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Published on 11/03/1999 All articles from this issue

U.S. Treasury authorizes LAHS trip to Cuba

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Schools Roundup

MVSD's 'Landelsburg' wins county award

To further their studies on U.S. foreign policy, 22 students from Los Altos High School will travel to Cuba for nine days this February with authorization from the U.S. Treasury Department. Without authorization, U.S. citizens are subject to jail time if they spend any U.S. currency in Cuba under the United States' embargo against Cuba.

"This is so out of the ordinary. There are very few groups that are (legally) allowed to go to Cuba. I don't know how we lucked out, " said senior Jillian Trayer, who is one of the students from the school's Community Learning program that is scheduled to go on the trip. Trayer said all but one student in the program plan to travel to Cuba next winter. Community Learning is an alternative, independent-study program that includes a mix of freshmen to senior students.

The students will travel with instructor Gary Bacon, who traveled to Cuba with his family last year. They are scheduled to visit museums, schools and historical locations during their stay.

Treyor said she and her classmates have studied in depth the relationship between Cuba and the United States as part of their curriculum. The students plan to make a documentary of their trip for others to study, Trayer said.

The $55,000 trip will be partially funded by students. Trayer said the class will raise scholarship funds through a fund-raiser to pay the remaining balance. As part of the fund-raising campaign, students will sell "goodwill" ribbons for $25 each on which partcipants may sign their name or write a message. The ribbons will be tied to one of four peace wreaths that the students plan to present to the Cuban people.

For more information, go to www.la.mvla.k12.ca.us/TC/cubanoci/cuba-adx.htm

The recreated colonial village that fifth graders at Edith Landels School in Mountain View bring to life each year as part of their history lesson recently won the Glenn Hoffmann Exemplary Program Award for its innovation and impact on student performance. The Santa Clara School Board Association honored the Mountain View School District for "The Living History of Colonial Landelsburg" Oct. 27 in San Jose.

Program founder Diane Claypool said she believes the program is an effective way to teach American history to students.

"We work really hard to make sure it's very authentic, and the children are well prepared," said Claypool, who retired from her full-time position as a fifth-grade teacher last year, but works part-time at the school. "Kids tell us that (Colonial) Landelsburg is what they remember best about fifth grade."

Claypool started the program in 1992 to better teach her students about history. Each year since, the school's fifth-grade teachers have recreated history by transforming the school campus into a colonial village made from refrigerator boxes.

Costumed villagers go about the day performing everyday tasks such as baking bread, sewing hats and performing country dances or militia drills. Claypool said about 90 fifth-graders participated in last year's event.

Claypool said, once in character, students must respond to "20th-century" onlookers as someone in living in the 18th-century would.

"They have to know what (their character's) don't know," Claypool said. "They have to be prepared. If someone says, 'I want to take your picture,' they might respond, 'I prefer that you don't take the painting off of my wall' - they know that their characters don't know about photography."

Claypool, who serves as a mentor and curriculum designer at Colonial Williamsburg for the Summer Teachers' Institute program, said the program has been replicated throughout United States, including in Los Altos Hills at Bullis-Purissima School.