This historic 'origins' essay outlines how the Ohlone concept came about in 1971. It is a retirement dedication for the last two remaining ‘founding’ teachers, Win Lora and Jeanette Wei, in 1994.
HOW THE OHLONE OPEN SCHOOL BEGAN
May 15, 1994
On April 20, 1971 two Ohlones teachers learned about the International Center for Educational Development (ICED), sponsored by the California Teachers' Association, which offered to train school staffs to teach in an "open" school. When the opportunity was reported at the next faculty meeting there was enough excitement among the rest of the staff that the new principal, Jim Mathiott, agreed to lead five weeks of study by the faculty to help us decide whether to apply.
The school population and pedagogical practices fit the condition criteria extremely well. A very active PTA represented parents who supported innovative, enriching programs of teaching. The former principal, Winfield (Chris) Christensen, had recruited a teaching staff that was both mature in experience and had a high risk-taking quotient. Among the programs already in place were upper grade team-teaching, nongraded primary classes, Glasser meetings and an extended day so that primary students could have richer reading instruction. There was great stress placed on individualized learning. Both-parents-working was not yet the rule and there were many parent volunteers in the classrooms, providing enrichment and/or relieving teachers of time-consuming paperwork and routine maintenance tasks.
Jim Mathiott supplied reading material and arranged field trips to Bay Area schools which had already adopted some form of open education. Reports of the study and trips were discussed at each faculty meeting. We met with ICED staff to learn of their proposed operating procedures. We agreed to a first principle of our participation: the Ohlone Plan would be a unique approach suited to the reality of our community as we saw it. During study, discussions consisted, in part, of both high hopes and apprehensions. Teachers were careful not to apply pressure on their colleagues one way or the other; there were neither overzealous advocates nor prophets of doom. As a result, the outcome of the secret ballot created by Jim was not a foregone conclusion. This four-option ballot permitted a more qualified decision than a simple "yes" or "no".
On May 28, 1971 the Ohlone staff voted to endorse participation in ICED. The vote was:
A 14 I am in favor of Ohlone being involved with the Consortium next year, and am
personally interested in having my class involved.
B 0 I am in favor of Ohlone being involved with the Consortium, but feel that we
are moving too fast, and should take a year to get formally involved, with the hope that we could join the Consortium the following year.
C 1 I think the Consortium is a nice idea, but I personally do not see myself being deeply involved. I am willing to teach at Ohlone for at least next year while the staff goes ahead, with the understanding that no one is going to pressure me into taking part next year.
D 0 I think the Consortium is not a good idea, I am not interested in having either the
school or myself participating, and really think we should not get involved.
The faculty was incredulous that there was such unanimity. All fifteen had cast a positive vote. This was the first of several signs we were to receive that the time was right for our venture. A survey of staff and parents was conducted in late spring and early summer to get an idea of how close the two groups were on priorities for the school program. Amazingly, the first five priorities were identical for both groups, and in a list of 27 goals, no goal was more than two places in variance between the parents' list and the teachers' list!
Those first five priorities were: Reading comprehension, self-concept, personal adjust- ment, motivation toward learning and greater student participation in decision-making.
The story of Ohlone's early years is exciting and sometimes unexpected obstacles had to be overcome. As mothers became less available as volunteers, idealistic college youth were recruited to fill the void and finally money was found to hire aides. Deserting the desks-in-rows floor plan led to building lofts to satisfy the need for more space. In a wonderfully honest essay, "Overcoming Problems", Ted Cross wrote: " In the first two years of the Open Education program at Ohlone several teachers found themselves, like me, going home from school and falling asleep on the sofa or going to bed at 7:30 and 8:00 PM. Feelings of drained energy frustrated plans to prepare materials, to investigate possible mini-trips for two or three children or to attend a workshop. It seemed that the farther one got into Open Education the more one needed to do and the less energy one had."... The more experience a teacher gains in Open Education, however, the more natural the flow from role to role.... By the end of the third year of Open Education I have energy still remaining at the end of a day."
One important lesson to be learned from Ohlone's success (and that success is measured partly by its 23-year survival) is "That which is started well will continue well." The right staff, serving the right community made a decision for the benefit of children in the right way. Anyone who has been around for a while knows how rarely such a confluence occurs.
Here, excerpted from Jim Mathiott's preface to Ohlone Open School, the Story of a School that Changed, written by the Ohlone teaching staff in 1974, are child rights they were trying to realize. For those not familiar with the "new" California framework, these twenty-year-old Ohlone rights are considered the latest discoveries about effective classroom strategy.
to become physically involved in the learning process to move about freely
to have conversations with peers
to think independently
to discover for themselves
to make decisions
THE OHLONE FOUNDERS
Teaching Staff
Mrs. Charlyne Beuter
Miss Carol Cochrane
Mr. Ted Cross
Mrs. Maxine Fink
Mrs. Helen Fleming
Mrs. Margaret Killingsworth
Mr. Kris Krause
Mrs. Jeanette Kwong (Wei)
Mr. Winston Lora
Mrs. Faye Morrison
Mr. John Papagni
Mrs. Sylvia Pollack
Mr. Robert Tanner
Mr. Willard Thompson
Mr. Ted Wassam
Mr. James E. Mathiott, Principal
Mrs. Lois Davis, Secretary
Mrs. Saye Noguchi, Clerk
Support Staff
Mrs. Doris Bess, Speech Clinician
Mrs. Ursula Growald, Learning Assistance
Mrs. Joan Cuneen, Librarian
Mrs. Janet Helin, Vocal Music
Mrs. Evelyn Hough, Guidance Consultant
Mr. Julius Schuchat, Instrumental Music
Custodial Staff
Mr. Olegario Lara
Mr. Edilbarto Aquino
We honor these Ohlone pioneers today as we bid fond farewells to the last of the founding teaching staff, Win Lora and Jeanette Wei. They are two of the outstanding exemplar practitioners of the Ohlone Way, inspiring not only their hundreds of students, but their colleagues as well. We wish them the most enjoyable and fulfilling retirement.
I doubt anyone will get back to me on this, but it is a shame that this entire 50th anniversary seems to nearly ignore what came before 1971 in terms of the open teaching concepts. I find only rare notes like this: "Individual instruction at Ohlone began in the late 1960’s with a former principal, Chris Christensen." I graduated Ohlones in 1968. In fact, in the 1960's, that pattern of pedagogy was deeply evolving at Ohlones. My mother, who was head of the PTA during several of those years, organized a study and survey of the concepts and interests of the community around more personalized and open learning. We had multiple team-teaching and double-grade classes that provided flexibility for stu…