EDISON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is located in a neighborhood that is middle class to upper middle class…read more The school is located in between the main thoroughfares of Park Street and High Street. Although the architecture of the buildings at Edison School is on the humble side, in that it resembles army barracks, the walls on the outside of the buildings are noted for the presence of large colorful murals. The schoolyard has a basketball court, poles for playing tetherball, and walls for playing "wall ball." The northwest corner of the schoolyard has a garden, where Edison School parents can busy themselves in maintaining a tiny farm. Parents of Edison School kids will likely be most familiar with an auditorium called the "multi-cultural room." In this room, Edison kids engage in performances with voice or musical instruments, or display their paintings and drawings in art exhibits. During my term as an Edison School parent, I was asked by Edison School management to be the "photographer" during school events, and I took photos during the annual carnival and during the annual Halloween parade, and also of some of the singing performances in the "multi-cultural room."
During my Edison School years, it was frequently the case that my photographs were displayed on large posters on walls in the indoor hallways of Edison School. During my three years as an Edison School parent, I briefly met a few of the teachers, but had actual conversations with only two of the teachers. One of the teachers was the well-loved Mr. Meader. Mr. Meader was kind enough to give me a compact disc, that he had made, with songs by The Who. From the point of view of a parent, the truly great thing about Edison School is the lasting relationships that my family has made with other Edison School parents and their offspring. My own elementary school was Coe Elementary School, located in Seattle, Washington, and I have posted a review of Coe School on YELP.
At the time I was an active Edison School parent, the schoolyard had a huge multi-colored mural taking the form of a large hand-painted map of the United States of America. The painting on the asphalt was a bit on the funky side, and the funkiness of the painted mural made it more charming and more emotionally engaging. Unfortunately, I noticed that this mural-map has been removed, and replaced with a much smaller map of the United States. The new map is NOT multi-colored. The new map is very neat and appears to be the result of a stencil (in other words, the new map does not appear to be the result of the brushwork of schoolchildren). To view the big picture, what I consider to be an evil curse upon the American public, is people in management who order the destruction of beautiful murals. It is too bad that management at Edison School has been inflicted by this curse. Too bad.
This is about my photo posters of school events (see above). I made three separate posters for the donut-munching contest where donuts are suspended from strings, for the Halloween parade, for the Bridge Festival which involved an elementary school at the west end, for a singing performance in the multicultural room, and for other events. Each of my posters had 30 photographic prints glued on it, and each poster cost me $100 to make. Each poster was 4 feet x 5 feet. I donated these to Edison School, and they displayed them in the hallway, and then put them into long-term storage in the main office. I was hoping that future generations of Edison kids would be able to view my photos. I was hoping that young students at Edison School during the years 2050 to 2100, and also during the next few centuries, would look at my photographic murals and exclaim, "Ohh-Emm-Gee, did they really have those funny haircuts back then!?!"
Unfortunately, after a couple of years, management ordered that my poster boards of photos be discarded. What is it with the art-hating management at Edison School???? Why did management get rid of the lovely mural/ map? Why did Edison school management destroy my posters with photos of Edison school kids? In my opinion, the door to the Edison School principal's office should have a large sign on it reading, "Chief Art-Hater."