: Put an initiative on the state ballot to split off a 51st state.
That new state — "Coastal California" or "Western California" are a couple of names Maze suggested — would include three of California's four most populous cities: Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco.
San Diego, the second most populous city, would remain part of the 45-county California, which Maze believes should retain its name.
Can we split Orange County south of Santa Ana and have it go with San Diego County and the rest of "red" California? I don't want to get stuck with all the illegals and lefties in L.A. and San Francisco.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Coming Tragedy for Instrumental Music Programs in the Saddleback Valley
UPDATE: Somehow the District found the money to continue the instramental music programs at current levels, and no music teachers will be let go.
There is great concern among those of us who have kids in instrumental music programs in the Saddleback Valley School District that those programs may soon cease to exist at the level we've enjoyed for many years. School cuts are threatening to reduce instrumental music in the district to an unsustainable level, robbing young kids of the opportunity to develop skills and enjoy the benefits of a music education. According to the Mission Viejo High School Instrumental Music Booster's Club, this is what we might expect to happen:
Back in March I wrote a piece that described what the music program in the district has meant to my family. I decided to update that piece and reprint it here:
UPDATE: Here's the list of teachers scheduled for layoffs in the SVUSD. Included in the list is my son's current Jazz Band instructor, his statistics teacher, another teacher he had previously and really liked, and the elementary chorus teacher who used to put on such great chorus programs my kid's elementary school.
There is great concern among those of us who have kids in instrumental music programs in the Saddleback Valley School District that those programs may soon cease to exist at the level we've enjoyed for many years. School cuts are threatening to reduce instrumental music in the district to an unsustainable level, robbing young kids of the opportunity to develop skills and enjoy the benefits of a music education. According to the Mission Viejo High School Instrumental Music Booster's Club, this is what we might expect to happen:
After SVUSD’s changes go into effect, you can expect the following:Mr. Meeuwsen is the director of the Jazz Band program (among others) that took us to Monterey last weekend for the Monterey Jazz Festival.
• The Marching Band that has won the State Championships twice – gone.
• The Color Guard that has represented us at National Championships Finals for the past 8 years – gone.
• The National Champion, World Class Division Percussion Ensemble – gone.
• The Jazz Band that gets invited to the Monterey Jazz Festival every year – gone.
• The Orchestra that was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall last year – gone.
The District’s plan is to eliminate the 7 period day – all students will be restricted to 6 periods. Color Guard, Marching Band, and Drumline are 7th period classes. Jazz Band is 8th period. A 6 period day is devastating for the music program!
We have learned that 3 high school music teachers will be ‘let go’. One of our teachers who will be hit is Doug Meeuwsen.
Back in March I wrote a piece that described what the music program in the district has meant to my family. I decided to update that piece and reprint it here:
What invariably happens is that school districts immediately announce the cancellation of music programs and other arts programs that parents really want, and sometimes I'm convinced they do that on purpose to generate anger among the parents in the hopes that they will contact the governor and complain. What you never hear is a district coming out and saying something like this: "We've looked at the situation and we clearly have too many high-paid administrators using up oxygen in our district headquarters. We need to cut back a couple of people whose salaries could pay for all the music teachers we currently have".
The other thing you'll never hear is "we don't really need to take the football team to Hawaii for next season's opener" (which they will next August). For some reason, athletics seem to be untouchable when budget cuts come around.
No, that will never happen. Instead the music programs get the shaft because administrators have no concept of the value of such programs. The word around here is that only elementary music will be cut out, but there's a trickle-up effect when you do that. If kids don't develop a love for music and a basic knowledge of their instrument in elementary school, when they get to junior high they are less likely to start an instrument, and if they do start one they have a lot of catching up to do. The junior high band director finds himself spending his time teaching the basics of playing rather than developing musicians as he should.
That, in turn, hurts the high school program which gets freshmen with only two years of instrumental music experience instead of the four or five they would have with a good elementary program. The entire district's program suffers when the bottom layer is eliminated.
When we moved into our current home in 1990 we didn't really look that hard at the local schools. Our daughter was only 1 1/2 and our son was yet to be. We didn't realize how lucky we were until later when our kids got into music, first at Del Cerro Elementary, then at La Paz Junior High, and finally at Mission Viejo High School. My daughter is a music major in college today because of the love of music that was instilled in her by her public school teachers, especially Dan Robbins at La Paz and John Hannan and Doug Meeuwsen (who is facing job elimination) at Mission.
My daughter plays flute and piccolo, and my son has played trumpet since 6th grade and picked up the baritone this year (he's a junior). Through the music program the kids have been involved in an award winning marching band (my daughter's band won the state championship in 2003), she traveled to the Calgary Stampede in 2004 and both kids will go again this summer, the boy has played several times at the Monterey Jazz Festival (including a week ago), and my daughter performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall last June. In what other school activity do you get those kinds of experiences?
Unlike most sports which have a limited time frame in which a person can actively participate, music is something you can do your whole life. While aging football players are gimping around on their bad knees and forgetting their alphabet, musicians are reaching their prime. My daughter has carried her music into college where she is a music education major and recently spent 10 days touring Italy with her college band. Music has taken her to a lot of great places. I just hope there are still music education programs left in schools by the time she graduates.
The parents in this district have been incredibly supportive of the school music programs. Both the La Paz and Mission Viejo Booster organizations are second to none and we've even voted extra taxes on ourselves to pay for school building construction like the new band room that's being built at Mission (thankfully, the funds for that were approved before the coming round of budget cuts). Although the parents are dedicated, there's only so much they can handle. We can't singlehandedly underwrite the district's music program, and what sense will it make to have a shiny new band room and no music program?
I've said all this to support the fact that school districts are hurting themselves more than they'll ever realize if they cut music programs every time there's a budget tightening. Music programs turn out good kids, highly motivated team players who are driven to excellence. I don't know of another school program that has such consistent benefits to the community.With my son soon to start his senior year, it would be a terrible shame if the programs he loves so much like marching band and jazz band were to be eliminated.
UPDATE: Here's the list of teachers scheduled for layoffs in the SVUSD. Included in the list is my son's current Jazz Band instructor, his statistics teacher, another teacher he had previously and really liked, and the elementary chorus teacher who used to put on such great chorus programs my kid's elementary school.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
A New Ride
HolyCoast.com has a new ride - a Fujitsu notebook computer to replace the Dell antique piece-of-junk that blew up on me in Monterey. When Best Buy told me it would cost half as much as a new PC to fix it and even then it might not run for another two weeks, it was time to step up.
The sucker's fast and has a lot of stuff my old machine didn't have, like a webcam and who knows what else (I'm still trying to find my way around Windows Vista). Hopefully I'll start making sense more quickly as my opinions fly off the new machine (and they'll look better too).
By the way, I didn't buy this one at Best Buy, I got it at Fry's. Good price and they seem to really know what they're doing over there.
The sucker's fast and has a lot of stuff my old machine didn't have, like a webcam and who knows what else (I'm still trying to find my way around Windows Vista). Hopefully I'll start making sense more quickly as my opinions fly off the new machine (and they'll look better too).By the way, I didn't buy this one at Best Buy, I got it at Fry's. Good price and they seem to really know what they're doing over there.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Another 800 Miles on the Odometer
We're back with another 800 miles on the odometer and a possibly fried hard drive on my laptop. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed the few pictures I was able to post while we were away.
The past five weekends have been one long drive after another. The first weekend we did a two-day 1,100 mile trip to Rohnert Park, the second weekend a one-day 250 mile round trip to Santa Paula, the third weekend a three-day 600 mile round trip to Las Vegas, on the fourth weekend we rested, and this weekend a three-day 800 mile round trip to Monterey. All-in-all we traveled 2,750 miles without a single car problem, accident or speeding ticket. Thank the Lord for all of that (and for my sixth sense when it comes to spotting CHP cruisers before they can nab me).
Our ride for all these trips is pictured here at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove:
The past five weekends have been one long drive after another. The first weekend we did a two-day 1,100 mile trip to Rohnert Park, the second weekend a one-day 250 mile round trip to Santa Paula, the third weekend a three-day 600 mile round trip to Las Vegas, on the fourth weekend we rested, and this weekend a three-day 800 mile round trip to Monterey. All-in-all we traveled 2,750 miles without a single car problem, accident or speeding ticket. Thank the Lord for all of that (and for my sixth sense when it comes to spotting CHP cruisers before they can nab me).
Our ride for all these trips is pictured here at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove:
The purpose for this weekend's trip was the Monterey Jazz Festival where our son and the Mission Viejo High School Jazz Ensemble would be playing. Here they are:
This is our third trip to the Festival (twice in high school and once in junior high) and there were bands from all over the west coast, and even one from Australia and the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, this may be the last time we get to go because if the Governtor's budget cuts go into effect as currently planned, the Assistant Music Director for the school, who also teaches the jazz program, will be cut. I've written some other thoughts about the importance of school music programs here. We're really hoping things will change in the May revision.
After the performance we took the 17-mile drive through the Del Monte Forest and the Pebble Beach area. The scenery was, as usual, spectacular, and we stopped at The Lodge at the Pebble Beach Golf Club to relax for a few minutes. I took this shot of the Mrs. in The Lodge with the 18th green in the background.
There is just so much to see up there that everywhere you look there's a spectacular sight of some kind.
Well, we're back now so I'll try to get back to regular blogging on this old piece of junk desktop that I have to use until I either get a new laptop or get the old one fixed (I'm waiting for the estimate to see which way I'll go).
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Friday, April 04, 2008
21
"21" is the title of a new Vegas-themed movie out now, but it's also the number of years my bride and I have been married...as of today. In keeping with the Vegas theme, here's a shot of the happy couple taken at Paris Las Vegas two weeks ago.
She clearly married below her class.
She clearly married below her class.
Happy anniversary, Sweetie!
We'll be spending our anniversary weekend in Monterey (starting today) where our son will be playing at the Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation event. It was nice of him to schedule a trip to Monterey for our anniversary where we'll be able to eat at our favorite Fisherman's Wharf restaurant. We'll also hit the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forest, and see some of our other favorite sites.
I'm taking the laptop this time so I'll probably be posting a combination of camera and cellphone photos while we're there. It's always beautiful in Monterey.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Big School Cuts May Be Coming to Orange County
For the last week I've been hearing rumors about the cuts that might be coming to our local school districts unless the Governator can come up with other options to make up for a $14 billion dollar budget deficit. Today The Register explores some of the possibilities:
What invariably happens is that school districts immediately announce the cancellation of music programs and other arts programs that parents really want, and sometimes I'm convinced they do that on purpose to generate anger among the parents in the hopes that they will contact the governor and complain. What you never hear is a district coming out and saying something like this: "We've looked at the situation and we clearly have too many high-paid administrators using up oxygen in our district headquarters. We need to cut back a couple of people whose salaries could pay for all the music teachers we currently have".
No, that will never happen. Instead the music programs get the shaft because administrators have no concept of the value of such programs. The word around here is that only elementary music will be cut out, but there's a trickle-up effect when you do that. If kids don't develop a love for music and a basic knowledge of their instrument in elementary school, when they get to junior high they are less likely to start an instrument, and if they do start one they have a lot of catching up to do. The junior high band director finds himself spending his time teaching the basics of playing rather than developing musicians as he should.
That, in turn, hurts the high school program which gets freshmen with only two years of instrumental music experience instead of the four or five they would have with a good elementary program. The entire district's program suffers when the bottom layer is eliminated.
When we moved into our current home in 1990 we didn't really look that hard at the local schools. Our daughter was one 1 1/2 and our son was yet to be. We didn't realize how lucky we were until later when our kids got into music, first at Del Cerro Elementary, then at La Paz Junior High, and finally at Mission Viejo High School. My daughter is a music major in college today because of the love of music that was instilled in her by her public school teachers, especially Dan Robbins at La Paz and John Hannan and Doug Meeuwsen (who is facing job elimination) at Mission.
My daughter plays flute and piccolo, and my son has played trumpet since 6th grade and picked up the baritone this year (he's a junior). Through the music program the kids have been involved in an award winning marching band (my daughter's band won the state championship in 2003), she traveled to the Calgary Stampede in 2004 and both kids will go again this summer, the boy has played several times at the Monterey Jazz Festival (and will again next month), and my daughter performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall last June. In what other activity do you get those kinds of experiences?
Unlike most sports which have a limited time frame in which a person can participate, music is something you can do your whole life. While aging football players are gimping around on their bad knees, musicians are reaching their prime. My daughter has carried her music into college where she is a music eduation major and will spend 10 days touring Italy with her college band. I just hope there are still music education programs left in schools by the time she graduates.
The parents in this district have been incredibly supportive of the school music programs. Both the La Paz and Mission Viejo Booster organizations are second to none and we've even voted extra taxes on ourselves to pay for school building construction like the new band room that's being built at Mission (thankfully, the funds for that were approved before the coming round of budget cuts). Although the parents are dedicated, there's only so much they can handle. We can't singlehandedly underwrite the district's music program.
I've said all this to reinstate the fact that school districts are hurting themselves more than they'll ever realize if they cut music programs every time there's a budget tightening. Music programs turn out good kids, highly motivated team players who are driven to excellence. I don't know of another school program that has such consistent benefits to the community.
More than 1,590 teachers could lose their jobs.
Class sizes in hundreds of classrooms might increase from 20 to 30 students.And one district may shutter a campus altogether.
The county's 28 school districts are deep in efforts to develop plans to cut about $204 million, or 5 percent, from their operating budgets in the face of a mounting state budget crisis.
They're preparing for the worst because school districts, which receive about 70 percent of their funding from the state, often have to approve staffing and much of their spending for the next school year long before Sacramento lawmakers finish wrangling over the state budget.
"These could be the most devastating cuts our schools have ever seen," county Superintendent William Habermehl said. "I don't know how some of our school districts will be able to survive this and provide the same quality of education."
For the past month, many districts have been scrambling, studying everything from cutting security guards and janitors to eliminating music programs and bus routes.
What invariably happens is that school districts immediately announce the cancellation of music programs and other arts programs that parents really want, and sometimes I'm convinced they do that on purpose to generate anger among the parents in the hopes that they will contact the governor and complain. What you never hear is a district coming out and saying something like this: "We've looked at the situation and we clearly have too many high-paid administrators using up oxygen in our district headquarters. We need to cut back a couple of people whose salaries could pay for all the music teachers we currently have".
No, that will never happen. Instead the music programs get the shaft because administrators have no concept of the value of such programs. The word around here is that only elementary music will be cut out, but there's a trickle-up effect when you do that. If kids don't develop a love for music and a basic knowledge of their instrument in elementary school, when they get to junior high they are less likely to start an instrument, and if they do start one they have a lot of catching up to do. The junior high band director finds himself spending his time teaching the basics of playing rather than developing musicians as he should.
That, in turn, hurts the high school program which gets freshmen with only two years of instrumental music experience instead of the four or five they would have with a good elementary program. The entire district's program suffers when the bottom layer is eliminated.
When we moved into our current home in 1990 we didn't really look that hard at the local schools. Our daughter was one 1 1/2 and our son was yet to be. We didn't realize how lucky we were until later when our kids got into music, first at Del Cerro Elementary, then at La Paz Junior High, and finally at Mission Viejo High School. My daughter is a music major in college today because of the love of music that was instilled in her by her public school teachers, especially Dan Robbins at La Paz and John Hannan and Doug Meeuwsen (who is facing job elimination) at Mission.
My daughter plays flute and piccolo, and my son has played trumpet since 6th grade and picked up the baritone this year (he's a junior). Through the music program the kids have been involved in an award winning marching band (my daughter's band won the state championship in 2003), she traveled to the Calgary Stampede in 2004 and both kids will go again this summer, the boy has played several times at the Monterey Jazz Festival (and will again next month), and my daughter performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall last June. In what other activity do you get those kinds of experiences?
Unlike most sports which have a limited time frame in which a person can participate, music is something you can do your whole life. While aging football players are gimping around on their bad knees, musicians are reaching their prime. My daughter has carried her music into college where she is a music eduation major and will spend 10 days touring Italy with her college band. I just hope there are still music education programs left in schools by the time she graduates.
The parents in this district have been incredibly supportive of the school music programs. Both the La Paz and Mission Viejo Booster organizations are second to none and we've even voted extra taxes on ourselves to pay for school building construction like the new band room that's being built at Mission (thankfully, the funds for that were approved before the coming round of budget cuts). Although the parents are dedicated, there's only so much they can handle. We can't singlehandedly underwrite the district's music program.
I've said all this to reinstate the fact that school districts are hurting themselves more than they'll ever realize if they cut music programs every time there's a budget tightening. Music programs turn out good kids, highly motivated team players who are driven to excellence. I don't know of another school program that has such consistent benefits to the community.
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